And it’s still hot. Humid like a swamp. Sun like a laser death ray. And that was yesterday. Today will likely be the same.
I did get stuff done. I’ve finished the walkway. I’ve knocked down all the dirt piles and flattened the area. I’ll take another look in good light, but I think I’ll throw some grass seed on it and walk away. I’ve still got crushed slag left, and I have a potential use. My fishing buddy suggested making a pad under the new shed where I’ll park the lawn mower.
Unfortunately, the old shed is still there. I would love to crank something out while I have the machines, but the shed project is far down the list. I guess I’ll just have another pile of material waiting for the time.
Today I’ve got cleanup, and putting things away. I’ll take an hour and call into my non-prepping hobby meeting instead of attending in person. That gives me 8 hours of daylight today, and 10-12 tomorrow for working. Or maybe it gives me time to take a break before rushing home into the beginning of the school year.
Gotta stop and smell the roses sometimes.
Always be working. And stack some good times too.
nick
I have a Rubbermaid commercial mechanical sweeper I bought more than 20 years ago and still have around somewhere.
Sadly, it looks like they were discontinued.
Bernie Marcus minions did bad things to Hunter Fan and Schlage, but Sam Walton’s progeny gutted Rubbermaid chaising every last penny.
But we now literally have those $20 Reeboks my generation chased for the last 40 years at Sam’s Club.
You can get a Bissell from Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Bissell-Single-Rubber-Brush-Messes/dp/B01BC4PVDS/ref=asc_df_B01BC4PVDS?linkCode=df0&hvadid=80539344142711&hvnetw=s&hvqmt=e&hvbmt=be&hvdev=c&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=79440&hvtargid=pla-4584138876752437&psc=1&tag=ttgnet-20
I think there’s a lighter duty non-commercial version as well.
Interesting article comparing the amount in gerrymandering for all 50 states:
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2025/08/whos-gerrymandering-whom.php
I think it falls considerably short, and needs some additional context and analysis:
All of which fits nearly into the existing table.
In addition, a political map of each state showing the distribution of voter registration by party and the congressional district lines.
I’d also like to see the distribution of illegal aliens according to the best data available.
There are also a measures of the geographical compactness of each district that can also be calculated.
I suspect that all of that has been done, and there are probably PoliSci professors at universities all over the U.S. doing it.
84F and rising. Beautiful sunny day. Breakfast is finished, coffee is uploading.
Work before my alarm. Went back to sleep, woke at the alarm. Feel pretty good.
Waiting for my conference call, then I can get back to work.
n
Area:Perimeter
Or Area moment of inertia compared to a disk.
Requiring every district to be a convex hull would be a good first correction.
If people were uniformly distributed by political beliefs, any size or shape would be representative.
They are not though. Which gives rise to attempts to game the system. Which is inherently unfair no matter if I benefit.
Overlay a grid or hexagons, or whatever uniform shape and size, and that’s it. If it divides neighborhoods, or some have more people than others, shift the gird ½ space every election. As soon as people get involved, their biases and prejudices get ‘baked into the cake.’
n
Thank you for the carpet sweeper links.
I just had a thought. Maybe Wal-Mart stocks them next to brooms and mops? I didn’t see that part of the store. I’ll look next time I go there even if I buy one on-line.
FIFY
I finally got my refund from Amazon for the thermostat relay that never showed. Over two weeks. Ridiculous.
Of course today’s forecast for Lancaster is: 105F, winds to 35Mph, Humidty 7%, smoke from the Canyon fire.
On the bright side: I don’t need a thermostat because the a/c will be running continuously.
The point of the Senate was to have a separate body not directly elected by voters which represented the interests of the states equally.
Media (Hearst) social engineering of the last century removed that moderating factor.
Office Depot and Staples had sweepers back in the day. Our sweeper at the Egghead Ponzi came from the Staples-like store which hosted our leased space until they got bought by … Staples!
Staples is mostly gone around Austin, however, and the Lakeline Office Depot lost their lease to a Burlington back around the beginning of the year.
Home Depot might have them online to ship to the store. I bought my last vacuum, a commercial Hoover, through their web site.
As a practical matter, congressional districts are a temporary intermediate level of government that needs to comport with existing lower-level governmental units that are pretty much immutable.
Every state has counties, cities, and towns or equivalent. There are numerous advantages to avoiding the subdividing of such by congressional district lines that are redrawn every ten years. That doesn’t mean it won’t happen, but the avoidance process creates a multitude of opportunities for alternatives, political deals, and mischief. There is no way to keep people out of the process, and no way to avoid the perception by some that they have “lost”.
For decades the political process has been perceived as a zero-sum game between Democrats and Republicans, with a subsidiary zero-sum game between “blacks” and “whites”. Those who are not willing to play the game for pure power and seek a genuine level playing field end up in the “L” column. That game is changing with changes in the ethnic makeup of the electorate and the belated recognition that in a contest between groups with rules and groups without, the latter wins (see asymmetrical warfare).
The U.S. Constitution does not specify how congressional districts are to be determined, only that the states will determine them. Yet the federal government, elected and unelected, and the federal courts, all unelected, have imposed requirements in the service of some manufactured vision of fairness without legal basis. It is useful to note that the Founders of our nation were men of experience that placed their lives on the line to create a new nation, and the absence of authority to override state decisions on congressional districting is the result of intention and compromise.
For those of you near Sandusky, today is the last day of the 30th anniversary Tommy Boy Fest.
https://www.tommyboyfest.com/
Ford has their “Model T Event” on Tuesday not far away in Kentucky.
Things that make you say “Hmmm…..”
The point of the Senate was to have a separate body not directly elected by voters which represented the interests of the states equally.
Media (Hearst) social engineering of the last century removed that moderating factor.
– absolutely. the people already had their House, the States needed theirs. The change made the for the rise of the extremely powerful Senators whose interests were no longer limited by their state’s interests. It also diminished the power of individual States, joined in a Union of States, and increased the power of the Federal government. What Lincoln, started the Amendment finished.
——————
Had my call, very late. must have been a good monthly meeting to have gone so long. Now to get back to work.
n
True, but it sounds like they are just using hydrogen to make methane. Which makes some sense as a fuel for backup generators that may sit unused for long periods of time.
Making methane from hydrogen is very energy intensive. In fact, 99.8% of all hydrogen on this planet is made from methane (natural gas) using steam reformers. Very cheap and efficient to run for years at a time. The opposite way is not.
All of these socalled renewables processes take ten to one hundred times as much energy to run. We will be heading back into slaves providing energy at this rate.
SpaceX shop:
https://shop.spacex.com/
So much cool stuff. I wear my “Occupy Mars” tshirt all the time.
I am moving my mother into a 458 ft2 studio apartment in a couple of weeks. About 21 foot by 21 foot.
https://www.claytonoaksliving.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/al_studio_zzezip_lq7f8r-e1730719519876.png
She wants to move this precious stuff into it:
1. buy a new electric hospital bed and mattress from http://www.sugarlandmedicalsupply.com
2. new 55 inch LG TV from Sam’s club
3. new 5 inch toilet seat extender https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000JPSHDI?tag=ttgnet-20/
4. Kimono on the dining room wall
5. Red Chinese cabinet in foyer
6. Green Chinese cabinet in study
7. round onyx dining table in living room
8. Mom’s recliner in sun room
9. Mom’s trash can in sun room
10. Three Chinese portable walls in foyer, upstairs, and dad’s bedroom
11. the regular tall blue sofa in the living room
12. two rattan chairs in dining room and foyer
13. the north side low chest of drawers in the dining room
14. pictures from Cape Breton (4): living room tv space, dining room, above Belgium chest in sun room
15. two working lamps and lamp stands
16. little walnut rolling table in sun room
I will be prepared to take stuff that we cannot get in there into my office building which is only six miles away from her assisted living.
I am headed to Moms house in Port Lavaca in a hour or three. I am taking several printouts of the space with me so we can do layouts.
Rent the bed.
If you end up needing a patient lift, let me know and we’ll get one from an auction for cheap.
In fact, look at https://www.directbids.com/ for a bed and other stuff. Bedside commode and other aids are available too.
n
If you do buy the bed, it’s durable medical equipment and Medicare has provisions for that.
The bed for my brother’s assisted living was free (to us) under his Medicare or Medicare Advantage plan.
I want to thank all you taxpayers for that.
HuffPo:
“JD Vance Had A River’s Water Level Raised For His Family Vacation.”
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2025/08/the-deep-meaning-of-canoe-gate.php
Secret Service had them release some water so their boats could float and they could do their jobs.
McCarthy Drops Bombshell on Texas Democrat ‘Diva’ Banned for Life from Major Airline
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/saraharnold/2025/08/09/mccarthy-drops-bombshell-on-texas-democrat-diva-banned-for-life-from-major-airline-n2661607
An elected official misbehaves and gets a pass on behavior that would get a member of the public arrested, but the media and Congress (including you, McCarthy, you smarmy p.o.s.) conspire to cover it up for years.
Which of these should we be concerned about?
The good news is that the toilet seat extender is not a problem.
The bad news is that there’s not enough room on the floor and ceiling combined for the furniture.
Plenty of room left on the walls, so I’d suggest photos of the overflow furniture stored in your office building. If she misses something in a photo, you can bring it over and swap it with another piece, substituting a photo of the piece newly moved to your office building.
Like that is news from Sheila Jackson Lee?
She clung to power so tightly that she filed for reelection and won the primary knowing that she would be dead before last November.
Of course, her successor, Sylvester Turner, knew he had terminal bone cancer but ran anyway.
Turner died in March, less than a year after Lee.
The seat is currently vacant. Arguably, the smarter move for Republicans was to not say anything about either ego trip.
I’m cooling down.
I’ve still got a few hours left on the skid steer. Dunno if I’ll do a purely cosmetic fix. there is an “island” around the persimmon tree of white stone and succulents that look like agave. The weed barrier has failed, and grass is growing thru the whole thing. Since I weed it and trim it, fixing it wouldn’t REALLY be purely cosmetic.
I guess I’ll do more things on the list before looking at that. The machines make it easier.
n
Mr. Lynn’s Six Star list of epubs is ready. Email me at ”zotarm” at “gmail” dot “com” if you want a link.
Paul, how is steer A and steer B doing ?
Mr. Lynn’s Six Star list of epubs is ready. Email me at ”zotarm” at “gmail” dot “com” if you want a link.
I’ve got at least two dead tree copies of most of my six star books so I am good.
Facebook Market Place thinks I really really need to buy 300 DVDs for $120. Stored in a storage unit. In Kyle. Yeah, I generally know where Kyle is. Kinda like I know where Belton is.
A couple of hours one way to get to either.
Bu three messages just today?
Does look like an interesting lot of movies….. gonna pass.
Steer A and Steer B are assholes. They mess with stuff. Like the water float? Pull it out of the tub and it creates a huge mud swamp.
The longhorns never did that. The emu never did that.
Penny doesn’t like them. She circles far around. She was cool with the longhorns. Buddy ain’t real cool but he’s on a leash. As far away as leash extends away. One steer is standoffish. The other is friendly but patting on the head ain’t what he wants. And when I’m ankle deep in mud putting the float valve back in the water tub him rubbing his head on my chest is WAY down on my to-do list. Plus I’m here by myself so if he steps on my foot or shoves me into a fence I’m kinda screwed.
They don’t chase. They aren’t mean. They have cow thoughts and hey, maybe they want to be more friendly. Maybe when they get older they will calm down. There were a couple of years where I did not give the longhorns cow cookies.
I guess they are still growing up. They look good and look healthy and well fed.
Watching “As You Like It” livestream from the Houston Shakespeare Festival at Miller Outdoor Amphitheater. At home, in the air conditioning.
Why cast a black man as Orlando? Why? Especially since the actor playing his brother is white. No suitable white actors available?
Amiens is played by a woman. Sheesh.
At least the costumes aren’t 1920’s flappers. I saw a version of Twelfth Night once like that.
@lpdbw – they’re striking a blow for freedom, or something. Avant garde? no, we were doing color blind shakespeare in the 90s. And it was passe’ then. But everyone’s a baby duck now, every day is the first day, and nothing ever happened before it happened to them.
Hamilton had a black George Washington. Took me a whole scene to figure out who it was supposed to be.
n
I installed the kit to cover the louvers of the whole house fan today. I dunno. I did cut a piece of scrap fake wood flooring underlayment and who knew, electric tape doesn’t stick very long. The stuff is rated R4 so why not?
Somehow I miss measured by an inch. I had the width perfect. I suppose I stretched the wrinkles out but the off-brand velcro doesn’t shrink. I scrubbed the frame of the louvers with rubbing alcohol to clean off grime. Not much grime, actually.
Anyway. It looks decent. No one I know will ever notice. Not “selling the house” decent. It seems a bit cooler in the kitchen. Shrug. Hard to tell actually when it’s 100f outside.
The kit was cheap. I hope the velcro glue lasts many years.
So maybe all of R8 now? Mostly air tight? Versus “where are these freaking mud daubers coming from?” Say, from a guestimate of a 3 inch hole in the ceiling I have it down to at most a fifty cent coin.
I’m cool with opening the kitchen window a bit when running the dryer.
The end of an era (and CD apocalypse):
AOL Announces It’s Discontinuing Dial-Up Internet on September 30
I fondly remember AOL.
Bye! I’m gone. Y’all Netflix stuff all you want. I’m not going to watch or pay to watch that.
I never had AOL. I did have an eight inch tall stack of their CDs. And lordy, no telling how many of their floppy discs I formatted.
I didn’t know dial-up was still a thing.
“Maybe when they get older they will calm down.”
Maybe. Some never do, although my personal record is a heifer.
The morning we were loading to go to the locker, she stopped in the chute and refused to get in the stock trailer. Turned around and went the other way, turned around again, ran down the chute, bounced off the trailer, and did it again. Next trip she jumped in the trailer and I swear came screaming out in 0.04 seconds, faster than any human could get the door slammed, and back down the chute the wrong way. Opened the other gate, got her back in the crowding tub, said, ok, one more chance then I get the rifle. Opened the gate, she walks down the chute, hops in the trailer like butter wouldn’t melt, and the show was over. If I’d had a camera I could have retired early on the YT video. IIRC that was the last year of the cross-bred calves, and I didn’t miss them.
Let’s see if the world is ready for a gay founder of a 7th century religion.
Anti-ICE Rioter Who Hurled Cinderblocks at Border Patrol Indicted, Faces Up to 20 Years in Prison
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/saraharnold/2025/08/09/rioter-indicted-for-throwing-chunks-of-cinderblock-at-and-injuring-border-patrol-officer-n2661616
Each throw?
Former AOC Organizer Arrested After Allegedly Encouraging Attack On Jewish High School
“who states she is from Lebanon, admits to calling for an attack on the school. ”
https://legalinsurrection.com/2025/08/former-aoc-organizer-arrested-after-allegedly-encouraging-attack-on-jewish-high-school/
Strip of citizenship if she has it, and deport.
Commercial customers running high reliability systems.
All of those windmills lining I-69 down to Brownsville from Victoria have multiply redundant backup communications to the embedded systems management running the servers, including PPP over dial.
Plus, copper phone lines are protected by old school wire tap rules. I had someone ask about implementing a private dial UUCP network using Raspberry Pi nodes when we were in Vantucky, and I gathered that whatever his group was up to, they didn’t want email and files going over an Internet provider.
I did some preliminary research and bought a bit of hardware out of curiosity, but the project never went anywhere.
I’ve always been a bit out of step. In the AOL era, I was on Delphi, mostly for Linux and OS2 communities. Delphi changed from an ISP to a website/social media presence when I last checked about 10 years ago. May have disappeared since.
I still use AOL email. It works, it’s pretty good at spam filtering and a whole lot of people have that email addy. I’ve had the same one for decades. In fact, I hear, d from an old friend just last week who reached out thru that decades old email not expecting it to work, but it did.
When yahoo merged/bought AOL they changed the TOS to let them serve ads and scan email, and I almost changed, but inertia…
I’m glad I still maintain the addresses. I have others, but the one everyone knows is AOL.
———
It’s still 82F but the humidity is down and there was a gentle breeze coming off the lake, so my dock time was pleasant. Radio was noisy and low, but I did hear some stations I don’t normally hear. WRMI in Miami was barely audible, Cuba non-existent.
Got a lot done today, so tomorrow will be mostly cleaning up and normal visit stuff, like cutting the grass.
Then it’s home to the start of school frenzy.
n