Cold and damp, turning warmer, then cold again. The trend is down, and the forecast is down as well. It does make for really nice afternoons.
I did some stuff yesterday. Two pickups and some shopping. Ended up going to the grocery store to get prescriptions filled so I topped up a few things.
Brisket is cheaper than hamburger. They have a 3 pound “chub” as well as the normal 5 pound “chub” now, so the cost is lower for the unit. It’s like slicing the steaks thinner. At least you can buy the unit.
Locally ground chuck, 80-20, was a little bit less than the prepacked 73-27 hamburger. Even at ~5/pound I ended up buying some. But that was it for meat. I’m eating out of the freezer until the next sale. I wonder how many weeks it will be this time?
Some ‘teenager’ issues are getting me down and sapping my motivation this week. I’m just hoping that “this to shall pass” hurries up a bit.
Oh, and the dog tried to kill a possum the other night. Lots of noise and biting and shaking. Possum survived at least long enough to get out of the bucket I put him in after getting the dog off him. Damn dog is a pain in my butt.
While trying to save the possum my wife had to “interact” with some piles of stuff on the back patio, so now that is moved up my list. Some things have been piling up and falling behind for a long time. Too long, for sure, but it’s not like new stuff didn’t get added as well.
Another day without anyone commenting on the missing mustache or beard. I don’t like seeing the scar on my chin, and the little bit of skin under my chin is a bit wobbly now that it’s visible, and no me gusta! It’s been covered long enough that I forgot about it. The scar was the first thing people would comment on when I met them, until I grew the beard. It’s been nice having that not happen. Most of the other scars on my face are much more subtle, but when they’re stitching your face closed in the ER in Gary, Indiana in the middle of the night, you get what you get. I’m lucky I’m still as handsome as I ever was…
What doesn’t kill us … usually hurts for the rest of our lives, but sometimes it just adds “character”.
Yeah, character.
Get to work, get to learning something, get to stacking.
nick
…and modest too!
Condolences to Mr and Mrs Ray on saying goodbye to their furry family member. The procedure does not sound right. One and done is the way to go.
We had sad news this week, the teenage daughter of friends died unexpectedly. The child was poorly since birth, with serious disabilities, so in some ways this was a release, but still a shock for the family.
I slept fretfully last night. Perhaps the full moon. I probably should have just got up and taken a proper look at it.
Using up leftovers for breakfast/lunch today. Clonakilty white pudding, with fried eggs and mushrooms. HP sauce is divine. Hot tea and a Brussels-style waffle. Mmm.
It’s a pretty autumn day here. There was a beautiful colourful sunrise, and now blue skies and sunshine, around 13C (55F). Nice. I hope it stays like that for hunting tomorrow and the weekend.
Wishing you all a beautiful day.
Can you make a catapult from your piles of stuff so that you can boing your problems away? If not, seems like a prepper fail to me.
Hot Skillz!
Rust already bit Canonical in coreutils, and I remember a recent bug in the “sudo-r” utility.
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2025/10/ubuntu-25-10-rust-coreutils-date-bug
Give it five years, however, and you won’t be able to get a job as a “full stack” Linux Developer – I hate that term — without being able to answer questions in an interview about obscure corners of the language, whether or not it is used much on the job.
Certainly, HR will utilize it to age discriminate.
I posted this when it was new, but the ‘K’ in the “K & R C” text had something to say about Rust recently. Of course, he’s old and not worth listening to anymore.
Cough.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEb_YL1K1Qg
Which reminds me – we’re coming to a delivery point for our Go fiascos on a large scale. This will be fun to watch from a distance, but I’m afraid I’m not far enough from the epicenter still occupying a place on the payroll.
When management pressed me to learn Go and participate in the fiascos at the beginning of the year, I figured that I really had nothing to lose playing the age card and responded that I wanted the same money and title as the diversity hire lead or I would take them to HR.
I did not use the words “diversity hire”, but the implication was there, and they were vulnerable because she is about twenty years younger than I am and, at the time, clueless about Go.
I doubt things have changed.
@Denis, I’m the most modest guy you know!
13C here this morning, which makes it sound way worse than 55F! I guess that it could be decahectares or millipascals or centipedes…
55F is chilly but not cold for most people… most. 99%RH will make it feel colder.
@steve, I’m sure some sort of improvised siege weapon could be cobbled together… but would it solve the problem? A simple shovel and a fiber cut might be more effective.
I got some coffee dust in my eye this morning and it’s incredibly resistant to removing it. Very distracting. (almost said ‘very diffracting’ but while funnier, it’s not true)
Time to poke some people.
n
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15259909/LAPD-Report-failures-respond-Palisades-fire-California-LAFD.html
The After Action Report wasn’t linked in the article. I wonder if I should bother trying to find it.
– nah, I’ve got better things to do.
n
BTW it looks like the usual things – failure to establish a unified command, failure to take command, comms failed in ways they hadn’t planned for, and the disaster unfolded quickly and dynamically.
n
The government shut down was about manipulating an election and the SNAP benefits were just a pawn in the game. Democrats are generally evil, self-centered, short sighted, clueless dolts.
I find it interesting that Apple is currently rushing a laptop to market that uses a repurposed iPhone SOC, giving access to the power of the platform for general computing purposes.
Someone may have listened to Kernigan in Cupertino.
Someone there also got the message about deprecating Tcl. The latest Mac OS fixes the core dump in the “wish” command to activate the Tk GUI and Tcl reports version 9.0 after more than a decade of Apple ignoring 8.6.
Hey! How come you didn’t get a down vote like me?
Sympathy. Suck it up buttercup.
Or maybe the truth is coming out after the election results are in. I suspect that many of the people that voted were swayed by promises of free stuff. Not realizing that the “free stuff” from the government comes from taxes. Oh, wait, these leaches probably don’t pay taxes and get a “refund” having paid no taxes.
Welfare, SNAP, etc. should not be a career path, which many have chosen. When I see people, interviewed on the news, complaining about being limited to six emergency room visits per month, I know they are leaches. When I see people complaining about not getting SNAP benefits but just purchased $100.00 in lottery tickets at the convenience store, I know they are leaches. When I see a person use a food stamp debit card, two carts worth of food, expensive stuff, then buy three cartons of beer, at the grocery store, loaded into a 2025 F-150 Platinum, I know they are leaches. I also know exactly how they voted.
… and you have so much about which to be modest!
MrAtoZ, I gave you a down vote to make up, so you wouldn’t feel left out. Was that right? 😉
Leeches.
Thank you, sir!
Welfare leeches should not be able to vote.
Yikes! I have been smacked.
Is freezer burn meat OK to eat? I have a lot of meat that my neighbor says is freezer burned and should be thrown away?
She also wants to throw out sealed packages bacon whose dates are several years old. I think she is being over protective.
Probably, if you were starving on a deserted patch of ice floe with nothing else to eat. The texture will most certainly be weird
The bacon, if factory sealed would probably be OK.
Depends on the extent of the freezer burn.
That is just the meat drying out. I had a steak last month that had a pinhole on one edge of the bag, and about an inch of the steak on one end was “freezer burned”. The rest of the bag was stuck to the meat and kept the air off it. I cut off the stiff part, cooked and ate the rest.
If the meat wasn’t wrapped, and the air was able to get to all sides of it, then it’s probably beyond eating.
I’d look at each piece because hamburger is $5 per pound… and I can’t afford to waste money.
The sealed bacon is fine as long as the package isn’t puffy.
n
I served the family and ate a steak from 2013 not too long ago, mentioned it here. It was sealed and frozen the whole time and was delicious.
n
Bob, cook the freezer-burned meat in a stew or a stovetop saute with plenty of liquid. You might want strong flavors, spices or a cream sauce or such. Depending on how bad it is, you might want to cut into slices, so the roughened texture won’t be as noticeable and the “off” taste will be covered up by the other flavors. You can trim the worst of the “burned” section if you want but even that should be edible.
Wilder has this statement in today’s post. If that is true, there is no way this isn’t all coming crashing down.
n
“The liberal of any species is always more dangerous – because he always seems so much more rational.”
Solomon Short
Another day without anyone commenting on the missing mustache or beard. I don’t like seeing the scar on my chin, and the little bit of skin under my chin is a bit wobbly now that it’s visible, and no me gusta! It’s been covered long enough that I forgot about it. The scar was the first thing people would comment on when I met them, until I grew the beard. It’s been nice having that not happen. Most of the other scars on my face are much more subtle, but when they’re stitching your face closed in the ER in Gary, Indiana in the middle of the night, you get what you get. I’m lucky I’m still as handsome as I ever was…
It is not that they don’t care, it is just that they don’t notice.
Thank you, sir!
Hey, he wants another !
Wilder has this statement in today’s post. If that is true, there is no way this isn’t all coming crashing down.
https://wilderwealthywise.com/the-big-short-part-2-ai-boogaloo/
The big question is how far will it all go down ? History says 40% down with a full recovery over the next six months.
But, timing the market is for fools and their retirement money.
“AI companies need to ‘start generating some serious income’”
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ai-companies-need-to-start-generating-some-serious-income-195745389.html?guccounter=1
Wait, I have heard this before. The AI companies have no clothes on and the tide is going out !
“The vote that could make Elon Musk the first trillionaire – or prompt him to leave Tesla”
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/vote-could-elon-musk-first-192226122.html
“Musk’s new pay package is the key measure that will be up for a vote at Tesla’s annual meeting Thursday afternoon. Shareholders have widely approved Musk’s pay packages in the past, but this year holds an added risk – the company warned in September that Musk “raised the possibility that he may pursue other interests” should it be denied.”
“The compensation would come in the form of a stock grant that would give Musk as much as 423.7 million additional shares of Tesla stock over the next 10 years. Those shares would be worth about $1 trillion, assuming the company reaches the $8.5 trillion market cap needed to have Musk qualify for the full potential payout.”
Speaking of AI, robotaxis and robots use AI like it is going out of style. If the AI is grok then it seems to be a little … not ready.
“McDonald’s CEO Says ‘Value Matters to Everyone’ as Wealthy Customers Stream In”
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/mcdonalds-ceo-says-value-matters-192557714.html
“Other brands with a reputation for serving the working class are also seeing a similar shift. Families with six-figure incomes have been flocking to Walmart (WMT). Dollar Tree (DLTR) and Dollar General (DG) are drawing more high-earners, as are thrift-shops and second-hand stores like Savers Value Village (SVV). Unease about the economy may be compelling wealthier Americans to save, including by trading down to less expensive food and fashion options, analysts and companies have said.”
I have been to Dollar Tree several times this year. Dollar General does not seem to have the same value for my $1.50.
BTW, Dollar Tree no longer has everything in the store priced the same. I bought a couple of cheap trash cans for my mother at DT and they were $6.000 each. The checker cautioned me that those were not the $1.50 price each before ringing me up.
Like chili or curry.
Wasn’t much of the spice trade because they didn’t have refrigeration back then? Lots of spices to cover up the “off taste”. That’s what I remember from grade school.
As for chili, I cut the meat into cubes. Brown it in some meat grease to get the grilled steak smell. Salt and pepper. Say, three pounds of meat. Add a 28 oz can of diced tomatoes. I add a can of water and a can of tomato paste. Start with six tablespoons of chili powder and five of cumin powder. Garlic powder, at least a heaping tablespoon. Mess around to your taste. Let it start to simmer to get happy and maybe a little more salt. Maybe some cayenne pepper for extra heat, a teaspoon to start. If it tastes bitter, happens sometimes, a teaspoon of sugar smooths that.
Secret ingredient: add a heaping tablespoon of cocoa powder, it reacts with the chili powder in a good way. Here is where I add a 28 oz can of whole tomatoes with an extra half can of water. I like tomatoes, the diced tomatoes cook down. Then add couple/three tablespoons of dried onion. Might need another cup of water by now, it varies. Cover and simmer on low for a few hours until the meat is tender. Stir once in a while.
The dried onion goes in last because you can’t sample the seasoning without it being like smoking an unfiltered cigarette. Tho that was part of the fun of smoking Chesterfields and the unfiltered Raleighs from Mexico.
I haven’t figured out curry without using a package of mix. Yet.
“New Yorkers think they voted to be like Norway. They’ll get Venezuela. [Podcast]”
https://www.schiffsovereign.com/podcast/new-yorkers-think-they-voted-to-be-like-norway-theyll-get-venezuela-podcast-153844/
“Voters don’t understand how years of mismanagement and waste at the city level have led to a significant decline in municipal services. Crime rates are up, and even the basics like garbage collection or the city’s rat infestation just continue to get worse.”
“Nor do voters understand how idiotic state policies have driven productive people and businesses away from New York state to friendlier jurisdictions like Florida, resulting in a hollowing out of the tax base (and hence reduction in services).”
Heh.
There’s a Dollar General right across the street from the HEB. I think their prices suck. I haven’t compared for three or four years.
Like, a can of off brand corn is a dollar. A national brand, like Del Monte or Green Giant is 89¢ at HEB. And HEB store brand is like 49¢.
I think Dollar General is for folks that find math hard. Like, “I got me $10 so I can buy 10 things” hard.
And never mind that the store is cluttered with crap sitting on the floor in the aisles instead of being on the shelves. Always. But it doesn’t smell funny.
DeSantis crushed his opponents, starting with the kneecapping of Disney. Most Republicans dont have the stomach for what will be necessary to prevail.
DeSantis knows what is best in life even if Ahhhh-nold forgot as soon as the cameras stopped rolling.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oo9buo9Mtos
Dollar General isn’t a discount store by any stretch. The company went private in the late 2000s and reemerged in an IPO in 2009, the new stock mostly purchased by institutions like Vanguard.
They are about as homespun as Cracker Barrel and Tractor Supply, also nearly 100% owned by institutional investors.
I wonder how New Yorkers will like their “GUM” grocery/department stores?
Kneecapping Disney protected Little Marco’s Senate seat with a 60-40 victory margin over the Demings political machine, but the Demings keep at it.
A “Mayor” in Florida is like a “Judge” in Texas. Only certain urban counties with demographic groups susceptible to machine politics adopt that kind of executive model, however.
https://www.fox35orlando.com/news/orange-county-mayor-jerry-demings-runs-florida-governor
Bonfire Night!
Some of us do. Of course, we don’t vote for Democrats or Democrat policies. Also of course, we’re in the minority.
Lovely people. Wonder what their immigration status is.
And WTF is wrong with their neighbors.
n
Ha ha
Yeah, it sucks for the buyers, but it’s also hard to feel sympathy given the level of smug so many have.
n
Austin.
The backyard is right across a fairly narrow road from the loading dock at an HEB.
A pawn shop and Sonic are also nearby, across a vacant lot.
“Three astronauts are left stranded in space after their ship was ‘struck by unknown object’”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-15261939/Astronauts-stranded-space-china.html
“Three astronauts already in space for six months are now stranded in orbit after their craft may have been damaged by dangerous debris floating around Earth.
China‘s Manned Spaceflight Agency (CMSA) has revealed that crew from its Shenzhou 20 mission will need to stay on board the Chinese station Tiangong.
Their replacements had already arrived at the space lab after taking off in their own rocket on October 31.
Astronauts Chen Dong, Chen Zhongrui, and Wang Jie have been on Tiangong, which means Heavenly Palace, since April, completing science experiments, carrying out space walks, and living in zero gravity.
At some point before the trio officially handed over the station to the Shenzhou 21 crew on November 5, the capsule the astronauts were supposed to use to return to Earth was struck by an unknown object in Earth orbit.”
Oops. Gonna have to use the backup plan. You guys in China do have a backup plan, right ?
Yes, they do.
Such as:
Quit reporting their status
Let them die in space
Eject them so they burn up in entry
Have imposters take their names.
Have imposters take their names.
– yeah, my first thought was pretend they got back, and have actors replace them in public.
n
Got my LilBuddy heater fixed. There was one gas fitting that was loose, letting too much air into the system. Or, I guess it could have been letting to much gas out, meaning there wasn’t enough pressure to properly light. Tightened that up and we were good to go.
—-
Did my pickups. Stopped at HEB for the lettuce I forgot for taco Tuesday, which fell on a Wednesday today…. but it ended up that I was the only one eating dinner. Oh well.
—–
WRT dollar stores, they don’t make sense to me for most things. The packages are typically smaller or quantities are not the same as in other stores for name brand items, and the off brands are REALLY sketchy. With the exception of cookies. For some reason, my nearest King Dollar has all the classic, off patent, off copyright cookies I grew up with, made by American companies in the midwest. Iced oatmeal, windmills with almond slices on them, that sort of thing.
Craft supplies and party supplies seem to be one category that is a good deal.
I always feel really uncomfortable in the store though, like pedos or predators are sliding around looking at me…
—-
I’m gonna try for an early night tonight.
Maybe I’ll make it.
n
“Holding Their Own XIII: Renegade” by Joe Nobody
https://www.amazon.com/Holding-Their-Own-XIII-Renegade/dp/1939473802?tag=ttgnet-20/
The thirteenth book in a series of nineteen alternate history books about the economic collapse of the USA in 2015 and onward. I read the well printed and well bound POD (print on demand) trade paperback self published by the author in 2017 that I bought new on Amazon in 2025. I own the first fourteen books in the series and will purchase more soon.
Um, this series was published in 2011 just as the shale oil and gas boom was really getting cranked up. The book has crude oil at $350/barrel and gasoline at $6/gallon in 2015. Not gonna happen due to oil well fracking in the USA so the major driver of economic collapse in the USA is invalid for the book. That said, the book is a good story about the collapse and failure of the federal government in the USA. The book is centered in Texas which makes it very interesting to me since I am a Texas resident.
The $6 gasoline was just the start. The unemployment rises to 40% over a couple of years and then there is a terrorist chemical attack in Chicago that kills 50,000 people. The current President of the USA nukes Iran with EMP airbursts as the sponsor of the terrorist attack. And the President of the USA also declares martial law and shuts down the interstates to stop the terrorists from moving about. That shuts down food and fuel movement causing starvation and lack of energy across the nation.
The accumulations of these serious problems cause widespread panics and shutdowns of basic services like electricity and water for large cities. The electricity grids fail due to employees not showing up to work at the plants. Then the refineries shutdown due to the lack of electricity.
“Diana is running for reelection, and soon discovers that there are no rules in post-apocalyptic politics. The citizens of the Alliance become deeply embroiled by the bitter contest, a ruthless challenger seeking to divide and conquer the people of the Lone Star Nation. While the brutal campaign is waged, Bishop becomes immersed in fighting a mysterious crime wave that is sweeping across the territory. His efforts soon uncover treachery, that when exposed, pushes the Alliance to the brink of civil war.”
The author has a website at:
https://www.joenobodybooks.com/
My rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Amazon rating: 4.6 out of 5 stars (296 reviews)
Lynn
Good morning!
Tea and soup are in their flasks. Off to the woods with a rifle. It is a beautiful early winter day.
Wishing you all a lovely Thursday. Even Steve F.
I had read that Canonical was re-implementing a lot of stuff in Rust. Which would be fine, but I assumed they would ensure 100% compatibility. Anything else makes no sense, because those utilities will be used in a zillion scripts.
I haven’t learned Rust – no need for YAPL (yet another programming language). Younger son tells me that writing Rust correctly (as opposed to pretending it is just a C-variant) takes a different mindset.
Given that most of the debris in orbit comes from China, it’s hard to feel sympathy. Maybe they will at least stop making more space debris…