Cool, warm, humid, but less so than a week ago. Still trending downwards. Hooray. And we got a little rain yesterday in various parts of town. Not my house, but downtown got a bit. Several times I used my windshield wipers for a few seconds. We need some more too.
I did a couple of pickups, and made two trips to the shop to drop stuff off. Ended up not having time for Costco, so that will move to today. I made a potroast in the slow cooker, but I’m the only one who needed dinner. Oh well, it’ll be good tonight.
Today I’ve got one pickup, more solar, and one I will try to do close to home. Costco is high on my list as I don’t want to go on the weekend. I need gas in the Ranger too. And I need to work the list, at least one or two items… it’ll be disjointed, like this post.
But it should result in adding to the stacks, which is a good thing. Get you some of that too.
nick
Employees stole Service Merchandise blind.
From what I saw last weekend, IKEA has forgotten how to be IKEA in the US. I don’t know about other parts of the world.
To start to reverse the trends, IKEA and the rest of retail need to ban the friggin’ masks on the faces of their workforce at this point. They’ve become political symbols. If an employee is that sick, they need to stay home.
Rebuilding Sears with the credit terms which were in place until Americans got whiny during the Clinton era and the courts killed the model.
And no more $20 Reeboks.
On our last run to IKEA, we walked past three employees standing around the large/bulky item order desk essentially doing nothing while the cafe at the entrance sat idle on a busy afternoon due to a “staffing shortage”.
Texas has weird rules about certifications for food handling, but wouldn’t the “IKEA way” require everyone to be certified and ready to pitch in where needed?
Another sign of the chain’s abandoning the philosophies which made them successful are the satellite “plan and order” stores with limited stock and order pick up desks in Fancy Lad areas such as The Domain in Austin and Katy outside Houston.
I stopped casually going to IKEA (and I’d go in every week or so to look at AS-IS and grab a hotdog) when they posted the 30-06 notice and kicked out a COP because he was carrying. I ONLY went back after trying a half dozen other ways to configure and buy cabinets, and failing.
Their politics cost them my business for the last 10-15 years.
——————-
Didn’t get enough sleep last night.
——————
We are not evolved for a 24 hour news cycle.
I’m working on an idea. Call it ‘The Breathless Messenger”. Humans seem to have evolved a way to circumvent whatever our normal rules and governing considerations are for group responses. In times when we need to act or die, we as a group act.
The Boy Who Cried Wolf is an example. The “breathless messenger” runs up, describes a threat, and the group responds immediately, rushing to attack or defend WITHOUT invoking whatever normal hierarchy is present. The villagers rush out to kill the wolf.
Frankenstein’s Monster gets the same treatment – pitchforks and shovels and an angry mob outside the doors.
Mob Justice – same thing.
The witch hysteria, lynch mobs, a ‘call to arms’ – it’s all related.
The breathless messenger describes an imminent threat, and the group responds.
Now though, the news media ALWAYS has some imminent threat. They are the breathless messenger, running up to short circuit the group’s normal decision making and governance, and provoke an action. Every 24 hour news cycle triggers another rush to do something.
Their are evolved counters to this too. Going back to The Boy Who Cries Wolf, the villagers warn him about repeated alerts. The group gets fatigued. They get inured to the imminent threat. They incorporate it into their lives and it just becomes part of the new normal.
I’d like to think that some of what we’re seeing now is the “you’ve provoked us too many times” response. Not everyone is at the same point on their response curve, but more and more, the MSM cries fall on deaf ears.
The risk, of course, is that one of these times the wolf really is there and we don’t respond.
———–
Makes sense??
n
IKEA here, the usual model is you figure out what you want and take it with you. Larger items, you collect yourself from the shelves near the checkouts.
Relatively new (a few years now): you can order online and pay in advance, and the goods will be placed in an outdoor locker for you to pick up whenever you want.
I suppose the must deliver really big items (like sofas), but I’ve never done that so I don’t really know.
I really dislike the IKEA stores: no windows, and they try to get you to walk a maze through the whole store. Makes me feel claustrophobic. With the locker option, I hope to never go inside an IKEA again…
I’m older, like most of you. Sears was already fading when I was a teen. From my 20s onwards, it was a walking corpse, until all the stores closed. So two generations do not know Sears or what it used to be.
There’s no coming back from that.
Part of it is also the eternal tragedies. Why do I care about a landslide in Brazil, or a bus accident in Japan? I don’t – it’s far away, it doesn’t affect me or my community, and there’s nothing I could do anyway. But the media collects these tragedies, because they need the tragic headlines. “If it bleeds, it leads.”
Even on social media, where you wind up in your own Internet bubble. I wish! I’m on X, and I would like to only Switzerland-related news. It insists on feeding me stuff about Germany. Maybe because of the common language? But I just don’t care about it, because – again – there’s nothing I can do about it.
IKEA is not what it once was.
They used to have designer furniture and household objects at affordable prices in decent quality. We bought our first set of “Pax” wardrobes there for example, and we are still using them 25 years and three moves later. They look like new. The old stuff was built to last. It also helped if one assembled items carefully, and with judicious use of glue.
The “price” for the good, old stuff was that they took the best designer items out of the assortment, never to return. We have some beautiful lamps and clocks, for instance, that just went away. I would have liked to get more of them for the BOL, but too late.
About 12 years ago,we bought some additional “Pax” wardrobe units. Those have been in situ since assembled, and not hard used, but they are starting to look like needing to be replaced. The quality and durability of the materials are just not there any more.
There are still a few items that are really useful and good value for money. BEKVÄM step stools, for instance, or their own-brand ziploc-type baggies. I got some of each recently, but I walked in through the checkouts, picked them up and walked back to the self-scan. No wandering the maze or stopping for meatballs…
My install the Hi-Fi job went, as usual, fractal. I’m just back from the second 40km round trip to the hardware store in two days. Two pair of speaker cable wouldn’t fit in the conduit on hand, so had to get more. Plus some double-sided tape to stick it to the wall. Didn’t conduit use to come pre-taped? Hmm. The hardware store wanted 8.99 for a 1.5m roll of tape. The discount store down the road, “Action”, had identical tape for 3.99. Good thing I remembered having seen it there.
Yesterday it was some cabinetry hardware. I know I have it at base, but there was none at the BOL. Grr.
Ah well. Light at the end of the tunnel, though. Maybe… or maybe it’s a train, or further luminous fractals.
@Dwnis: all true. We bought some shelving many years ago, and the same model again not long ago. It’s actually a miracle that the same model exists, but…all of the structural pieces are a fraction the size of the older shelves. Shrinkflation of a different kind…
My office is IKEAhacked Expedit and billy bookcases. My “library” is too. The new billy is nothing like the old billy in terms of quality.
The Expedit line (solid office furniture) was discontinued. It still sells well used. The replacement isn’t as good.
Their kitchen cabinets are still good, but they aren’t cheap, and the drawers suck. Because of the design, with slanted walls on the inside, you can’t really use all the drawer space, which means more of the cubic volume goes unused too. It’s a small amount but it adds up. Because the drawer walls aren’t straight, tall stuff flops around when you move the drawers too. Not great.
the Malm dressers everyone uses are a pain in the butt too, as the drawers aren’t full extension.
It definitely seems like they are making their money on accessories now.
n
“Sears” as a concept has to be rebuilt. The corporate entity known as Sears Holdings is long past the point where they could get the job done with a fresh look infusion of capital. Certainly, current management is too incompetent.
Think about the real estate capital Sears held just a decade ago. That has all been p*ssed away with nothing to show for it.
Jim Cramer cheerled the Sears Holdings fiasco, calling Eddie Lampert “The next Warren Buffet”.
It is fitting that Cramer rose to fame as a crime beat reporter. He needs to be fitted for an orange suit of his own IMHO.
I had an idea this morning. If I’m not paying the property taxes today but waiting two months because savings is paying 1/2% interest per month, why not buy an 8 week t-bill? And make ~4% interest?
I’m going to spend the money anyway. I can make about $22 from the bank over two months or make around $90. That’s a bag of dog food and a 30 of Miller High Life. Makes sense to me.
A few clicks to buy the t-bill. It’ll issue on Nov.4. Then schedule a transfer from savings to checking on Nov.3.
Fifteen minutes and done. Including the dogs’ morning cookie time while making a cup of coffee.
Can I get one? If these work out, I hope to see a proliferation in the civvy world.
I hope to see a proliferation in the civvy world.
– Shipstones!
n
Within the past week, someone, probably Nick, mentioned a batch of brownies that someone, probably a daughter, made.
Next time that someone is in a sweets-baking mood, suggest cookie-brownies: make a batch of chocolate chip cookie dough and smoosh it into the bottom of the baking dish. Then make a batch of brownies and pour it on top. You’ll want half as much brownie batter as you would normally use for that size dish. Bake as you would the brownies.
Very popular with teens and preteens. As in, I’d bring a 13×9 sheet, cut into 1 ½” squares, to my daughter’s school, the staff person would set the tray out at lunchtime, and two minutes after she said OK there would be nothing left but a slight scent of chocolate. Very small school, by the way, with fewer kids in grade 7-12 than there were squares.
If I saw that cookie sheet, the only thing filling my brain would be “Oh YES, you WILL be mine…”
n
4% APY. You will see .06 % if my math is right.
I accumulate dividends, capital gains, and CD interest in a balanced mutual fund and pay Federal taxes out of that. I see about 12% annually on that fund right now but it is riskier than the bank or Treasuries.
If you want to do something different in between the two, the mutual fund companies offer short term bond funds which have varying amounts of Treasuries in the mix.
Vanguard’s is 80% treasuries, but God only knows what they’re doing with the rest.
T Rowe has … 40% … treasuries in their short term fund, but that is riskier for the higher returns. OTOH, it is T Rowe, and a lot of companies have 401k plans there.
When gasoline and diesel hit $10 per gallon US and the brown trucks stop delivering to homes.
– do they not have home delivery in the UK? Norway? Gas was $13USD/gal when I was there 15 years ago if I did the math right…
Small countries compared to the USA. Texas alone is bigger than most countries on the planet.
“Ruby Fever: A Hidden Legacy Novel (7) by Ilona Andrews
https://www.amazon.com/Ruby-Fever-Hidden-Legacy-Novel/dp/0062878395?tag=ttgnet-20/
Book number seven of a six book and one novella (seven books total) paranormal romance fantasy series. I reread the well printed and well bound novella MMPB published by Avon in 2022 that I bought new from Amazon in 2024. This is the last book in the series and I doubt that there will be more but, hope springs eternal.
Totally cool series for me. This makes the fourth series that I have read from Ilona Andrews, a husband and wife writing team based here in Texas. The Innkeeper, Kate Daniels, and The Edge are the other series of books. They are now starting a couple of new series of books.
The Hidden Legacy Universe is a complex place. The Osiris serum that induced magical powers in humans was released to the general public in 1863 and the world was never the same. The Osiris serum has three results: death, paranormal powers, or paranormal powers with a warped human body. The serum was banned after a while but the world was irreparably changed since the paranormal powers are inheritable. Families starting breeding children for strength in magical powers with breathtaking results. Magic users are segregated into five ranks: Minor, Average, Notable, Significant, and Prime. The Prime families operate mostly outside the Federal and State laws since they are so powerful and incredibly dangerous.
Catalina Baylor is Nevada Baylor’s younger sister and a Prime Siren. Nevada is wed and gone so now Catalina is running the show. And now Linus, the long term friend of the House Baylor and former speaker of the Assemblies of Magic, revealed himself to be the Warden for the State of Texas and has made Catalina his only Deputy Warden.
Arabella Baylor is Catalina Baylor’s younger sister and a Prime Beast that is unknown to the general populace. She can transform to a 65 foot tall beast but, she has trouble controlling when to transform. The only other recorded person who had this power could never control their transformations or reason while in beast form so the populace is incredibly scared of her.
Alessandro Sagredo is a Prime Weapons Teleporter, a retired assassin, and an exiled Italian count. He is staying with the Baylor family now since his family exiled him for turning down the three rich heiresses that they set him up with to refinance his family with their dowries.
Catalina and her family have tracked down the Osiris serum to a international assassin building the ultimate assassin for hire firm. And he wants to assassinate the Baylor family. And their friends.
The authors have a very active website at:
https://ilona-andrews.com/
My rating: 6 out of 5 stars
Amazon rating: 4.8 out of 5 stars (7,971 reviews)
Lynn
“DOJ Warns California Against Arresting Federal Immigration Agents”
https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/doj-warns-california-against-arresting-federal-immigration-agents-5934261?utm_source=partner&utm_campaign=TheLibertyDaily
“High-ranking Democrats suggested local authorities could arrest federal agents if they break state law, prompting a response from the DOJ.”
“The Department of Justice (DOJ) on Thursday warned local authorities in California against arresting federal immigration agents for charges related to their duties after high-ranking Democrats raised such a prospect.”
“Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche addressed statements from California officials, including Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins, who he said “called for state and local law enforcement officials to ‘arrest’ federal agents and officers for enforcing federal laws enacted by the U.S. Congress, including federal immigration laws.””
““The Department of Justice views any arrests of federal agents and officers in the performance of their official duties as both illegal and futile. Numerous federal laws prohibit interfering with and impeding immigration or other law-enforcement operations,” Blanche said.”
Can we arrest the high ranking dumbrocrats ?
Stay away from dumbrocrats, they are are dangerous.
Hat tip to:
https://thelibertydaily.com/
““The Department of Justice views any arrests of federal agents and officers in the performance of their official duties as both illegal and futile. Numerous federal laws prohibit interfering with and impeding immigration or other law-enforcement operations,” Blanche said.”
– while I see his point, the reasoning is circular. It all comes down to force in the end. Who can enforce their desire?
n
Americans buy more cr*p than anyone else on the planet.
Opened my property tax bill just now … not bad … about the same as last year.
California has a voter backed State Constitutional Amendment limiting tax increases :
We used to be sane here.
“Special Districts” fees are now up to 10% of the entire bill though.
Uh, you are right. I had to think about it.
I just checked Frost’s site. Savings 0.40% APY if you have more than $15 grand. A 3.99% t-bill beats that.
Take my number of $90 for two months. Call it $45 for a month. Divide by 12 and well, wave your hands around and I’ll get the grand total of $7.50 interest for the eight weeks.
Ok, no dog food or beer. Just a box of dog cookies and $3.52 for a can of peanuts. Better than what the bank pays.
I’ll know for sure when the t-bill money is pulled from checking. Heck, I pretty happy to have the money to “play” with.
I wonder if the smart store owners are stocking up on plywood, what with the end of EBT and SNAP a couple weeks away?
Just before the Rodney King riots, a lot of car dealers moved all their cars out of LA and surrounding areas. I drove home past several and at the time, I thought it was odd that they went out of business overnight. Later I figured out that they didn’t, they just protected their inventory.
Some people see clearly, some don’t.
n
Can I get one? If these work out, I hope to see a proliferation in the civvy world.
I suspect that the price will be around $25 million each plus delivery and installation. Fueled for 30+ years !
Of course, the units will get smaller and smaller for the smaller markets. A 20 kW unit might be available for $100,000 some day. Walmarts and other big box stores will buy them by the thousands.
WWtDD: What Will the Dumbocrats Do?
I think the Dumbo’s will crumble before EBT/SNAP aren’t paid. That debacle could guarantee the Dumbo’s crash and burn during the midterms. Don’t get between Momma and her SNAP.
Enough to last my lifetime! Can I get a goobermint no-payment loan on the first 30 years? Let my children pay off the loan. LoooooL!
Americans buy more cr*p than anyone else on the planet.
Yup, and proud of it. How many Billy Basses on a Plaque have been sold in the USA, 100 million ?
We had our first HOA meeting with the new guard last night. We got three out of five seats in the triple recount election where three ballots mysteriously disappeared and thirteen new ballots mysteriously appeared in the lawyers office for the final recount.
My buddy, now the President of the HOA, went through the architectural document and changed all of the “shall” to “should” and passed it with much yelling and complaining about lack of process. The rest of us clapped for it. Hey, Ben did not pass it in an emergency zoom meeting like they did last summer.
We can now have any fence that we want, not just horse fences, and at the property line, not ten feet inside the property line. We can now build any house that we want to and any additional mother-in-law house, subject to the County flood control limits. The old guard was in fainting swoons because we can put metal shops in our backyards again. Etc and Etc.
““The Department of Justice views any arrests of federal agents and officers in the performance of their official duties as both illegal and futile. Numerous federal laws prohibit interfering with and impeding immigration or other law-enforcement operations,” Blanche said.”
– while I see his point, the reasoning is circular. It all comes down to force in the end. Who can enforce their desire?
The US Marine Corps can enforce the DOJ’s view.
“Market Forces”
https://areaocho.com/market-forces-3/
“Ron DeSantis is taking heat for a statement that he made. He said that people under age 50 largely don’t need health insurance. He is correct. People under age 50 are healthier than those over 50, and their premiums largely pay the freight for those who are older and sicker.”
“Our nation’s healthcare system gets crapped on a lot. Even though the United States has only 9% of the world’s doctors and 3% of the world’s hospitals, half of the innovation in healthcare of the entire world is being created right here in the United States. We are punching far above our weight class:”
I had my first heart attack at age 49 (am 65 now) in 2009. Turns out being born without a right coronary artery is tough on your body. The bill was $61K, I paid $1,500, the insurance company paid $9,000, and the two hospitals wrote off the rest.
I feel lucky. My cousin born 13 years after me was born without the artery from her heart to her lungs. She was a blue baby and had open heart surgery at Texas Childrens Hospital at three days of age, spending several months there in recovery. She had another open heart surgery at age 11 to patch the patch. She is still alive and doing ok, not great.
“Amazon Reveals Cause of Major AWS Internet Outage Earlier This Week”
https://www.pcmag.com/news/amazon-reveals-cause-of-major-aws-internet-outage-earlier-this-week
“Millions around the world found themselves unable to access popular services thanks to a Domain Name System issue with Amazon Web Services.”
You know, you would think that their DNS system would have a backup system in case of failure. This is going to cost AWS millions in performance penalties.
Poynter Institute site.
The Tampa Bay Times.
DeSantis has kicked them out of briefings numerous times.
Not that long ago, no more than 20 years, when it came to discretionary spending – pretty much everything other than food and shelter – there was America and then there was the rest of the world. IIRC, American discretionary spending was just about equal to everyone else’s. (I think that was only for consumer spending, not corporate or government.)
Does anyone who does international business know if these numbers reflected reality back then? Reality now?
“NASA Activates Earth Defense Group Over Concerns Of Manhattan-Sized Comet With Possible Alien Technology”
https://dailycaller.com/2025/10/23/nasa-planetary-defense-group-earth-3i-atlas-alien-technology/
“A planetary defense group backed by NASA has started efforts to nail down the exact location of comet 3I/ATLAS following the observation of unnatural behavior from the object.”
“The comet, which is the size of Manhattan that possibly has alien technology, has been listed by the International Asteroid Warning Network (IAWN) as a threat. The group is a global coalition of space experts and entities coordinated by NASA who come together for the detection and monitoring of asteroids and Near-Earth Objects that could possibly be hazardous, doing so to give assessments on potential Earth impacts.”
“According to the New York Post, this is the first time ever that an interstellar object has been zoned in on by the group in a campaign, triggering one to sharpen skills and prepare the world for a possible threat from space.”
The Alien Starship is now retrobraking around Sol after slowing down for an optimal orbit. One wonders if this is a generation spaceship or very long lived alien(s). We will know in a few months if it is going to visit Earth.
After all, their preliminary spacecraft has been following Earth around the Solar System since the 1960s.
https://www.chron.com/news/space/article/second-moon-earth-asteroid-2025-pn7-21111804.php
Big Mouth Billy Bass generated a lot of employment 40 years ago because getting one involved accessing brick-n-mortar retail even if purchased through a store chain’s mail order division.
I know Service Merchandise carried them as well as Montgomery Ward.
I didn’t have a regular GP until I was 52.
Now I have him and four specialists, but I just fired the sleep doctor and need to get another one in order to get clear from being mulcted by the sleep apnea industrial complex.
Treasuries definitely do better than the bank savings accounts right now.
I still use CDs to stash kid college money 9-12 months out.
My emergency fund is a standard savings account.
“F-150 Lightning Production Halted Indefinitely As Ford Bets On Gas Trucks Again”
https://www.carscoops.com/2025/10/ford-hits-gas-on-truck-production-f-150-lightning-to-remain-paused/
“Ford will ramp up production of the F-150 and F-Series Super Duty in 2026, but the Lightning will pay the price”
Where are the sodium batteries ???
So it sounds like Trump is sending a carrier battle group, with the Ford, to near Venezuela.
I’ve been telling people for a while that it’s not a real operation until one of those shows up.
Pshaw. I use Vinyl LPs.
I can still remember my father telling me that wax cylinders were the way to go.
It’s laughable watching the Dumbos/PLTs/LSM trying to make tRump’s ballroom a “thing”. When Kankles* chimes in, you know it is a Hail Mary. I hope the Redumbo’s watch, and, remember the dirty pool tactics the Dumbo’s are using. Use the same on them.
*Kankles will never, ever, be President. Another gift from tRump. Also, the Kamel.
25 years ago, even Chavez expected the Wisconsin to drop anchor within sight of Caracas before things in the country deteriorated to the point that they’ve reached now.
I doubt the expats thought they would be cooling their (Prada) heels in their condos on Collins Avenue for this long.
Or that the condos would begin to collapse from lack of maintenance before they were back in charge in the homeland.
SO… now Ford has given up, how many does that make? 3? 5?
You can’t force people to buy what they don’t want to buy, if they have any other choice.
n
@Lynn
Take a look at your electric bill and tote up all the charges and taxes that are not directly X KWH @ $Y.
In the blue states all the taxing layers will apply those same charges to privately generated electricity used on-site, with the blessing of the state
The utility charges will simply get increased for the remaining customers. The Dems will then soften the blow for the low-income parasites and add another surcharge so the paying customers pick up the tab. The utility boards will smile as they rubber stamp to maintain the profitability levels within the acceptable range.
The state will also lay claim to any electricity generated when an emergency is declared. Make your best guess to how long it takes to redefine “emergency” to “when the blue voters don’t want to pay for electric.
Any entity that installs such a device in a location under blue rule (and many others) is nuts.
Not many choices left. Cars were a necessary sacrifice so Elon could go to Mars.
Don’t worry if you can’t leave your house. Tesla sex robots are coming soon.
T Rowe’s short term bond fund is actually 17% Treasuries. Yikes!
Sat out with a tiny little fire and a book tonight. It’s 75F and somewhere between breezy and windy although that seems to be settling down. It was gusting earlier. Afternoon was cloudy and threatening to storm. Never got any rain at home though.
There is a carpet of acorns on the ground. I’ve crushed them into dust on the walkway there are so many. Someone would probably make a weather prediction based on that.
———
I finished the second book in the Wen Spencer “Black Wolves of Boston” series. It took her 8 years to get back to the series after the first one, and if it takes another 8 years, well, that would suck because the story and characters are finally starting to take shape. She is definitely a “writing is hard, and I can only do so many books a decade” kind of author. She’s been concentrating on her Tinker/Elfhome novels, which I enjoyed immensely despite them taking a long time to come out.
Larry Correia has a new fantasy novel out, that is probably the start of a new series, and I’ll probably start that next. He, at least, is quick and prolific. The authors who write a lot seem to have come into the field thru non-traditional paths. The ones who came up through trad publishing are much more limited in what they release and how often. (I’ve read that prolific trad publishing authors would often use several pen names to get around the publishers’ desire to limit how many books they released.) Ebooks and indy have really freed authors to write and to make money doing it. It seems to be similar to how youtube has democratized content creation. Despite the problems with youtube and amazon, they still have facilitated a creative explosion.
———-
I have a credit monitoring service I get as part of a settlement for a data breach or as a member of a group. They also monitor online exposure. It has an interesting disclaimer.
emphasis added.
————
Time for a shower and bed. Tomorrow is another day.
n