Warm and wet. It was still in the upper 70sF when I had my little fire last night. And it got into the 90sF during the day. At least this afternoon there was a bit of a breeze. That stopped after dusk, except for when the lightning came. Didn’t ever actually rain though.
I did get some small things done. Another load to the shop… but it did look kinda threatening later in the day so no load from storage.
We decided to stay in Houston this weekend, and we still haven’t worked out exactly when and for how long we’ll head to the BOL. D1 has her new job on Tuesday, and then Friday. That really doesn’t work for family Thanksgiving at the lake. Dang kid couldn’t wait to apply another week? I don’t think anyone is going to enjoy Black Friday being her second day on the job.
Today I’ll start moving stuff out of storage in earnest, weather permitting. If not, then I’ll do some stuff here. Either way, there will be work. Can’t waste the days if I’m not going to work at the BOL.
Then list is long, and time is short, although motivation is at ebb tide levels.
I’m just going to plod forward. Stacking and working to improve.
nick
Saturday. Good morning.
The early bird catches the worm. Back from the range, where I spent a couple of hours helping modernise the bar. Meatspace, baby!
It is a beautiful, sunny, blue skies winter day. Temperature just over freezing in the sun, and a bit under in the shade.
Have a happy Saturday!
Or destroyed, if a less-tolerant “governor” of the religious or administrative sector was appointed over the area. (Ottoman government was kind of a mess. It obviously worked well enough to let the empire expand rapidly in its early days. In conquered regions, its overlapping sectors of responsibility caused either strife or ossification.) (Word chosen for humerous effect because the founder of the empire was named Osman. Hur-de-dur.) (Hey cut me some slack. I got only a few hours’ sleep last night. And the night before. And the night before that.) Being kept in British custody may well be the best available outcome for the marbles.
There’s also the fact that the Greeks were unable to hold their treasures. Do they deserve to get them back now that someone else freed them from Ottoman rule?
I can’t help but notice that today’s Daynotes post is correctly labeled with “Sat.” but incorrectly labeled with “Nov 21”. One can only conclude that Nick is attempting to rip the spacetime continuum, for no-doubt nefarious purposes.
Something occurred to me yesterday while I was talking with someone: I have a greater portion of Neanderthal DNA than most modern humans. In fact, it appears to be at the upper end. This means that I have as good a claim as any to be a modern-day Neanderthal.
So what I want to know is, where are my reparations? You homo sapiens owe me big for what you did to my ancestors.
The “Sisu” sequel is very cool.
As Dr. Pournelle was fond of noting, it is not a “dark age” until we forget that we could do certain things.
Someone remembers in Finland. Oh, Lord, do they remember.
The “Sisu” director has a Rambo movie up next.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmStqCXIgio
For what they did to your ancestors? Such as breed with them and save their genes from total extinction…
I was in the Neander Valley (near Düsseldorf) a few weeks ago. It is an attractive place. I can see why proto-humans would have settled there. Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to visit the Neandertal museum. Another time, I hope.
My mom made chocolate chip cookies using the recipe from the back of the tollhouse chocolate chip bag. Now, I don’t know if that recipe has changed from the 70’s (and did she get it from her mother)? Things you think to ask after it is too late.
She did modify the recipe in one significant way. She used Crisco instead of butter. One of her sisters uses butter, and you can definitely tell the difference. I prefer the Crisco ones, but that likely has a lot to do with nostalgia. Mom and my son made cookies many times, so the boy and I are going to make them next week.
Oh, and I’m also going to make Mom’s cranberry bread. Nothing better than that with a big slab of butter on top.
My wife and watched that this week. First show we’ve watched live in forever. Well, except for last night. Alabama PBS showed high school football instead, so we had to watch on the app.
Overall, I enjoyed it. Of course, my woke filter is finely tuned, and I was prepared going in to have it go off.
The main content about the war and trials and tribulations was very good.
As expected, the indians were way overpowered (in a Marvel superhero way), described as just wanting peace, and influence on the founding overplayed.
What I didn’t expect, but I should have, was how they made slavery out to be a major reason for the conflict. They didn’t have the brass to come out and call it the primary reason, but it was way over emphasized. Trying to apply modern beliefs to a different time.
The last episode was especially preachy.
Not true when I was in school. I liked history class. Always made an A. I read the class books a couple of times and then went through almost all of the history books in the school library. Either what is now being taught has totally changed or she is a liar.
It’s History. It doesn’t change. Therefore…
Crisco is the better choice for Toll House cookies made from the recipe on the back of the bag.
Buc-ee’s carries tubs of Bacon Up this time of year, which people also swear by for the cookies, but we haven’t tried that in the recipe.
I also believe that vegetable oils is the real key to getting the flavor and crust texture right in the Giordano’s-style “stuffed” deep dish Chicago pizza.
Uno, which isn’t stuffed deep dish, uses olive oil, but that crust is par-baked and complicated.
@Lynn,
a cappella version by VoicePlay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4xjwkoQ8Uk
(headphones recommended)
The early worm deserves the bird.
Paying for a Blue Check on X makes her an expert.
The censorship on Twitter hasn’t really changed as much as it was monetized.
Ken Burns is not a saint. One of the four (?) great Michael Nesmith fortunes was the settlement paid to him by PBS and Burns’ production company after they burned him on all of the effort Pacific Arts put into the release of the “Civil War” on home video.
Nesmith created “The Civil War” as cultural phenomenon as well as PBS Home Video.
I make chocolate chip cookies with half butter and half vegetable shortening. I don’t like the taste of all butter and I don’t think I’ve found one kid who likes the taste when they’re made with half butter, half lard. (They’ll eat them, of course, but they complain about the taste as they grab another.)
In the same conversation yesterday as brought up Neatherthals, a guy mentioned that one of his hearing aids had started crackling like a geiger counter. I told him that if he’s being hit by radiation but isn’t dead yet, that means he’s getting superpowers. He was less enthusiastic about this revelation than I thought he should have been. Sheesh, people.
Alabama just moved up on my list of retirement locations.
What do you mean “they”… Are you a Martian or something?
The part buried in the lede is she will get a Federal Pension at 62 for serving just 5 years (carefully resigns on the day she is vested). I don’t know how much, but it will be generous. This has to change. A lifetime pension for serving 5 years where you don’t have to put a dime in. No.
Unsung hero (short):
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/VVtaZ3erntM
Governor “Ma” Ivey as Limbaugh used to call her is a poster child RINO.
I think Greene wants to be out of office before the Rivian boondoggle implodes and takes the economy of that part of Georgia with it. If I noticed the boom in jerbs in Dalton speeding by at 75 MPH, I’m sure Green is aware of the situation since she has her district office there.
I don’t believe that the Rivian factory will produce a single vehicle.
Jerbs, son. Gonna have them jerbs.
No one really knows what goes on at the Gigafactory here since all of the employees working those jerbs are under NDA and keep their mouths shut.
Grey and drizzle today. I woke at 645, saw rain and lightning, so returned to my den.
Up now, coffee in the mug, egg and sausage in ma belly.
—————-
Cuban sandwich doesn’t taste right without margarine.
I used crisco for the first time recently, following a recipe. I think it makes for a flakier crust/dough.
Tollehouse chocolate chip cookies are the best with all butter.
I normally use peanut oil for everything, but have used some avocado when I need high heat. Rarely use olive due to slight allergy and I don’t like the taste.
I figure I can sub peanut oil for butter in most recipes post-apocalypse, and modern peanut oil lasts a long time.
I filter and reuse oil for frying. I label the bottle, and usually have one for fish/onion and one for donuts.
Post apocalypse, you can make a simple oil lamp to burn even rancid oil.
n
Try lard sometime. Maybe even try a lard piecrust side-by-side with a crisco piecrust.
That said, if you’re going to use vegetable shortening, Crisco is much better than store brands. I don’t know what the product difference is, but the piecrusts come out very different. I haven’t noticed any differences in making biscuits and such.
Yes, my friend’s wife is making biscuits to bring for Thanksgiving here. The secret ingredient, she says, is lard. There are never any left over.
Tampa Cubans also require the salami.
Don’t even think about asking for salami on one in Miami.
Good morning. Saturday. Doing meatspace things this morning, helping renovate one of the bars at the local shooting range (yes, our range has two bars).
A bar at shooting range ? Please tell me that you are kidding.
What could go wrong with mixing guns and liquor ?
We decided to stay in Houston this weekend, and we still haven’t worked out exactly when and for how long we’ll head to the BOL. D1 has her new job on Tuesday, and then Friday. That really doesn’t work for family Thanksgiving at the lake. Dang kid couldn’t wait to apply another week? I don’t think anyone is going to enjoy Black Friday being her second day on the job.
She will learn a lot about retail on Black Friday. And she will learn something about herself probably.
I hate to say it but, good for her. She may or may not know what she is getting herself into.
Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms should be a convenience store, not a federal bureau.
Austin used to have an axe/knife throwing range with a bar when that was a fad.
Two of my local shooting clubs have a bar. They position themselves as a place for get togethers and corporate events.
Shooting first, then bar…
One of them has bourbon and cigar nights too.
n
What? Ya think Annie Oakley was sober when she decided using a hand mirror to aim and a target behind her did not involve booze?
Guns and liquor? As long as no one turns into a mean drunk, heck, have fun.
>>She will learn a lot about retail on Black Friday. And she will learn something about herself probably.
Are there really still people who go to the b&m stores on BF?
Btw, how much is minimum wage in Houston these days?
$7.25/hr for private sector jobs.
You would be hard pressed to find someone accepting that kind of money in Texas these days, however.
This was another topic the troll cabal used to stir up trouble a few years ago.
Doesn’t matter about the pay. D1 got out there and got a job! Nick hasn’t said anything but I assume she did it all on her own. Good on her!
Yeah. She’s about to find how having a job screws with social stuff like T-Day with the family. Part of growing up and becoming independent.
@paul, which is why I haven’t even voiced the opinion that she should reschedule or blow off the work days. She will learn lessons that you only learn by doing…
If it becomes too onerous, I’ll offer her my ‘death pile’ of stuff to list on ebay. I offered before, post the stuff, do all the fulfillment, keep all the money- but every time it was time to actually start… she had something else todo.
Jobs, especially sh!tty jobs, teach all kinds of valuable lessons.
n
IDK what rate she signed on for, but even McD is $13/hr and nobody is taking that. Other signs I’ve seen in town are $15 or more.
It’s a sales job at a mall clothes shop, with an employee discount. I figure she’ll give it all back to the store…
n
Ah Chicongo, you never disappoint.
Shooting chaos at Chicago’s Christmas tree lighting event leaves one dead and eight hurt with terrified families forced to run for their lives
n
SteveF is right!
Not kidding at all. It is common here for ranges to have a bar and function room. Some fancy ones even have a bar/restaurant. The bar sales generally subsidise the cost of running the range, keeping membership fees reasonable.
It is not permitted to bring gubs or ammunition into the bar area of a range, so there is an adjacent secure storage or individual locker area.
The rule is simple, and strictly enforced, both by the shooters themselves and by the barmen: shoot first, drink alcohol afterwards.
We, unfortunately, have licensing for both guns and bars, and nobody wants to jeopardise their licence for either.
Moderation is the order of the day; a DUI on the way home from the range will cost your gun licence as well as your driving licence. Your hunting licence too, if you have one.
“The part buried in the lede is she will get a Federal Pension at 62 for serving just 5 years (carefully resigns on the day she is vested). I don’t know how much, but it will be generous. This has to change. A lifetime pension for serving 5 years where you don’t have to put a dime in. No.”
Easy. Years with a budget deficit do not count: 0 years toward pension if in the minority paty, -1 if in the majority. Only exception for declared war.
And while we’re at it, eliminate multiple-dipping on federal pensions.
Calling Jules Verne …(“From the Earth to the Moon”) …
(link)
She will get about $8,700 a year.
https://www.ntu.org/foundation/detail/marjorie-taylor-greenes-resignation-timing-secures-her-congressional-pension-by-three-days
Break out a tooth, or two, and one headlight. If you choose TN tack on a broken taillight and two rotted meth teeth.
We found real Cuban food in TN. Granted, the location is just north of Atlanta and about a day’s drive from South Florida, but the food was as good as anything I’ve had in Tampa or Miami.
https://el-embargochatt.com/
The owner lives in Miami. The Cuban sandwich does not have salami.
Computers, heavy sigh.
Someone sent me a link on how to opt out of Gemini on Google, it appears to have turned off Gmail filtering.
I was trying to use the Albertsons app … it is now very confused between my current email and address – and that from 2006.
I was trying to use Gimp to edit something, after upgrading to the “native” version on MacOS. The selection box is invisible.
“COP30 Demands $1.3 Trillion / Year, $3.2 Trillion by 2035”
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2025/11/18/cop30-demands-1-3-trillion-year-3-2-trillion-by-2035/
“Can’t you see these climate activists are doing it tough?”
“$1.3 trillion divided by say a hundred thousand activists is only $13,000,000 / year / activist. Barely enough to cover the air miles climate activists clock up while campaigning against flying.”
These people need to blank off and blank.
Whew. Too much sugar/carbs at lunch, and a pinched nerve in my back = pass out for 4 hours.
Woke up, ate some dinner. W is tearing the kitchen apart, moving everything and cleaning. I will have to re -buy everything I can’t find and put it where it belongs.
Rain stopped late morning and it was actually possible to work outside this afternoon, if I hadn’t ‘taken to my bed’ like some Victorian heiress…
Oh well, it seems like everytime I start making progress I lose a day to injury or ennui.
n
Whew. Too much sugar/carbs at lunch
Me too. Turkey day lunch at a church friends house. Followed up with a piece of pumpkin pie (large) and two pieces of slab chocolate cake with double icing (freaking awesome).
MrAtoz has mentioned ProtonMail. Perhaps he can chime in with observations on how good their spam filtering is.
The spam filter is the only reason I’ve stuck with gmail all these years.
I use Gemini and several other “AI”s for work, and have them linked to my main email account on account of I’m an idiot and didn’t create a separate account just for that stuff and it’s too much of a pain to switch now. Gemini hasn’t been a pain re my email account, but maybe the gradual rollout hasn’t hit me yet or maybe I’ve been too busy to notice problems.
If lots of carbs are knocking you out, you should try to burn off the sugar spike before it triggers the insulin and the crash. Go ahead and have your pie and cake, but go for a long, vigorous walk shortly after. This isn’t about burning the calories, though that helps, but about controlling the insulin response.
@stevef, that is interesting. I do better with sugar at the BOL, I guess because I am usually doing something physical, if only walking up and down the hill.
I’ve noticed that I can have toast at breakfast too, if I go do work and don’t sit down at the computer. I hadn’t quite put the idea together.
——-
More lying in bed reading, but I’m going to bed for sleep now.
Hopefully tomorrow will be a more functional day.
n
BTW, it’s the 22nd, it’s always been the 22nd, and it will always have been the 22nd….
n
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Newspeak. It is Sunday. Good morning.
Still well under freezing here. The forecast is for some liquid precipitation around lunchtime, which will cause trouble when it falls on the hard-frozen roads.
W1 therefore declares a wish to leave the BOL by 11, but has just turned over and gone back to sleep. We’ll see when she emerges…
A few little bits to do this morning, principal among which is getting the new Brother printer/scanner/copier installed and on the house network. I am amused to see it has a fax function. I wonder if I actually know anyone who could receive a fax…?
Time to get up and fetch some croissants. Wishing you all a beautiful day.
Documents: Letitia James Lied To Bank, Insurer In Alleged Mortgage Fraud Scheme
https://thefederalist.com/2025/11/21/documents-letitia-james-lied-to-bank-insurer-in-alleged-mortgage-fraud-scheme/
She also lied to the IRS, claiming investment property.
I’ve yet to see an analysis of how much money the false statements saved Ole’ Tish.