Today should be cooler to start, then warm. We might finally get some of the rain that has been threatening. Yesterday got hot and humid before the front moved in and stirred everything up. That helped with the temps, but the humidity stayed high.
I did auction stuff in the morning, although I blew off my pickup. He’ll wait and I didn’t feel like doing the round trip for two items, even if one was a solar panel. When I finally got out of the house I took a load to my shop, did a minimal amount of sorting there, and then hit Costco.
Charmin is not on sale this period. Paper towels were, so I grabbed one bale of them, and only one bale of TP. The Charmin blue is slightly less than $1/mega roll when it’s not on sale. It’s over $1 at the HEB store. I bought a three pack of LED headlamps. I’m using them all the time while working on projects or in the attic. Having the extra light where I am looking helps a lot. Since they were on sale and very bright, I grabbed the pack.
The rest of my basket was normal shopping- and Halloween candy. Our store has adopted a new (relatively new) checkout where you leave as much as possible in the cart and they scan it with handheld readers. I’ve gotten pretty good at stacking the cart with all the UPC labels visible and it really speeds up checkout. You do have to grab a few empty boxes so that when you unload into your car, it’s not all one big pile instead of having the items stacked in boxes at checkout.
I’m sure it reduces the physical strain on the checkers. When I asked if they liked it and if it was faster, the checker waffled a bit, saying it mostly depended on the cart. I can see that. I stack and orient everything to help with the process, but if you didn’t, they have to dig around in the cart and move stuff.
It’s good that they are still trying new things.
Today I’m sleeping in a bit, then working the list. I’ll also do some more Halloween decorating. I’ve got some blacklight stuff I’d like to use, but don’t have a good idea or plan for how, or what I really want to do with it. I’ve also got some fog effects I’d like to try if I have time to modify the machine. There is a guy on youtube that uses ultrasonic mist generators to turn the smoke machine fog into low lying fog. If I can get that to work, it would look great. The traditional methods of chilling the smoke don’t work particularly well outdoor.
Kids have Homecoming stuff to do later today. It’s a fun time in the school year.
It’s important when prepping to take your joy where and when you can. And stacking. That’s important too.
nick
Cold and rainy here. Snowflakes in the air, but it’s only sticking at 1500m or so. We had planned to the the Fall cleanup today, but that’s going to have to wait for better weather…
Here too. Miserable weather. A day to work on indoor stuff. I am installing cable conduit and cables for our new Hi-Fi. Gave me a reason to clean behind the couch. Cobwebs, but no cash…
My supermarket of choice has no seating for the check-out staff. You bring the items in a trolley, and they move everything to another trolley (and into boxes or bags, if you brought them) scanning and weighing as they go.
The staff tell me they prefer this system to sitting at a conveyor till, because they maintain a wide range of movement, which avoids repetitive strain injuries. They always appear to be in good spirits, so it seems to be a good place to work.
well, good morning, back at south after some days at museums continent.
In two different versions. The Goldberg edition (for those that like dark meat) and the Hillary edition (for those that like white meat). Take your choice, one of these choices becoming abstinent forever.
My last time at Costco I was waiting in line for the self-service checkout. A Costco employee scanned my card, scanned everything in my cart, while I am waiting in line. When I got to the register I just scanned my Costco card, then paid. Certainly beats me having to run each item through the scanner.
Costco trip for me yesterday as well. Normal items purchased as well as a couple quarter zip pullovers and a polo shirt. I wear pullovers at work from about this time until spring as our office is freaking cold. An added benefit is I just wear a casual t-shirt underneath. A significant portion of my clothing comes from Costco.
In other news, I just booked plane tickets for a trip to Spain in September next year. My job is done, now the wife starts planning, which she is very good at. We land in Madrid at 0700 and the rough plan (first draft) has us driving to Granada, then to Gibraltar with a day trip to Tangier. Then to Seville, with a day trip to Tavira, Portugal (or somewhere else close by). Then back to Madrid, with a stop possibly on the way.
Any suggestions for sights/recommendations welcome. We will have a rental car, so transportation isn’t an issue. Once back in Madrid, we will return the car and use public transport to move around. We will have 16 days for sight-seeing, not including travel days across the pond.
A little astronomy last night.
I was out with the old CanonT4i, got a shot of the comet Lemmon, M31, the Pleiades, the Double Cluster.
Bino’s to scout, then point & pray with the camera. There isn’t much image intensification with that finder on the camera, though I could see the big dipper shape of the pleiades.
It is kind of magical watching the images form, I can see why people get into imaging (particularly as the eyes age).
Comet Lemmon is in the low northwest sky, and the sky absolutely cluttered there, with coastal aircraft traffic and satellites reflecting the sun to the SW. I was unable to get a image without one or the other in it.
I am not serious imager and I don’t really care, but I can see how the serious hobby guys would be perturbed.
Up and moving. Woke up before 9am but body decided otherwise. Stiff and sore back as a result though.
Sometime after 3am the front got here in force. Big winds, crashing rain. Dunno the total, but it’s still wet out, and only 71F.
Coffee machine is running. Thinking about bacon for breakfast. I might just use the crumbles in my egg though. I guess I’ll be doing indoor things today.
I sure hope we got rain at the BOL.
n
Now, This Is Too Much – Scientists Call for Ban on Bacon
https://redstate.com/wardclark/2025/10/25/now-this-is-too-much-scientist-call-for-ban-on-bacon-n2195476
Much healthier to eat soylent green made out of processed public health scientists.
Thank You, Chuck Schumer: USDA Says SNAP Benefits Will Run Out, With No Emergency Fund to Pull From
https://redstate.com/jenniferoo/2025/10/25/thank-you-chuck-schumer-usda-says-snap-benefits-will-run-out-with-no-emergency-fund-to-pull-from-n2195474
Maybe every one of the Democrat senators who voted “no” on funding the government while cashing the checks that they issue themselves would like to explain how muh they have contributed to their local food bank?
I’d like to see the entire Republican caucus stand up and announce that they are contributing their salaries from the first day of the shutdown.
Trump Admin Found ‘More Than $1B’ in Taxpayer Dollars Were Spent on Illegals’ Healthcare
https://redstate.com/beccalower/2025/10/24/trump-admin-more-than-1b-spending-in-taxpayer-dollars-have-been-identified-as-illegals-healthcare-n2195463
Clawback is all very well, but since those funds were disbursed fraudulanetly in controvention of federal law, it behooves the DOJ to file criminal charges and seek prosecution of the state officials–including the governors who are directing the thefts.
And open discussions with Haiti on building prisons that will bid on U.S. contracts to house “white collar” prisoners. I will sit on the design committee gratis.
While up on the roof winterizing the swamp cooler this week I took a couple of pictures.
Looking at them later I realized that my starlink antenna is now pointing to the Northeast, (away from the prevailing SW winds). As late as June it was pointing to the correct Northwest.
I guess the storms a few weeks back did a number on it. I haven’t noticed any change in performance, but it’s one more thing to check and fix.
I feel like I am running as fast as I can just to stay in place.
I feel like I am running as fast as I can just to stay in place.
– in which case you are doing better than most, me included.
n
“I feel like I am running as fast as I can just to stay in place.”
I can’t run as fast or as long as I used to. Do the math.
A Philly Friday FBI Story
https://hotair.com/tree-hugging-sister/2025/10/24/an-philly-friday-fbi-story-n3808199
fun with chikuns:
https://x.com/OntWtf/status/1981774680639017109
The popo have a lot of reasons to continue an “investigation” and not bust crims.
Overtime pay. Cool surveillance ops. Bad ass feeling. Cool surveillance toys. More fun to investigate than to take calls.
“We’re building a case.” Meanwhile people continue to die, be trafficked, suffer.
n
Sun is poking out. Maybe it’ll dry up all the rain…
n
Safer, too.
I was uninstalling a program today and noticed I have run the same installation of Windows 11 on my main desktop since October 2011. I still remember reinstalling multiple times a year with earlier versions. It’s time for a format and reinstall as there are some quirks I’m dealing with. Maybe next weekend.
Glad you got that time machine working back then in 2011… I would have chosen something different to get from the future….
I’ve been using the same install of win8 on this machine since it was new…
It’s the last non-spyware windows after all.
n
“Break Out the 25mm”
https://areaocho.com/break-out-the-25mm/
“The left has begun using Ryder trucks to try and ram the gates of military installations. Gate guards open fire.”
“4 or 5 rounds of 25mm will stop a Ryder truck immediately.”
My former USMC son used a Mk19 grenade launcher in Iraq when somebody tried to drive a bomb car into their FOB. The other gate guard used a M249. They did not know who caused the car to blow up.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mk_19_grenade_launcher
Zillow, First Street, and the Price of Panic: Can Climate Data Be Sued?
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2025/10/25/zillow-first-street-and-the-price-of-panic-can-climate-data-be-sued/
I took up modeling with the goal of bridging theory to practice. In simplest form, finding “good enough” solutions to equations or systems of equations that had no simple analytical solution.
Then as part of an iterative manufacturing improvement process.
The most fun was starting with an idea or invention and a clean sheet of paper:
–laboratory: model, build, run, analyze, improve, repeat
–pilot plant: model, build, run, analyze, improve, repeat
–full-scale: model, build, run, analyze, repeat
That process inherently contains step-wise validation of the model to limit risk. If the lab version doesn’t work, the next step is not taken. Lot’s of things don’t get out of the lab, and lot’s of things don’t get past the pilot plant stage. I’ve seen a few things get to full-scale and get shuttered in a short time.
(I bought a very nice multi-million dollar industrial processing unit about 20 years ago for pennies on the dollar–it had about thirty hours of operation. In that case it worked but the operation was not fully optimized for two reasons: 1) The plans were ambitious and the sister unit was started first and run for several months. 2) The plant was shuttered because the output had become obsolete. )
Climate models are difficult to validate for a lot of reasons, but that does not excuse failure to validate, and the most common failure is failure to account for the real world. If a property has never flooded, then a prediction of near-certain flooding in the next 30 years counts as an extraordinary claim requiring extraordinary evidence.
In this case the model output did not comport with reality. The modelers should not have released it. The model buyers did not ask for validation, and any internal risk assessment was deficient. The result was financial damage, and hopefully they will be held accountable.
Wow. I just looked at some pricing for silver.
Current ‘premium’ over face value for junk silver coins, $35 to $1 of face. I remember when it was 16:1.
In an auction right now, silver eagles are selling for $56 PLUS ~25% fees. Not just one of them either, but all of them in the auction.
BTW, people are selling cards and comics in almost every auction. Ammo too. Times are getting tough.
n
@Lynn
“The nearest safe distance to launch the grenade is 310 meters in training and 75 meters in combat” (wiki)
75 meters is doubtless the closest survived field discharge. God Bless your son, and God Bless any who have left it too close before disregarding training.
The forecast says flooding rain. With t-storms. It’s perhaps a bit too sunny for that. Maybe in a couple of hours?
I was bored and looked on Big River and some DDG searches. The DVD storage unit I want comes in black. I don’t want black. Black looks like it came from K-Mart in 1988. I want the cherry wood color. Oak is not an option. I can easily site a couple of 22 inch wide units. Or I can get the 56 inch wide unit and stash it in the back bedroom. It’s about the same price wise.
I have it down to two choices.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001KW0BM4?tag=ttgnet-20
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005484N56?tag=ttgnet-20
It’s down to floor or wall space and 476 or 405 DVDs stored. I’m leaning toward the spinning unit. I can put the spinner in this room and not clutter the spared bedroom with the other unit. Because I don’t need or want another room turning into a pile of clutter.
Time to feed the dogs.
@ITGuy1998
I recommend Trujillo. You route may be taking you past it. If you are thinking of staying, I can also recommend a lovely AirBnB.
A Racial Incident in the Sky
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2025/10/a-racial-incident-in-the-sky.php
Duplicated effort, waste of time, and waste of resources.
Airline: One refusal, call the cops. Ban the freeloader for life.
Passengers: Sign up with an attorney to file a class-action suit. 200 at $500 each is $100,000.
FAA: Put the freeloader on a Do Not Fly list.
I’m pretty sure I did not type “spared”.
A Racial Incident in the Sky
I would get in trouble for yelling “ain’t nobody got a rag soaked with chloroform for this turd? Or a baseball bat?”
Since it was mentioned by a couple of folks here, I had Bison Bacon Bars https://www.amazon.com/dp/B010SXA5ZSpack in my Wishlist.
Suppose to be here on the 30th. Happy B’day to me. Well, if Big River shows up.
It’s raining now. Big fat raindrops with a scatter of tiny hail. Just before sunset the sky was well, not green but an odd color. Penny wanted out. She walked to the end of the porch, looked around and I don’t know how she turns on a dime the way she does… I’ve watched her do this for almost 14 years. Imagine a 55# dog doing a full rotate in the area of a paper plate. Anyway, right back in the house. Her Highness does not like thunder.
Thanks. That’s is indeed a possible route, It depends on which way we go back to Madrid.
I expect to not see much of my wife for a couple weeks while she goes into research mode.
@paul, D2 has several similar spinner shelves for books. They take up a bit of floor space, a circle equal to the diagonal… which makes them a bit bigger than they look in photos when they are actually in the room. Of course, just one, and in a corner cancels most of my observation out.
———
n
It’s … it’s like a vision of paradise!
I put the chickens in the garden while I cleaned their coop this afternoon. There’s a tarp over that section of the run – got to protect my delicate little birdies from the rain. In the eight or so minutes it took me to pull out the straw, poop, and feathers – the two older birds are molting, and look rather bedraggled – put in new straw, and bring the small wheelbarrow to the run’s gate, a hawk came sniffing around. Zipped off at great speed from a height of maybe 30 feet above ground as soon as it saw me. The chickens were not in immediate danger, as they had all gotten under plants or the tools and clutter my wife had left in the garden. Annoying, though. Sure, hawks gotta eat, but there are plenty of bunnies and bluejays around. Also, chickens being chickens, they forgot any fright they were suffering as soon as I shook the bag of dried black fly larvae which I use to encourage them to go straight to the run, no detours, hey, get out of the bushes, you little wretch.
Climate models are difficult to validate for a lot of reasons, but that does not excuse failure to validate, and the most common failure is failure to account for the real world. If a property has never flooded, then a prediction of near-certain flooding in the next 30 years counts as an extraordinary claim requiring extraordinary evidence.
In this case the model output did not comport with reality. The modelers should not have released it. The model buyers did not ask for validation, and any internal risk assessment was deficient. The result was financial damage, and hopefully they will be held accountable.
It is very difficult to find a software developer liable for anything. The responsibility always goes back to the person who deploys the software which appears to be Zillow.
And the problem with climate models is that they are looking at predictions. If you put things in there that the sea is going to rise, more water in the atmosphere (more rain), etc, who is to say that you are wrong until that time comes to pass ?
I write and sell first principles software. But there is very little data out there for tertiary mixtures and more. I commonly have people putting 50 or more components in mixtures. There is ZERO data for those mixtures so it is total conjecture on our part for the software.
I almost sold my 14 acre office property today. The guy I was showing it to offered me 75% of what I was asking but I said no. I told him that I will just keep on sitting on it for the next five years.
He does not think that it will appraise at what I am asking. Tough tookie. He also asked me for some owner financing. My wife is adamantly no on that, she has serious trust issues.
But the property meets his needs perfectly. And there is nothing else like it on the market today. We will see.
If I sell it then I have to find a 2,000 ft2 office space for WinSim. And move us. It will be painful.
Wow. I just looked at some pricing for silver.
Current ‘premium’ over face value for junk silver coins, $35 to $1 of face. I remember when it was 16:1.
In an auction right now, silver eagles are selling for $56 PLUS ~25% fees. Not just one of them either, but all of them in the auction.
BTW, people are selling cards and comics in almost every auction. Ammo too. Times are getting tough.
The silver prices are being affected by the sky high gold prices. And the fact that the USA government spending is still going crazy.
I am considering going to cash in the stock market. Things are looking so crazy out there. I have my mother at 70% cash already.
But it is so hard to time the markets.
And the secret layoffs are not helping.
It’s only “timing” if you try to wait for the last possible minute and dollar. Otherwise it’s “rebalancing” or “profit taking”.
Buffett doesn’t call it ‘timing’ but he’s in and out all the time.
n
I could move WinSim to this house. No deed restrictions, no HOA, no city.
5 / 6.5 / 3 on 1.0 acre for $890K.
https://www.har.com/homedetail/1303-raven-ln-richmond-tx-77469/10754881
The swimming pool sucks (maintenance cost).
It’s pouring down here, has been for a while. Crashing rain, street flooding, and wind.
Had to drive to take the kid’s overnight bag to a friend’s house. They had homecoming dance and she decided to stay over. I took high roads home but I was in 6-8″ of water in places on the way.
Guess I won’ t be having a tiny little fire tonight.
n
>>My last time at Costco I was waiting in line for the self-service checkout. A Costco employee scanned my card, scanned everything in my cart, while I am waiting in line. When I got to the register I just scanned my Costco card, then paid. Certainly beats me having to run each item through the scanner.
At our Costco, in addition to the employee-assisted “self-checkout,” they’ve enabled the hand-held scanner gubs which let you truly do self-scanning. You just need to know not to use the scale that’s part of the original self-scan flow kiosk. And, @nick mentioned, it helps to make all the UPCs visible without juggling items in your cart.
>>I am considering going to cash in the stock market. Things are looking so crazy out there. I have my mother at 70% cash already.
But it is so hard to time the markets.
I’m in the same boat, alternating between not watching the markets for weeks and watching daily for the next all-time highs for all the indexes and move most/all to cash.
Oh gee…
AI Overview
The most recent day that all three major U.S. stock indexes, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500, and the Nasdaq Composite, reached all-time highs was:
Friday, October 24, 2025. This rally was driven by a cooler-than-expected inflation report that strengthened expectations for the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates.
Falling interest rates and deficits without end suggest all that lovely new money has to go into someplace like the market. OTOH, all time nosebleed highs and the anniversary of October 29 suggest any little thing might ignite a radical correction.
Why is Trump building a ballroom? That seems completely tone deaf. But then, I swear he governs by rolling dice every morning. Tariffs up, tariffs down. Country X is good, no, country X is bad. If he wants to promote industry and jobs, someone needs to let him know: What industry most needs is stability and predictability.
I don’t blame her. I did that when I sold my first house. The couple who bought it did eventually pay, but it required me harassing them for a couple of years. I wasn’t in the area any longer, which made it more difficult.
Fill it in… I also saw a renovation program once, where they turned a swimming pool into a sheltered eating and seating area: some raised beds for plants, a fountain, etc.. Dunno how they handled the drainage.
– – – – –
In other news, we’re off daylight saving time now. All the usual discussions are popping up. Some are interesting: I didn’t know that the Swiss population voted specifically against having DST back in 1978. When the EU introduced it in 1980, Switzerland stayed off for a year. Then the government joined in anyway in 1981, disregarding the popular referendum.
The EU is supposed to stop the annual time changes, this is pending for years now. Only…they can’t agree on how. Summer-time? Winter-time? One of the problems is that too many countries are crammed into the same time-zone. For example, Spain is on average West of England, but uses GMT+1. It would make sense to adjust the time zones, but that’s a big hurdle.
Here in California, by law, if you fill in a swimming pool you have to punch a hole on the bottom.
I had friends that bought a very old house (1940s … old for CA) that had a swimming pool that was filled in.
They had been told that it was fine, but in talking to the neighbors they discovered that the previous owners had had a hole punched in the bottom with a backhoe.
Buyers beware.
—–
Do you need a cooling pond for anything?