Sun. Sept. 28, 2025 – might head out today

By on September 28th, 2025 in cooking/baking, culture, lakehouse, march to war

Cooler than it has been, then warming like usual. It was 66F when I went to bed, so I’m thinking it will start cool too. It certainly got warm in the sun, well into the 90sF yesterday afternoon. With the dampness, it was actually chilly last night.

I got stuff done during the day, but it wasn’t stuff that was high on my list. I mostly pressure washed stuff. Had to be done, in fact was overdue to be done, but it probably could have been put off some more. It was low involvement and fairly low effort though which suited my mood. I even took down most of the kids’ play structure before losing the daylight. That’s an end of an era.

I’m beginning to think that I need to actually start exercising in some real way. I’ve always added and lost muscle rapidly as needed, but I’m finding it easier to lose, and faster, than in the past. If I want to stay strong, I’m going to have to work at it, and I hate the idea of that. I’m thinking something like a bowflex, where I can do a 30 minute circuit, just to stay ahead of entropy. I’m open to suggestions and any first hand experience.

Today I’ll do some more domestic bliss and home stuff, but I’m also thinking about heading to the BOL. If I go, I’ll stay overnight and come home Monday night. I’ve got a load of stuff to take up, and I’m sure that entropy has had its messy fingers all over my stuff up there. Something needs attention, it always does.

With the cooling days, I might have switched to A/C in the garage just in time to need to switch back to heat… it’s been a weird weather year.

Maybe time for some Fall planting?

Planting is a prep, as the learning curve for growing food is steep.

Much easier and more reliable to stack. Probably best to do both.

nick

61 Comments and discussion on "Sun. Sept. 28, 2025 – might head out today"

  1. SteveF says:

    Please tell me her major is not psychology or women’s studies.

    General STEM: math and science, plus the usual mandatory fluff courses. She would really like to study astrophysics but is aware that the job market is limited. Alternatively, biology but she’s aware that that’s pretty much the bozo science degree and that pollutes the job market. For now she’s taking courses she’d need for any real science or engineering degree and will figure it out along the way.

    I’m just annoyed that she’s taking English 101. The school she graduated from was very strong on English writing and literature overall and she in particular writes very well, including fiction, persuasive essays, lab reports, and research projects. She should have been able to test out of freshman English and free up the time for something she’d learn from. It wasn’t presented as an option when she was signing up for courses and now she doesn’t want to rock the boat by asking about testing out. Grr. “Don’t rock the boat” was not the attitude I wanted to instill in my children.

  2. Greg Norton says:

    There are very few GI’s or thinking men in general who would not take “some harm to their person” in exchange for “blowing the enemy’s shiite up”.

    RF exposure is one route my wife’s nephew is considering in order to collect a disability check when he leaves the Army at some point in the near future.

    From what I understand, he shuffles paperwork for an air artillery unit and spends a couple of weeks a year out in 29 Palms around the hardware.

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  3. Greg Norton says:

    General STEM: math and science, plus the usual mandatory fluff courses. She would really like to study astrophysics but is aware that the job market is limited. Alternatively, biology but she’s aware that that’s pretty much the bozo science degree and that pollutes the job market. For now she’s taking courses she’d need for any real science or engineering degree and will figure it out along the way.

    Biology is generally pre-med.

    At the tolling company, we hired Number One Son Biology undergrad from MIT just to have that paper in the group, but he was useless as a developer despite a decade of experience at NASA as a contractor through KBR and a gimme PD MSCS from Houston Clear Lake.

    Management literally gave him the offer with the title “Junior Developer” just to see if he was hungry enough to take the job.

    Of course he was!

  4. Greg Norton says:

    There are still symphonies and other places that someone with education and talent in music can find employment, but those are dependent on other people’s wealth, and a wealthy society.

    added.  when it’s impossible to get hired, you have to find a way on your own.

    Prior to the pandemic, the student loan paper was the Federal Government’s largest revenue generating asset. The system is currently structured to turn out large numbers of highly educated, deeply indebted baristas.

    A day of reckoning is coming for the schools.

    Friends whose child studied Music Education in Florida sent the kid to Austin for grad school since this state p*sses away far more money on nonsense than where they live and a UT Butler diploma will increase his chances of landing a high school band director position in either state, but especially Texas.

  5. Greg Norton says:

    We’re heading home shortly from Nashville, where my wife had a conference this week.

    I left work last Friday under a cloud, with management talking mandatory weekend work to cover a schedule “left shift” related to that big announcement from the big chip companies two weeks ago.

    Of course the lead pings in the Teams chat on Friday afternoon at 3:30 PM with me holding non-refundable plane tickets for the morning. I went home, set my status to “Away”, and spent a few hours finishing real work.

    I haven’t looked at the Panopticon since the evening of the 19th.

    The lead who pinged me was the same individual who drove our [Hot Skillz] effort. She is a favorite of management several levels above me, but our [Hot Skillz] effort was a fiasco.

  6. Greg Norton says:

    Let that be a lesson to you kids. Don’t drive into Downtown Portland in a big bus with ICE painted on the side.

    https://www.kgw.com/article/news/crime/rapper-ice-cube-tour-bus-fire-downtown-portland/283-dc12c43f-2552-4739-bcc2-4237aac82a52

  7. dcp says:

    Case law is that the police can force you to unlock a phone with your face, but cannot force you to unlock it with a passcode.

    I don’t have face recognition for access enabled on any of my devices, but I do have fingerprint unlock enabled on my mobile phone.  So that could be an issue if I am ever detained.  However, my Samsung has a configurable feature for “Lockdown Mode.”  So one long press on the power button followed by one tap on a screen icon disables fingerprint recognition until after the next successful access by whatever other method (pattern or PIN, in my case).

    Do other Android phones, or Apple phones, have similar features?

  8. drwilliams says:

    Des Moines School Superintendent Case Shows How Off the Rails the Left Is on Immigration

    The Chair of the Des Moines School Board is Michele Obama’s former Chief of Staff and current candidate for US Senate, Jackie Norris, who will no doubt be forced to answer questions regarding why she led the charge to hire a DEI-focused illegal alien with a criminal record to be the leader of Des Moines’ schools. 

    https://hotair.com/david-strom/2025/09/27/des-moines-school-superintendent-case-shows-how-off-the-rails-the-left-is-on-immigration-n3807245

    The Obamas pollute everything.

    Hopefully the Republicans in Iowa will wake up and hammer Norris flat with this.

    1. Get him in the dock and levy a fine of $1,000 a day for each day he was in the country after his final order of deportation.
    2. Prosecute him on all counts
    3. Investigate the DMPS Disctrict, fine them for hiring an illegal alien , Prosecute the board to the fullest extent of the law, put the district under judicial supervision for ten years, and open an investigation to determine how many other illegals they have on the payroll.
  9. Greg Norton says:

    Do other Android phones, or Apple phones, have similar features?

    My M1 MacBook Pro disables the fingerprint unlock after the machine sits idle for a certain length of time.

    I’ve never enabled the fingerprint reader on my iPhone. My guess it that it has a similar default timeout.

  10. MrAtoz says:

    On iPhone, press and hold the right side button and any volume button for 2 seconds and the power off toggle comes up. Cancel that and you have to put in your PIN to unlock, or just shut the phone down if you don’t need it. You always have to put in the PIN at power up. Do this just before the cops arrest you. You can also turn off Face ID and just use a PIN.

  11. SteveF says:

    What about grimacing as part of the normal unlock – close your eyes and stick your tongue out or something along those lines. If the stupid pigs try to forcibly unlock the phone, look at it normally.

  12. Greg Norton says:

    The Chair of the Des Moines School Board is Michele Obama’s former Chief of Staff and current candidate for US Senate, Jackie Norris, who will no doubt be forced to answer questions regarding why she led the charge to hire a DEI-focused illegal alien with a criminal record to be the leader of Des Moines’ schools. 

    From the picture in the NY Times article, it looks like the illegal alien in question has big hands.

    We all know what that means. Forget any other qualification.

    Just ask Fani Willis in Atlanta.

  13. Nick Flandrey says:

    Hooboy, apparently pressure washing for hours, some of it on a ladder, uses muscles in your trunk.   Sore stiff muscles.

    And staying up til dawn reading puts a crimp in getting up before noon.

    Sometimes I’m an idiot.

    ————

    Breakfast is brunch.   Dr Pepper instead of coffee although I’m thinking of some decaf just for the taste.

    ————-

    Time to get moving on something here as I’m not hugely motivated to head out after abusing myself yesterday. 

    n

  14. Nick Flandrey says:

    He certainly seems like an unstable nutjob.

    According to records obtained by the Daily Mail, Edge has been behind numerous lawsuits filed in the state this year. 

    One of the legal filings accuses a Southport church of trying to kill him, according to the lawsuit filed in May. 

    In it, he claimed the Generations Church was behind a ‘civil conspiracy’ drawn up by the LGBTQ community and white supremacist pedophiles to kill him because he is a ‘straight man,’ the filing said. 

    Edge filed a similar lawsuit in January against Brunswick Medical Center, where he accused the facility of being part of a conspiracy launched by ‘LGBTQ White Supremacists’ who were this time out to get him because he survived their attack in Iraq, per the lawsuit. 

    Both lawsuits were dismissed with prejudice, records showed.  

    n

  15. Nick Flandrey says:

    Second thing I see this morning.

    One dead and 9 injured after gunman rams car into Michigan church and lights fire leaving people to burn alive

    By LAURA PARNABY, US SENIOR NEWS REPORTER

    Published: 11:38 EDT, 28 September 2025 | Updated: 13:26 EDT, 28 September 2025 

    At least one person has died and several more are in critical conditions after a gunman set fire to a Mormon church in Michigan before gunning down congregants. 

    Police said a 40-year-old man opened fire on more than a hundred people who gathered for a service at the Church of Latter Day Saints in Grand Blanc on Sunday.

    The unnamed suspect, who authorities have said was from nearby Burton, was shot dead by officers at the scene as flamed engulfed the church. 

    Grand Blanc Township Police Department said there were ‘multiple victims and the shooter is down’ at around 11.13am. 

    The department also said the church was on fire in the aftermath of the shooting.  

    n

  16. Ray Thompson says:

    some more domestic bliss

    So that is the new socially acceptable term?

  17. paul says:

    One dead and 9 injured after gunman rams car into Michigan church and lights fire leaving people to burn alive

    “The shooter has not been publicly identified.”

    Not a white guy, then.  But they know it’s “a 40-year-old man”.   It’s either Diversity or more likely the Religion of Pieces.

  18. OldGuy says:

    re: church shooting/fire

    Patience, grasshoppers. There are multiple victims (deaths and injuries), a building on fire, probable additional victims inside, and you guys are grumbling because they haven’t fully publically identified the shooter.

    But go ahead with your conspiracy theories. You have much experience with those. I’m OK with waiting a few hours for the release of information. 

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  19. SteveF says:

    I hope that it’s obvious to everyone here that we need to stay armed and stay alert at all times.

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  20. MrAtoz says:

    I hope that it’s obvious to everyone here that we need to stay armed and stay alert at all times.

    Sounds like a conspiracy theory.

  21. paul says:

    Patience, grasshoppers.

    Yes.  But.  They know the guy is 40.  So they know who it is.  If it was Billy Bob White we would already know his home address and that he has a brother and a sister and he’s divorced and leaves behind three children. 

    So.  With the lack of facts announced, and they know the guy is 40, the media folks are covering that the crazy shooter is either OFE or moslem. 

    And let me think.  Ok, thought done.  Who tends to ram cars into things?  Other than moslems into things like Oktoberfest gatherings and Christmas Markets?  ?

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  22. Lynn says:

    added.  when it’s impossible to get hired, you have to find a way on your own.

    It is tough when you have a $100K in debt from school loans.  My wife had $3K in school loans when we got married in 1982 and that was a pain to pay off.  I cannot imagine 30X that amount.

    BTW, two of the PhD Chemical Engineers that I hired over the years had $100K in debt from their around 10 years of colleges. It really influenced their decisions.

  23. Lynn says:

    “Record of a Spaceborn Few (Wayfarers, 3)” by Becky Chambers
       https://www.amazon.com/Record-Spaceborn-Wayfarers-Becky-Chambers/dp/0062699229?tag=ttgnet-20/

    The third book of a four book space opera science fiction series. I read the well printed and well bound trade paperback published by Harper Voyager in 2018 that I bought new on Amazon. I have bought the fourth book in the series and will read them in the future. Please note that this series won the 2019 Hugo Award for Best Series. I have no idea if there will be more books in this very loosely connected series.

    Life in the not so near future is quite different. Earth was horribly polluted and overcrowded so many people moved to other planets and space ships in the Solar System. And then the aliens showed up using wormhole traveling space ships to cross the great expanses of space much faster. The humans are now junior members of the Galactic Commons, the GC, with all of the rights and responsibilities that come with that.

    The last major push of people to leave Earth was the Exodus fleet. They scavenged and melted down the cities and built thirty-two huge generation spaceships, headed towards another star system. They found an unoccupied star system and put the generation spaceships in deep orbit around the star. Some people left the generation spaceships and some people stayed in the very old space ships. This book is mostly about the people who stayed on the spaceships, recycling and recycling everything, including human bodies.

    This series reminds me so much of the “Firefly” and “Star Trek” series due to the people (including space aliens) interactions. There are many space alien races, xenophobia, both mammals and reptiles plus a blob race, AIs, etc. Technology and craziness are rampant throughout the galaxy with people living everywhere that they can set down roots for a while.

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

    My rating: 4.4 out of 5 stars
    Amazon rating: 4.4 out of 5 stars (57,764 reviews)

    Lynn

  24. paul says:

    I had a thought but it vanished.  Anyway.  Phobia means fear.  Like hydrophobia.

    Phobia doesn’t mean hate.  

  25. SteveF says:

    They know the guy is 40.  So they know who it is.  If it was Billy Bob White…

    Correlary to Coulter’s Law: the longer it takes to release the perp’s photograph, the less likely that he’s White, Christian, and of European heritage.

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  26. OldGuy says:

    Interesting article about the ‘top 25 computer programming languages’ here

    Don’t just look at the chart, though. Read the article about how they came up with the chart. And the discussion of AI’s influence on coding and languages.

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  27. Lynn says:

    Wizard Of Id: Climate Conference

      https://www.gocomics.com/wizardofid/2025/09/28

    At least the King took his hybrid vehicle to the Climate Conference.

  28. paul says:

    It is tough when you have a $100K in debt from school loans.

    I can’t imagine that much debt.  Ok, other than a house loan.   Even at my best paying job with plenty of overtime, that’s almost every nickle of take-home pay for three years. 

    Hey.  Trade-offs.  You wanna drive two hours one-way to work or drive five miles?  Four hours commuting daily versus half an hour?  Is driving four hours a day worth it for more than twice the pay?  Not to me. 

    I have things to do that don’t involve sitting in a car.  I wanted more than four hours a day at home when half of that was getting ready for work and then getting home and making supper.  (assume 7 hours sleep.)  The dogs don’t pet themselves.  Same for the grass being mowed. And the laundry.  

    It’s worked out. Somehow I did it. Which feels kind of spooky. 

  29. paul says:

    Big River is funny.  They are constantly pushing “Audible audiobooks”.  Free trial and I’m “whatever”.  How’s that work?  I tote my phone around while listening to someone read a book?

    Why would I do that?  I don’t tote my phone around to listen to music.  It’s distracting.  A book?  No way.  

    Actually, I don’t tote my phone around at all. 

  30. Gavin says:

    Phobia means fear.  Like hydrophobia.

    I know it’s a nuance, but a phobia is generally an irrational fear. As in, there is no such thing as islamophobia because it’s entirely rational to be concerned, cautious or outright fearful when considering outcomes when interacting with Muslims. It’s interesting that the Left makes much of the ‘fear’ part of the definition, but entirely overlooks the ‘irrational’ part, so that they can use the words as slurs.

  31. Lynn says:

    One dead and 9 injured after gunman rams car into Michigan church and lights fire leaving people to burn alive

    “The shooter has not been publicly identified.”

    Not a white guy, then.  But they know it’s “a 40-year-old man”.   It’s either Diversity or more likely the Religion of Pieces.

    “Jesse Kelly Warns to Be Cautious Around Democrats – “They Program Them, No Different than a Jihadi is Programmed” (VIDEO)”

       https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2025/09/jesse-kelly-warns-be-cautious-around-democrats-they/

  32. Lynn says:

    I hope that it’s obvious to everyone here that we need to stay armed and stay alert at all times.

    “Jesse Kelly Warns to Be Cautious Around Democrats – “They Program Them, No Different than a Jihadi is Programmed” (VIDEO)”

       https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2025/09/jesse-kelly-warns-be-cautious-around-democrats-they/

  33. Lynn says:

    Report: Madden Publisher Electronic Arts to Be Acquired in $50 Billion Deal

        https://www.pcmag.com/news/report-madden-publisher-electronic-arts-to-be-acquired-in-50-billion-deal

    “The investors in the deal are said to include technology investor Silver Lake, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), and Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners. Reuters notes that Saudi Arabia may be attracted by the consistent earnings EA’s sports franchises bring to the table, as titles like Madden and FIFA release new editions every year.”

    Lots of money floating around out there looking for good investments.  Not sure this is a good investment.

  34. Lynn says:

    Interesting article about the ‘top 25 computer programming languages’ here

    Don’t just look at the chart, though. Read the article about how they came up with the chart. And the discussion of AI’s influence on coding and languages.

    All of these lists separate C and C++.  That is just wrong.

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  35. Lynn says:

    “Kirk Showed What It Means to Be a Man” By Victor Joecks

        https://www.creators.com/read/victor-joecks

    “Popular culture has two competing narratives about manhood. Charlie Kirk rejected both of them and set an example that young men should follow.”

    “The dominant view is that masculinity is toxic. In 2018, the American Psychological Association issued guidelines declaring that “traditional masculinity ideology” limits “males’ psychological development.” It also has negative influences on mental and physical health, APA claimed. Masculinity ideology includes “anti-femininity, achievement, eschewal of the appearance of weakness, and adventure, risk, and violence,” according to the guidelines.”

    “The first APA guideline states, “Psychologists strive to recognize that masculinities are constructed based on social, cultural, and contextual norms.””

    “The not-so-subtle implication is that men should act like women.”

    “The opposing view is personified by Andrew Tate, who has a massive online following among young men. He takes masculine qualities — like aggression and competitiveness — to the extreme. He’s physically strong. He’s brash. He flaunts his wealth and surrounds himself with beautiful women.”

    “Tate also wants men to dominate women. He deems women and treats them like objects to use and discard. British prosecutors have accused him of rape and human trafficking. He’s also faced similar legal problems in Romania.”

    “What feminists miss is that men have unique strengths. What Tate misses is that those strengths need to be directed to a noble purpose, or they do become toxic. What a tragedy if a young man follows either path.”

    “Kirk didn’t. He exemplified Biblical manhood and set an example for men to follow.”

  36. EdH says:

    @Paul:  Many people on long drives like audiobooks, at least I do. And people with reading issues, it was a godsend for my father with his macular degeneration (tho that was cassette tapes mostly).

    It is extremely slow compared to reading, which requires some adjustment, but most audiobook apps allow you to speed up the speech rate considerably.

    Broadcast music radio is basically a wasteland, utterly unendurable, any drive over an hour and I’m listening to Tolkein or Patrick O’Malley. 

  37. lpdbw says:

    All of these lists separate C and C++.  That is just wrong.

    Well…

    C, when I used it before C++ was a thing, is a 3G programming language, very close to assembler but portable and allowing a certain level of abstraction.  And a certain cachet of “Well, you COULD do it that way, but it’s not respecting the tradition.”  Primarily dealing with “–” is a prefix operator, and “++” is a postfix operator, and you’re naive and unsophisticated if you use it otherwise.  Which I stubbornly worked around by  coding the long way, as separate statements.

    The compiler and optimizer will fix it anyway.

    C++, OTOH, is (was?) a resume-enhancing HOT SKILLZ environment that lets you leverage your vocabulary of buzzwords and create multiple levels of meta-abstraction, utilizing a language that uses templates to define types-of-types-of-types and lots of packages and libraries where you cannot be certain of the source of the code, nor the side-effects, nor the efficiency.

    I programmed in C++ on a couple of commercial  projects, but being a caveman, I never wrote a template outside of college.  And our entire ecology of objects (SWIDT?) probably consisted of less than 20 or 30 classes.

    Just my humble opinion, of course.

  38. SteveF says:

    Granc Blanc shooter/firebomber appears to be a White man, a Marine vet. Presumably more details will come out to explain the motive. (Though whether we can trust what’s released is an open question.)

  39. Greg Norton says:

    I programmed in C++ on a couple of commercial  projects, but being a caveman, I never wrote a template outside of college.  And our entire ecology of objects (SWIDT?) probably consisted of less than 20 or 30 classes.

    I written a lot of C++ at jobs over the years, but I’ve never created a template.

    We had someone get cute with multiple inheritance and templates at the tolling company, and that module was practically unmaintainable. Once a certain line gets crossed with C++, the maintenance costs quickly go into the stratosphere.

    C++03 and C++11 introduced some genuinely interesting improvements, the Standard Library in the former and closures along with shared pointers in the latter. Beyond that,  the features just exist to pad resumes IMHO.

  40. Greg Norton says:

    C, when I used it before C++ was a thing, is a 3G programming language, very close to assembler but portable and allowing a certain level of abstraction.  And a certain cachet of “Well, you COULD do it that way, but it’s not respecting the tradition.”  Primarily dealing with “–” is a prefix operator, and “++” is a postfix operator, and you’re naive and unsophisticated if you use it otherwise.  Which I stubbornly worked around by  coding the long way, as separate statements.

    I try to write the operators so that the intent is clear to anyone reading the program. Or, at least, what I see as clear.

    I have a mental block on the order of precedence chart, and the one time I’ve ever cheated in a classroom setting was during tests in the new developer program at GTE, when the instructors kept hammering the chart in an attempt to wash me out of the program.

    I went with the Kobayashi Maru solution and changed the conditions of the test.

    Eventually, the questions about order of precedence stopped.

  41. mediumwave says:

    I have a mental block on the order of precedence chart, . . . 

    Parentheses, parentheses, parentheses! 😀

  42. Nick Flandrey says:

    It’s distracting.  A book?  No way.   

    – outside of a car, I’m with you.   But commercial radio sux teh bunnies, and I spend a lot of time driving.    

    I will say  there are issues.   Some books are ok to read, but the author can’t write a sentence that can be read out loud to save their lives.   I noticed this even when I was the one reading to the kids.   Some stuff is just hard to read out loud.  

    Some of the ‘readers’ are HORRIBLE.    No voice acting at all.  Every sentence a full stop and pause, even when the idea continues.  Slow and ponderous.   

    Some readers REALLY can’t voice the opposite sex, and some get it just right where you know it’s a female, but it doesn’t sound like a man in a drag show.

    And some readers need to hit the internet and learn how to pronounce words they are unfamiliar with instead of just winging it.

    The distraction is welcome on a long drive, although I know I ‘m not necessarily in the moment and 100% focused on driving.  This usually isn’t a problem for me on a drive to the BOL, but sometimes around town it can catch me off guard.  Of course, it is better than falling asleep.

    The BIGGEST issue with audio books is their cost.  $38?  I’m buying at thrift stores and off ebay.   And I’m NOT paying more than $6.   It’s good value, as most books are 6-10 discs long.

    n

  43. Lynn says:

    I written a lot of C++ at jobs over the years, but I’ve never created a template.

    We had someone get cute with multiple inheritance and templates at the tolling company, and that module was practically unmaintainable. Once a certain line gets crossed with C++, the maintenance costs quickly go into the stratosphere.

    I have three modeless dialogs that use multiple inheritance: MFC and my home rolled data storage / modal dialog classes.  The maintenance is not bad because I stole Anders Hejlsberg’s Object library design that I have about 300+ classes based on.  In fact, I added two more methods to the Simulation Summary modeless dialog last Friday.  

    We use the STL, the Standard Template Library, extensively.  We do not write our own templates, that way lies madness.  

    I had a few email conversations with the guy who wrote the first STL for Microsoft.  He complained that the bugs in his STL code were incredibly hard to find because people were using his STL code in very weird ways that he had never conjectured of.  Like, me.  He basically told me to not do anything crazy which I kinda took to heart.

  44. Lynn says:

    I will say  there are issues.   Some books are ok to read, but the author can’t write a sentence that can be read out loud to save their lives.   I noticed this even when I was the one reading to the kids.   Some stuff is just hard to read out loud.  

    Some of the ‘readers’ are HORRIBLE.    No voice acting at all.  Every sentence a full stop and pause, even when the idea continues.  Slow and ponderous.   

    Some readers REALLY can’t voice the opposite sex, and some get it just right where you know it’s a female, but it doesn’t sound like a man in a drag show.

    John Scalzi has Wil Wheaton read all or most of his books.  I guess that Wheaton is probably a pro at it.

  45. paul says:

    It’s interesting that the Left makes much of the ‘fear’ part of the definition, but entirely overlooks the ‘irrational’ part

    The left, the commies if you will, including the media and press, have twisted “fear” into “hate”.

    Like I have snakeophobia.  Snakes scare me.  Big venomous legless lizards that want to bite me.   I don’t hate snakes.   Snakes are actually pretty cool critters…. but over there, not near me. 

    Why does not liking folks that don’t look like me, European basically, make me hateful?  

    They all smell funny.   Black people do smell different.   Mexicans smell different.  Stores staffed with Pakis smell different.  Parakeets and cockatiels and chickens and emu and guinea all smell different.   I reckon Chinese smell different than Japanese. 

    In High School there was a frumpy girl from Germany.  Diane.  Not ugly.  Smart as a whip.  Visually not my type. I don’t think I was her type, either.  Though, blonde hair…  How and why she was there is unknown.  She was sorta nice, standoffish perhaps because of language, not someone I wanted to date, but she made me walk funny because biology made things swell.

    The nose knows.   

    The mexican chicks in high school did nothing to make things swell.   

    The turning of “phobia” from meaning “fear” to “hate” is commies or just assholes, your call, is just folks doing a mindfuck on you. 

  46. paul says:

    Granc Blanc shooter/firebomber appears to be a White man,

    Let me guess.  A hispanic moslem.

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    1
  47. paul says:

    Tonight’s movie was Prince of Persia.   A Disney movie dated 2010.  Visually pretty.  Great scenery, handsome men, pretty women.  

    I never figured exactly who was who and what the heck was going on. 

    No hate.  It was ok to watch.  But to the Library Thrift Shop it goes.

  48. Nick Flandrey says:

    Just a data point.   4 year old Bisquik is usable, but the flour tastes a bit ‘old’.   Hard to tell if it was denser than it should be, but the biscuits were not fluffy.

    If you were at all hungry, you’d eat it up.  Since it will probably be another 4 years before we use the box again, it’s going away.

    n

  49. Greg Norton says:

    Tonight’s movie was Prince of Persia.   A Disney movie dated 2010.  Visually pretty.  Great scenery, handsome men, pretty women.  

    I never figured exactly who was who and what the heck was going on. 

    No hate.  It was ok to watch.  But to the Library Thrift Shop it goes.

    We  stopped in McKay’s in Chattanooga driving up from Atlanta to Nashville last week, and I picked up “Capricorn One” and “Office Space” on DVD from their deep clearance section for 95 cents and $1.95, respectively.

    All of the DVDs at McKay’s are used, but I’ve never bought one there that refused to play.

    I also bought a complete series box set for “Spaced”. That was the splurge at $14.95.

    McKay’s is awesome.

  50. Nick Flandrey says:

    It’s perverts and pedos all the way down.

    https://www.zerohedge.com/political/sex-dungeon-former-soros-fund-manager-arrested-allegations-sadistic-abuse 

    Howard Rubin, 70, was taken into custody Friday morning at his home in Fairfield, Connecticut. According to a 10-count indictment unsealed in a Brooklyn federal court, Rubin is accused of sex-trafficking at least 10 women between 2009 and 2019 – luring them to various NYC hotels and a Manhattan penthouse with a soundproofed BDSM sex dungeon – where he restrained, beat, and shocked them with electricity, according to the US Attorney’s Office in Brooklyn. 

    Rubin reportedly spent at least $1 million on said activities. He has also been charged with bank fraud related to false statements on financial documents during a civil lawsuit stemming from these activities.

    “As alleged, the defendants used Rubin’s wealth to mislead and recruit women to engage in commercial sex acts, where Rubin then tortured women beyond their consent, causing lasting physical and/or psychological pain, in some cases physical injuries,” Brooklyn US Attorney Joseph Nocella said in a statement.

    n

  51. paul says:

    I have a lot of dvds from the $5 bin at HEB.  A new bin every six weeks or so.  Sifting though during lunch time was fun.  I would find like 20 movies and stash them in the business center.

    Because dropping $100 all at once was bad on the paying of bills cash flow  thing.

    Anyway, i had about four dud disks ever. Swapping for another copy was not a provlem.

  52. Greg Norton says:

    John Scalzi has Wil Wheaton read all or most of his books.  I guess that Wheaton is probably a pro at it.

    Wil Wheaton reads several of Bill Gates’ books, including “How To Prevent The Next Pandemic”.

    Wheaton has gone off the deep end in the last few years.

  53. drwilliams says:

    Re audiobooks:

    I’ve listened to most of the works of JK Rowling, Terry Pratchett, JD Robb, and Martha Wells in lieu of reading.  All have excellent narrators. 
     

    I use audio on road trips over an hour or so, primarily Interstate or toll roads Are familiar or have no touristy distractions. 

  54. Lynn says:

    Winter is coming.

    At 6 pm it was 93 F at my house.  At 8 pm, it was 70 F.  That is a heck of a temperature drop when the sun went down.  The dew point is 58 F.  Gonna be cool in the morning.

  55. Nick Flandrey says:

    Temp here dropped to.   70F at dinner.  Cooler than that now.

    n

  56. Lynn says:

    John Scalzi has Wil Wheaton read all or most of his books.  I guess that Wheaton is probably a pro at it.

    Wil Wheaton reads several of Bill Gates’ books, including “How To Prevent The Next Pandemic”.

    Wheaton has gone off the deep end in the last few years.

    Scalzi is right there with him.  Serious democrat and covid vaccine believer.

       https://whatever.scalzi.com/2025/09/14/got-myself-a-covid-shot-today/

  57. lpdbw says:

    Gah.   I typed a book, clicked off the page, and lost everything.

    Short highlights.:

    @Nick mentioned exercise.  My research says older folk should focus on resistance training over cardio.  I had trouble forcing myself to lift alone at home, even with all the equipment in the garage.  I joined a gym and lifted there, and also discovered I like spa and sauna.  The gym closed and other gyms were too expensive or full of gym bros.

    A program called X3 looked interesting, but way too expensive.  A little searching and YouTubing convinced me I could do it on the cheap using a bar and rubber bands bought online and a footplate I made myself from a cutting board.  That was a little less than $200, instead of the over $500 for the name-brand X3 stuff.  The whole workout setup for X3 can slide under your bed.

    I threw in a little imitation yoga that Pournelle recommended called The Five Tibetans to round things out,  and then bought a one-person infrared sauna for $200.

    I shoot for 3 workouts a week with sauna for 2 of them.  Plus daily 1.5 mile walks, weather and schedule  permitting.

    I can’t say I’m turning into an Adonis, but I do feel stronger and my BP and balance are in fine shape.

    I listen to old-time radio programs or Morse Code practice to kill the time, because exercise has never been a priority, or even an  interest, in my life.  Teh Sux, totally.

  58. Nick Flandrey says:

    @ lpdbw,   interesting.  Is the board something as complicated as this?

    https://hibid.com/lot/266180357/ce3862–ngardk-pilates-board–abdominal-reformer-?ref=catalog

    Or is it simpler with just the resistance bands and a way to hold them?

    https://hibid.com/lot/265998795/pilates-bar-kit-w–210lbs-resistance-bands?ref=lot-list 

    https://hibid.com/lot/266110736/ptp-fitness-resistance-platform-system-kit?ref=lot-list 

    (I’m using the auction site because I have it open, and I see similar stuff all the time.)

    n

  59. Nick Flandrey says:

    School night.  I’m off to bed.

    n

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