Cool, low 60s to start and end, with a bit of warmer in between. And a lot of moisture, either misty drizzle or really heavy condensation.
And the damp does make it feel colder.
I did my pickups, and some other stuff, including getting my Ranger back from the inspection. It seems like the universe revels in piling new stuff on top of the old. I need to just start taking a figurative machete’ to tasks or I’ll get lost in the jungle.
Today I’ll work the list. I’ve got my truck back so I can move stuff to the shop, and maybe get another load or two out of storage. I need to organize some place to put the stuff first though. And I need to start working harder on getting rid of stuff to make room. The house is cluttered and disorganized with the holiday stuff and BOL stuff, and stuff that is in transit. I can fix that fairly easily, so I should.
And I should do a bit more exploring of the present closets. I have time to remedy any deficiencies, if I act now. Waiting for a week would be … bad.
I’ve stacked up a bunch of presents. Now it’s time to pull them out and use them. Like good preps.
n
Insurance for me and my minivan (series of them over the years, replacing each as it rusted away) is very inexpensive, a couple hundred per year, because I drive older vehicles, I don’t have accidents, and I rarely get tickets. (And when I do, it’s for BS like “driving past a stop sign” when the sign is so far back that you can’t see the side street; I did stop, but 25′ past the sign.)
Insuring my wife’s car, with her as primary driver, has always been much more expensive, partly because her cars are newer but mostly because she gets at least one ticket per year and sure has a lot of accidents. (Never her fault, of course. She drove into that guardrail because the road was slippery, not because she was looking at the heater controls.)
And then my wife got a new-off-the-lot car, lots of bells and whistles, early this year, because she’d wrecked (economically) the old car. Full coverage is -ouch- expensive. On the plus side, she says that the automatic braking has saved her from at least one accident (“because she wasn’t watching the road” was not stated but can be assumed) so the expensive bells and whistles have probably paid for themselves.
And then my daughter got her license and became the primary driver of my wife’s old car, after I fixed it. I asked the insurance agent if I was going to start crying when I heard the amount and she told me probably. Her kid had just gotten a license and a car and she cried when she saw her bill. For the record, I didn’t cry, but I was tempted.
Bottom line, the insurance for me and my van is less than an eighth of the total car insurance bill that I pay.
To be fair, being driven into wasn’t the truck’s fault.
An acquaintance was telling me about how terrible some stretch of road is. He and his band were driving back from a gig and the drummer fell asleep at the wheel and drove into an embankment and rolled the van. The state DOT really needs to fix the road. I suggested that maybe the road was not the proximate cause of that accident but he wasn’t hearing it.
It is going to be a very good Christmas for communities dependent on military payrolls.
Excellent timing locally. Yet another stink bomb dropped up at … checking … Fort Hood … this week.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/army-gynecologist-criminally-charged-allegations-secretly-filmed-patie-rcna247354
At least NBC didn’t film at the Vanessa Guillen gate. That would have been embarrassing.
63F. I’ve decided to average the north side thermometer, situated in the shade and next to a leaky window, and the south side weather station, usually in full sun, and a foot from the roof. Like a good climate scientist would.
And five 9s of RH.
————-
BTW, post title is a movie quote, not a cry for help.
————-
Although I could use help, if I could trust that they knew the difference between inventory and scrap.
————-
n
Our old UPS just…stopped being useful. The display still showed everything was fine, but the tiniest power outage would still trigger reboots. Probably just a flat battery, even though the display claimed the battery was good. Replaced it with a new one about a year ago, and so far it’s all good.
It’s just annoying that you have the things to protect against power problems, and just have to hope that they will quietly do their job. Actually testing them is not really in the cards, since you don’t want the computers hanging off of them to have a power event.
There is a protocol for testing Linux sysem response to UPS events, but I haven’t touched it in five years, since having to verify our systems’ response to power outage events at the tolling company.
Our designated “tester”, a much higher paid individual from a Fancy Lad school, was clueless about how to get the job done so I had to find the answer.
Of course, once I had the solution, QA wanted to “validate” my procedure.
“Google is your friend.”
Man, oh, man do I hate them Fancy Lads.
IF the group home next door is for sober living, at least one occupant isn’t… The country boy I met that looks like long term homeless (many ordinary country folk do) was stinking of alcohol night before last when I talked to him in the street.
Recovery usually means abstinence right?
n
I have been an Apple iPhone user since the iPhone 6. I have had an Apple Watch since version 3. My prior upgrade was to version 9 as it had fall detection. And the fall detection did indeed work, on a couple of incidents. I was able to cancel the activation of emergency response.
I upgraded to the Ultra, because I wanted one, not that I needed one. The series 9 was showing its age from use and I was thinking of getting the series 11.
The Ultra does have its own cellular radio which requires a cellular plan. I am not paying extra for that feature. I don’t need something for another $10.00 a month that I will probably never use.
Your neighbors have screwed everyone living on that street in their quest for a tenbagger.
Have you talked to a lawyer about your options?
I added a cell plan to my U3 and it works just like Dick Tracy. I also added a data plan to my iPad Pro M5. I find the plans affordable under my T-mobile plan.
I must be connected to the Matrix at all times! Even taking a dump!
Especially when taking a dump.
Have you talked to a homicidal psychopath about your options? A homicidal psychopath who lives within a convenient driving distance of you, that is.
I tether to my iPhone. I pay $65.00 a month for two phones, unlimited everything on Xfinity. I am thinking of changing just because Xfinity.
I’m probably out and about (work and play) more than you on my iPad so it is convenient to just start working and not have to tether.
Yes. But also, Clinton-esque parsing of “Recovery”, “usually”, and “abstinence”.
12 step programs all invoke abstinence. But sometimes that’s weakly interpreted as only abstinence from your primary substance or behavior. So a tweaker could be drunk on alcohol but still call himself sober – from meth. And there are alternatives to 12-steps, ranging from behaviorism to pharmacology to Scientology. Three religions in a row there.
Not how I think, but there you are. My 43 year old alcoholic son calls himself sober, and he hasn’t touched alcohol in years. But he starts every day with gummies, and tokes up every day.
I begrudgingly note that it works for him. He’s gainfully employed, and hasn’t been in jail for a decade or more.
Nick: I replaced the complete rear axle on my 1999 Ranger, inclding bleeding the brakes, in an afternoon. Got the replacement from a junk yard.
Of course I had all of the tools (including a long breaker bar) and a grandson to help me move it into place. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the speedometer adjusted for the slight gear ratio change without any input for me.
>>Dogs sleep 12-14 hours out of 24, so you’re probably right.
So…24 minus 14 leaves 10 hours awake wondering where you are…
But IIRC most dogs don’t have a good sense of time duration. You can be gone for just a short while but to them you’ve been gone for hours and may never come back.
@bob, so you weren’t worried about the difference from the 3.73 to the 4.10? Were you concerned about the 7″ ring or the 8″ and did you consider the 9″ brakes vs the 10″ brakes?
I have been looking at stuff online, and those seem to be the only differences between the models and years. The combinations are legion though.
It looks like you undo the shocks, 2 bolts, undo the leaf spring to frame connection, 4 bolts, undo the brake line, emergency brake, and the drive shaft, then reverse and reinstall…
Is it really that straight forward?
I see prices from $250 to 450 for the axle and stuff attached to it used to $1600 for most of the stuff (no leaf springs) brand new. I figure new shocks and pads and drums, bleed the brakes, but brake cylinders may need changing too on a used axle.
I figure I could do all that but the brake work, and I’d have to watch a youtube about the Ujoints and the driveshaft, and not having a lift would suck…
n
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/yourmoney/article-15393015/us-car-dealer-daniel-chu-fraud-bankruptcy.html
– someone handed these guys a bucket and told them where the stream of money was and helped them fill the bucket. Some of those people need to be indited too.
n
I did mine in a gravel drive way with a floor jack. I change from 3.73 to a 3.55, both 8″ and locking. I pulled the brake cylinder rubber caps back (at the botom) and found them to be dry underneath and didn’t change them out. I didn’t change the brake shoes as they were good also. I used the springs and shocks that were on the replacement unit as it was a low mileage vehicle.
The Liberal mindset:
‘Un Freakin’ Real’: Dem Rep’s Argument Against Deporting Illegals Is PEAK Left Insanity
Insane. Every day American here, about to go out and commit crimes.
Regulatory crimes at best. Vs actual crimes.
They are insane.
n
Remember, when an Afghan rapes a 12-y-o, it’s logged as “White Massachusetts man”. Crime statistics have been worthless since the Obama years.
They don’t “rape”. They just culturally enrich us with their more energetic sexuality, and do the jobs Americans won’t do.
n
“and do the jobs Americans won’t do.”
Like raping little kids? Neuter them like a dog and deport them. Heck, trans them for good measure. They don’t have to go back where they came from. Middle of the Sahara Desert or some island in the mid-Atlantic.
Ooops. The island of Atlantis is under water because of climate change? Oh well, enjoy your rubber dinghy. As it slowly leaks.
Or save a lot of money and just shoot ’em. 22 ammo is cheap.
I wonder what China and other monolithic countries do to illegal aliens in their country? Due process? HaHaHaHa!
An explanation of the memory problem in super-safe Rust code in Linux. It comes down to attempting to work on a simple linked list in a multi-threaded environment. Deleting such a list is not a trivial task. Rust’s memory safety did not help at all and possibly disguised the flaw because the developer had to go through an extra hoop to get it to work at all.
I sure have a lot of trash this week. New curtains. New curtain rods. Other stuff. It’s all packaged in boxes packed in larger boxes for shipping.
I cut the boxes down. I have four roughly 30 pack of beer sized boxes of solid cardboard in the back of the truck. Plus a 40# plastic dog food bag of old curtains in the laundry room. Add the normal grocery store bag of kitchen trash. tomorrow morning.
I use to have a burn barrel. 55 gallon drum with a few holes punched near the bottom for draft sitting on a few bricks. I had a screen for a lid. Might still have the lid. Put the trash in the barrel, drizzle on a cup or so of diesel (because it’s cheaper than charcoal starter) and let that soak in while you put the fuel can away. Drop in a kitchen match. A barrel lasts maybe three years before it collapses from rust.
I’ve been thinking. How about a “burn barrel” made of cinder blocks? Leave a gap at the bottom, like half of a block, for draft and clean out. Because metal cans don’t burn. I have the blocks just stacked by the boatport…. they use to be under the firewood stack. Only one way to find out if cinder blocks will work.
anyone have a takeaway from Trump’s speech?
These are the good old days, enjoy them.
“Rockets center’s breakfast smells like “tear gas,” and teammates can’t bear it”
https://www.chron.com/sports/rockets/article/steven-adams-breakfast-tear-gas-rockets-diet-21250135.php
“Houston Rockets center Steven Adams is a giant among men even by NBA standards, one of the league’s most imposing physical forces at a broad-shouldered, 6-foot-11, 265 pounds. Now at 32 years old, Adams has an established diet for maintaining his massive physique. Adams’ Houston teammates don’t exactly welcome the routine.”
“Adams, now in his second year with the Rockets, detailed his peculiar daily breakfast on Wednesday on The Young Man and the Three podcast with Tommy Alter. Adams said each morning after shootaround includes a feast of six eggs and one pound of ground beef, “all mixed together,” according to Adams. Not exactly appetizing? The breakfast’s preparation—described by Rockets guard and fellow podcast guest Reed Sheppard—isn’t exactly enticing.”
“”It’s been sitting on a heater for like an hour waiting for ’em.’ So he waits until we get in the tiny room, watching film,” Sheppard said. “As soon as everyone gets in there, door gets closed, and then he opens it, and you just have to smell the meat and the eggs for a whole like 30 minutes.””
Is that Keto or Carnivore or what ?
“Adams’ breakfast is a feast few can match (if any at all) league-wide. His nightly dinner plan is probably even more mysterious. Postgame meals are simple: two 2.5-pound ribeye steaks, eaten without sauce or, as Sheppard notes, utensils. If he has an off night in a city, one dinner isn’t enough. Sheppard recounted a recent evening with Adams, during which he moved from a steakhouse to a seafood restaurant, then to a ramen joint all within a few hours. Is there ever an end to Adams’ appetite? Not exactly, according to the veteran center.”
Oh my.
IF the group home next door is for sober living, at least one occupant isn’t… The country boy I met that looks like long term homeless (many ordinary country folk do) was stinking of alcohol night before last when I talked to him in the street.
Recovery usually means abstinence right?
Not according to the Reiner’s oldest son.
Too soon ?
Been home working the phone all day. Dr appointments, insurance, etc.
Kids and wife were home early, but they ‘ve been leaving me alone.
Did one load of domestic bliss, need to fold now.
Kid2 has extra kids over as she is going to take them to friends and family night at her twice weekly activity.
W is in work from home mode. And she’s not sharing the hot chocolate drink bombs she got from someone at work. Grrrr.
n
Eggs and hamburger is anything stinky… what the heck are they complaining about? If it was shredded beef it would be machaca and served with rice, beans, and tortilla. Used to be one of my favorite hangover breakfasts. Real huevos rancheros is right up there too.
n
“Episode 3046 Coughing WSA 12/18/25”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYTl4p91Dbg
Scott Adams is huffing on his oxygen line.
Wednesday’s episode is at “Episode 3045 Chat WSA 12/17/25”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_rfjkG8ggk
“Beyond the Ranges” by John Ringo and James Aidee
https://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Ranges-John-Ringo/dp/1668072777?tag=ttgnet-20/
Book number one of a one book science fiction series. One hopes that there will be sequel book or two. I read the well printed and well bound MMPB published by Baen in 2024 that I bought new on Amazon.
For Jason Graham, the world ends not with a bang, not even with much of a whimper. One second, he’s sitting in a restaurant in Mobile, Alabama, chatting with a server, the next he finds himself in a strange room, rescued by mysterious alien benefactors. Seems the world did end, though how and why are something of a mystery as their robot benefactors claim to be the good guys in this.
Now, Jason, and five hundred million other humans, are in orbit in a huge space station around an Earthlike world that is abundant in natural resources and totally untamed. For the newly awakened humans, this is a chance to start society with a clean slate and a bright future. For Jason, who has knocked about aimlessly in several different careers in his Earth life, it’s an opportunity to unleash his creativity and ambition and see what he can really do.
John Ringo’s current website:
https://johnringoauthor.substack.com/
My rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Amazon rating: 4.4 out of 5 stars (1,071 reviews)
Lynn
Dr. Ken Berry, one of the carnivore diet guys, has a similar breakfast every day. Except it’s usually sometime in the afternoon. He’s on YouTube a lot, and has a lot of PHD merch and paid services. PHD = Proper Human Diet.
Dr. Shawn Baker, another carnivore diet guy, has been eating bacon and eggs lately, but for a long time it was 2 big ribeyes every day. A big carving knife, a fork, and salt to sprinkle on them.
Berry is well built and in good shape. Baker is an athletic monster.
A classic “WKRP in Cincinnati” episode set in a hospital has Howard Hesseman as Johnny Fever lying on an unoccupied bed, huffing oxygen, and entertaining a dying elderly woman in her final hours.
RIP Don Sturdy.
The AI said it would work. I don’t understand.
George Zimmerman was a “white hispanic”.
@MrAtoZ
Read the fine print–it’s required by Google.
Trust them, the data is anonymized. But did you know that the stereo microphones can time the interval between release and water entry, compute the distance, time, weight, and configuration of the load, and add photographic information when you press the flush handle?
Google’s “John Henry” Project is probably just an unfounded rumor.
The mutual fund company where I keep my “cr*p money” must have received a lot of panic phone calls this morning from investors after the big dump their balanced fund took after hours yesterday.
It turns out that the fund was disbursing dividends and turning over equities, the money from which hit the accounts this afternoon after the market closed.
My annual rate of return is roughly back to where it was on Tuesday afternoon.
*unless they are from Nigeria, Haiti, or Somalia, or…
How about we just say all of the ones who are here illegally, since their first act in entering the U.S. was, by definition, a crime against the citizens of the United States?
Oh, wait! Was that a definitional trick? By “everyday Americans” did you mean Democrats?
I believe all smart phones have gravity tensor sensors so a big load will cause a minor fluctuation in the readings as it goes down the drain.
@paul
Concrete is not very heat resistant but would probably last more than 3 years. Building the pit with concrete block and adding some sheet metal to line it would be better. Or remove the top and bottome from all your tin cans, cut them at the seam, pound them flat, and bend a 2″ 90-degree lip on one end to make heat flashing.
It’s possible to write bad code in any language, regardless of framework, library choice, development environment*, or “vibe”.
Programming well is hard. For now, at least, the best that can be accomplished with language, framework, library, IDE, and AI assistant is to make the good developers more productive and to let the lumpens appear to be productive on systems where errors don’t matter.
Things may change. LLMs are getting more capable when it comes to producing almost-good code. It’s possible that they’ll get good enough to let money be raised for exploring non-dead-end approaches. Or the limitations of LLMs could suck all of the air out of the room and the money will go away. It could go either way.
* If you need your IDE, if you can’t write a full program using Emacs or Vi, you’re at best a lumpen.
Today’s Democrats are not Americans in any but a technical sense, so no.
I wondered about that little spinning icon…
Unless masked by a nearby mass several orders of magnitude larger. MrAtoz, are you pudgy? How pudgy? Enough to confound a gravity sensor? If so, NASA may have a job for you as an assistant in calibrating some of their equipment.
Fulton County: ‘We Don’t Dispute’ 315,000 Votes Lacking Poll Workers’ Signatures Were Counted In 2020
https://thefederalist.com/2025/12/17/fulton-county-we-dont-dispute-315000-votes-lacking-poll-workers-signatures-were-counted-in-2020/
https://thefederalist.com/2025/12/18/large-school-systems-see-plummeting-foreign-language-students-thanks-to-immigration-enforcement/
Every teacher and administrator who wants to “fight” for illegal immigrants right to an education should be allowed to sign up for free relocation so they can be deported with the illegal aliens and keep up the good work.
Leftist Shrew Melts Down on Elderly Target Worker Over Charlie Kirk Shirt
https://redstate.com/rusty-weiss/2025/12/18/leftist-shrew-melts-down-on-elderly-target-worker-over-charlie-kirk-shirt-her-response-is-pure-gold-n2197268
If Mr. Wiltermood has any hesitation in doing what he needs to do, he should be asked what would happen if a black Target employee wearing a BLM shirt was assaulted with the same kind of unhinged profanity by a white customer. Because if the result isn’t the same, it is indeed about politics.
And the state licensing board for nurses should get a pile of complaints. Lack of mental stability is not a good characteristic for a nurse.
13,000 votes put the Ossoff-Purdue Senate race into a runoff, which resulted in the Senate changing hands after nearly 250,000 Purdue voters stayed home.
Of course, the 30,000 Libertarians “voting their conscience” in November didn’t help. In GA, the party’s strongest numbers are in the southeast corner of the state, near Jacksonville, far from Fulton’s shenanigans so those votes were counted.
Do they have gas sensors? Asking for a friend.
* If you need your IDE, if you can’t write a full program using Emacs or Vi, you’re at best a lumpen.
Heh ! That is mean.
And I currently use Visual Studio 2015 for my Windows user interface. Visual Studio 2015 just works and does not make me figure where in the 300+ classes that I am stomping through.
I use Crimson Editor for my calculation engine. CEdt handles my Fortran code very well but I wish I could use Visual Studio.
“Nick Saban sparks controversy accusing Texas A&M of fake crowd noise”
https://www.chron.com/sports/college/article/nick-saban-aggies-crowd-noise-kyle-field-21250768.php
“You can’t hear yourself think when you’re playing out there.”
Saban is just jealous. We practiced yelling every Friday night before a Saturday game. It is called “Midnight Yell Practice”.
The stadium got deafening when they closed in both ends. 109,000 Aggies can make a lot of noise.
And see the picture. There was no love lost between Jimbo and Saban.
“North Korea just had its biggest year ever stealing cryptocurrency”
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/north-korea-just-had-its-biggest-year-ever-stealing-cryptocurrency-130002485.html?guccounter=1
“Cyber attackers sponsored by the rogue regime have swiped over $2.02 billion in crypto since January, according to the latest findings from blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis.”
Nuke ’em.
Ok. Tell me you are a fag and your dog is a vegetarian without lisping .
A pound of raw hamburger cooks down to about ¾ of a pound of meat and add a half dozen eggs scrambled in, add in a huge handful of grated cheddar cheese and maybe add some diced tomatoes and nacho slices, wrap it all up in flour tortillas… I would eat that any time it was offered.
Yeah. Only a half dozen eggs. Slacker.
Ok, Build the pit and line it with scrap sheet metal roofing. Excellent idea!
I’m kinda lost with the tin cans thing. Maybe as a replacement for a scrap sheet metal lining? But like roof flashing held in place by the concrete blocks?
But ya know? I come here to learns stuff.
I just looked in my pantry and almost all cans now have molded bottoms. Nice for stacking. Kinda impossible to cut off the bottom and flatten the can.
Visual Studio is a solid choice for Windows developers.
I’m not a fan of VS Code on Linux.
Hey, that EKO Loves You thing I posted about a few days ago…. the one month free subscription that gives access to everything….. The dude is a good story teller.
Yeah. I get it. He’s kinda religious. And maybe well, whatever, wardrobe, whatever., on the way to Narnia. Works for me.
I don’t know what Substack wants when one redeems a one month free subscription. No clue.
Yet no one here is interested?
Odd.
I’m kinda lost with the tin cans thing. Maybe as a replacement for a scrap sheet metal lining?
Yup. Wasn’t sure about your homestead natural resources. Should known a prepper would have “scrap sheet metal roofing”.
But like roof flashing held in place by the concrete blocks?
Yup.
Hey, that EKO Loves You thing I posted about a few days ago…. the one month free subscription that gives access to everything….. The dude is a good story teller.
Yeah. I get it. He’s kinda religious. And maybe well, whatever, wardrobe, whatever., on the way to Narnia. Works for me.
I don’t know what Substack wants when one redeems a one month free subscription. No clue.
Yet no one here is interested?
Odd.
Not much free time this week.
North Korea even has Internet access? I thought just having enough electricity for lights was a big deal. Everything in the news is a lie. All of it.
It’s the CIA. Like growing poppies in other places.
@paul, do you pay to have your trash hauled away, or is it that you have to take it yourself, and you have to take more than is convenient?
Burning trash smells terrible and I’m pretty sure there are still heavy metals in the inks used in the packaging.
If you do burn, you want something that is more like a rocket stove, so it’s hot and quick.
I watched a whole video where the guy did an inner and outer sleeve from 55gal drums, but all I could think was “jeebus that’s a lot more work than I’d do.”
I did buy a sheet metal “garden burn basket” from one of my auctions but haven’t tried it yet at the BOL. It’s super sketchy and thin so I’m not optimistic.
n
“Not much free time this week. ”
Ok. Cool.
Berry also throws in a pound of sausage. I need that or spices in plain burger and eggs. Just doesn’t taste right.
The DM is reporting the suspected Brown shooter offed himself in a storage unit.
Phrasing!
Oh, wait, you’re not talking about Barack Obottom. Disregard.
Trash service here is currently “you get a big green trash can” and they come and dump it on Friday. It was $65 a month plus sales tax the last time I looked. They do not come to the house. You have to haul your big green trash can to the road.
Hey, it’s just a mile away from the house to the paved road. Not exactly handy.
So I crush tin cans when I can. The cans I can’t flatten I fill with stuff like k-cups.
Beer cans and scrap metal are a separate trash line. I get money for crushed beer cans. No, not enough to make a special trip, but with a stop at Walmart and then the big HEB and then the recycle place….. it works.
As for burning trash, it’s cool, stay up-wind and there is no smell.
Big: Jury Reaches [GUILTY] Verdict in Judge Hannah Dugan Case on Obstructing Federal Agents Over Illegal Alien
https://redstate.com/nick-arama/2025/12/18/verdict-in-on-judge-hannah-dugan-case-for-obstructing-federal-agents-n2197281
Bye-bye.
Shell Oil Sued Over “Causing Typhoon” in Philippines in Major Test Case
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2025/12/18/shell-oil-sued-over-causing-typhoon-in-philippines-in-major-test-case/
The response, as always, should be that Shell immediately stops selling their fossil-fuel product in the Philippines, and offer only bio-diesel and other “green” fuels, at, unfortunately, astronomically high prices. Then the rest of the producers follow.
I’ll start the Flat-Line Fund to invest in property when assets hit 5 cents on the dollar.
Yes, dollar-denominations only. Inflation in ballskitches or kwat or whatever they call their currency will have them buying rice with bales of paper money in six months.
Palisades Reservoir Empty Just as Santa Ana Winds Season Begins
https://twitchy.com/gordon-k/2025/12/18/reservoir-empty-palisades-n2423004
Voting for them has worked so well so far…
They are getting it good and hard.
n
Friday. Dark. Too early to be awake on my holidays. Go back to sleep, perhaps…
Busy day yesterday. Up early to make civet de marcassin (Wild Boar stew, but in French). It’s a bit involved. The key is taking the time to get all the fat and sinew off the cubed boar meat. A very sharp knife is important to that step.
Season and brown the meat, remove from pan, de-glaze the pan with onion, garlic and diced root vegetables. Add a bouquet garni (thyme, rosemary, sage, bay leaf, wrapped in the outer leaf of a leek, throw in a few dried juniper berries) and a bottle of beer. Return the meat. Add enough beer, water and/or stock to just cover the solids. Bring to a simmer.
Transfer to a slow cooker on “hi”, or a very slow oven, and let cook for three or four hours, or on “lo” overnight. Enjoy the smell while fending off the curious.
Pour everything into a sieve, catching the liquid in a saucepan. Pick out the meat from the sieve, and discard the overcooked vegetables and the flavourings.
Dice potatoes, carrots, celeriac, parsley root, onions, garlic and some butternut squash if you have some. Bring the liquid to a rolling boil and skim off any scum that rises to the top. Add the diced veg in order of how long it takes to cook, starting with the potatoes, wait a bit, the carrots, etc…
While the veg is poaching and the liquid reducing, fry some rings of leek and some diced mushrooms in butter until the mushrooms give up their moisture and take on some colour. I used Pleurotus eryngii yesterday, but pretty much any edible mushroom will do.
Dried mushrooms give a particularly nice umami flavour, so add some of those too, if you have some. Dried mushrooms need to be cleaned and reconstituted by soaking in hot water. Avoid any sandy residue in the bottom of the bowl.
When the veg is all in the sauce and poached “al dente”, add the sautéed leek and the mushrooms, and return the cooked meat to the pot. Add a handful of pre-cooked roasted chestnuts (I buy these vacuum-packed or in jars, very convenient). Crush up a couple of the chestnuts, they help thicken the sauce.
Warm through. Taste for seasoning, and thicken the sauce to taste with beurre manié or cornstarch slurry (I used “Bisto” gravy granules yesterday, which are just cornstarch with some caramel colouring and beef flavour). Cook just long enough for the thickening agent to lose its starchy taste and the stew to be piping hot.
Serve ladled into a bowl with crusty bread, or on a plate with boiled potatoes and winter greens. The stew tastes even better if you can bear to wait until the next day, but it is pretty much impossible to resist the aroma in the kitchen that long.
Like I said, it’s a bit involved…
That occupied me until sandwich lunchtime. After that, I went out in the woods with a rifle. I didn’t see any game, but I’m pretty sure I heard reindeer and a sleigh coming from the north.
The stew was warming and delicious for dinner. So warming and delicious that I conked out right thereafter…
I am not going to watch a video about that. However, using data structures in a multi-threaded environment requires syncrhonization. That isn’t exactly a beginner topic, but is certainly covered by intermediate classes in any undergrad CS degree. There is no excuse for a seasoned developer to screw it up in any language.
Really, no news here, except that the developer screwed up.
I don’t know about cinder blocks specifically, but generally: concrete can absorb moisture. When heated by a fire, the results can be…explosive. I experienced this personally with some garden paving slabs.