Warm today? Or just wet? Why not both? It was much warmer yesterday than I expected, getting into the low 80sF in the sun, and well into the mid to high 70sF in the shade. Humidity was high too. It was still above 70F at midnight.
I got a few things done, but not all that I wanted to. A desire to quickly wash my truck so that I can better monitor the leaks underneath led to a long distraction involving pressure washers, ordering parts, and the sun going down. I did get a load of stuff moved to the shop, so at least that went well.
Today I’m working the same list. And moving present wrapping up the list. The girls want to do Christmas presents at the BOL, so everything needs to be ready by Tuesday afternoon latest. I need to identify any shortfalls or inequities early enough to remedy them… or there will be heck to pay.
I’ve got most of my shopping and stacking of presents done, but one kid might have gotten more stuff stacked than the other. If I have to, I can hold her to the smaller number of presents the other one gets, but I’d like to give them the stuff I stacked over the year. I wouldn’t have stacked it if I didn’t want them to have it.
Normal prepping stacks will have to wait. I’ve got holiday stuff to do.
nick
Sounds like you have your priorities straight!
Sunday. Time to get up and busy.
I have the honour of making the spaghetti sauce for dinner, and I like to simmer it for an hour or three. Today’s creation will be ground lean boar meat with tomato and red wine.
I will probably add some smoked bacon matchsticks from domestic swine for the fat content (boar is very lean) and some additional flavour. I put onion and garlic in mine, and resist distaff calls for diced carrots. I might, however, tolerate adding peas and cream to finish.
Paul, I would be happy to send you a greeting card. It might arrive in time for Easter, but who cares?
Thanks for your Christmas Decorations story. Wierd how pointy-haired-bosses everywhere have no inkling of the importance of team morale. I particularly enjoyed the sticking-it-to-the-man aspect of perfect record-keeping on your part. I can see the gobsmackery clearly.
SteveF, I hope you have no adverse sequelae from leaving home thrice. I recommend additional chicken therapy if symptoms of non-agoraphobia manifest themselves.
Happy Sunday all! Remember, he’s making a list and checking it twice…
Breaking news… Nick’s Christmas lights have been caught on video.
Typical libtard behavior: The troll brought up gun deaths. I responded with facts about gun deaths. The troll shifted to mass shootings in an attempt to win the point. (That is, the troll shifted to talking about mass shootings, not performing mass shootings. It’s important to be clear about that because violence is often the next step for liberals, communists, and others of that ilk, when they don’t get their way.) Conveniently for the troll, “mass shootings” has a malleable definition, which is often shaped to show Whites as the primary offenders, because Whites in the US are not the primary offenders in any other violent crime category. (Also conveniently for the troll, “White” has a somewhat malleable definition, encompassing offenders of any race or ethnicity so far as the crime statistics and the MSM reporting goes.)
This is a tactic commonly used by women and by liberals (American usage). Some category overlap may be noted. The inability to concede a point and the insistence on winning the dispute at hand, regardless of facts or long-term damage to the cause, is a personality flaw which not only tends to draw people into a cluster of political and social beliefs but makes it pointless for normal thinkers to attempt to engage in honest discourse with them.
I erred in engaging the libtard troll. I will attempt to avoid responding to trollish asininity in the future.
That’s how one sees it’s a troll. Guns don’t cause violent deaths, people do.
Not people. Democrats.
Let’s be perfectly clear. It’s ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION. I have an absolute bias against illegal activity. Don’t you?
Women with two percenters on speed dial who never really leave college.
The two percenter is always a man which compounds the problem since Daddy earned the money.
The upside of what’s coming is that the two percenters won’t survive and they will take a lot of client’s money down with them if they don’t steal the cash outright.
The troll thinks the people here are a bunch of dumfuks. It’s probably the Ghost of Rob Reiner. It’s rhetoric was exposed as proglibturd. Don’t engage it like Mr. SteveF said. Previous trolls also posted garbage logic.
Don’t engage it, don’t even downvote it. It will soon go away.
January 26.
A country with no navy has now hit three russian narco-terrorist boats, in three different seas, in a 24 hour period.
As Glenn Reynolds is wont to say, it is the twenty-first century, you know! 😀
“Let’s be perfectly clear. It’s ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION. I have an absolute bias against illegal activity. Don’t you? ”
Add most of the “special” programs. H1B visa program as it is currently run to suppress wages of U.S. citizens and create a de facto class of enslaved workers. The “temporary” programs that brought Somalia, Haitians and others here for decades without a return strategy. Any immigration program that does not rigorously vet the immigrants.
And exclude members of any group that seeks to import their own culture and refuses to become Americans.
Everyone’s favorite foetal alcohol syndrome case study seems to be feeling out a new grift.
Sunny and warm today, well into the 70s already. Still humid.
Just catching up on the intarwebs and having coffee and breakfast. I ate a slice of apple pie and it was delicious.
Time to get started doing stuff though.
n
As Larry Correia has pointed out, if you engage the troll, you are doing it for the audience, (to inform or sway them, not him.) Our audience is already convinced.
Huh, power goes out and your self driving car can’t drive…
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2025/12/far-left-san-francisco-plunged-darkness-as-100000/
the cars couldn’t see traffic lights, so they stopped.
n
Amazon delivered a package of pipe cleaners. I ordered something and to get past the $25 for free next day shipping, the algorithm suggested I buy another $2 item.
So I did.
And they shipped separately. In other words, to get the extra $1 revenue, the algorithm caused TWO truck rolls and deliveries instead of one. No way did this result in a net gain. IDK what their marginal cost is per delivery, but there has to be one. It takes time, and often additional fuel for each delivery.
Clearly still some room for optimization there.
n
Amazon has a $35 minimum for free shipping. For me, anyway.
So I want something and they want $6.99 for shipping bringing the total to $34 or thereabouts. But if I buy another thing like some incense or a four pack of canned ravioli, something I’d buy anyway, just to get over the $35 minimum, I get free shipping. Or call it free incense or ravioli.
And always shipped separately. I’m not a math genius but I guess they make it up on volume.
I don’t have Prime. We decided it wasn’t worth the price. Next day delivery? One time, ever. The TV programs? No need, there’s plenty to watch over the air. I’m cool with waiting a week.
Amazon informs me that I’ve spent $96 and change on shipping in the last year. And I can save money with Prime!!! Well, no, not actually. I can buy a new DVD or I can buy used for a quarter or less of the new price plus $3.99 shipping. Huh. About $8 including postage for a used DVD or pushing $30 for new (and free shipping is I add a four pack of ravioli). 🙂
Tough call man.
The Rules for California Stop at Gavin Newsom’s Driveway
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/dmitri-bolt/2025/12/21/gavin-newsoms-neighbors-are-done-with-his-parties-as-they-complain-about-constant-traffic-n2668212
Post the neighborhood with signs: Towing by 4 Aces Removal, Las Vegas, NV. Next time there’s a party scheduled hire a bunch of semis with flatbed trailers to form a chain through the neighborhood. Get waivers from the neighbors and have some large forklifts come in from the property side and load the violators on the trailers. Take them to the unfenced lot in LV and drop them off, unlocked.
Or just get a load of concrete block, jack them up and remove the wheels. Take the wheels to LV and lock them up. Require title, proof of insurance and serial numbers of tires before release.
Maybe LV is too convenient. How far is Tijuana?
Pipe cleaners! I needed a new one a few months ago. A pipe cleaner is just right for cleaning the ports on the hummingbird feeder. I know I have some. Where?
I looked at Wal-Mart. Nope. Looked the the HEB in Marble Falls. They have them. Locked up with the cigarettes. But seeing the package, that shade of yellow, reminded me where my pipe cleaners are.
Why swearing makes you stronger
Swearing boosts performance by helping people feel focused, disinhibited, study finds
https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2025/12/swearing-makes-you-stronger
I have late-onset Tourette’s exacerbated by excessive contacts with Democrats and stupids (Venn diagram available). This article implies that I am not only in a medically protected group, I may be due compensation for not being able to reap the benefits of swearing.
I have a package from Big River arriving today. Sunday. Via USPS. Weird.
Nice.
I had several things to do today, from outdoor chores to some paying work. re the chores, the weather is being something of a nuisance and about all I’ve accomplished is fetching and setting back up a number of things which the wind has attempted to send into orbit. The chickens are not thrilled but they’re not in any real danger. A bit of fright when the wind picks up something in their run and flings it around, but it’s better than being bored, right? They seem not to agree.
As for the paying work, I don’t feel too tired but I’m having trouble focusing and in puzzling my way through a couple of complex issues that need to be tracked down. Annoying.
So instead I’ve mostly done food things today, aside from chasing down flying things before they go into orbit. I have a chicken roasting in the oven – store bought, not one of my precious pets – and just threw in a couple pounds of quartered potatoes to roast in the drippings. It’s kind of a nuisance to turn them in the roaster with the chicken and rack in the way, but it’s better than getting a second dish dirty. Aggressively lazy, that’s me.
The Child’s first paying gig playing piano is a Christmas Eve performance at some church which doesn’t have a pianist in its congregation, or at least not one who’s willing to play. I’ve encouraged her to have multiple income streams while she’s a student – piano, online data entry, tutoring, whatever. Partly so there’ll always be some kind of work and some kind of income even if one dries up, partly to see what she likes and is good at and pays well enough. The job market is changing and flexibility is going to be needed.
“Aggressively lazy”
Has my vote.
“The Child’s first paying gig playing piano is a Christmas Eve performance at some church which doesn’t have a pianist in its congregation, or at least not one who’s willing to play. I’ve encouraged her to have multiple income streams while she’s a student – piano, online data entry, tutoring, whatever. Partly so there’ll always be some kind of work and some kind of income even if one dries up, partly to see what she likes and is good at and pays well enough. The job market is changing and flexibility is going to be needed.”
Sound advice. Also promotes flexible thinking.
>>Clearly still some room for optimization there
You trying to get on Jeff’s ‘bad list’ the week before Xmas?
He’s proud of all the code he wrote in the Bronco. AYMR Melinda was driving. Lauren probably has more refined tastes in automobiles.
Put accounting and tax-prep software in her Christmas stocking!
Report: Coast Guard Now Targeting Another Sanctioned Oil Ship Off Venezuela
https://redstate.com/wardclark/2025/12/21/report-coast-guard-now-targeting-another-sanctioned-oil-ship-off-venezuela-n2197347
Three in two weeks gonna leave some marks:
If the tanker owners are not Venezuelan then at some point they will abandon the risk and the “shadow fleet” will collapse, leaving Venezuela and Maduro in Big Hurt City.
Word is the Venezuelan navy might be venturing out. Might be time to capture one of those drug running ships, load some “powder of Venezuelan manufacture but unknown composition” into a few hundred drones, and have them unload while flying over the Venezuelan flag ship.
Going by the article my dad would easily kick the asses of both the Terminator and John Wick. Among others.
Dad knew ALL the swear words. And used them. And tote an 80 pound bag of concrete mix on each shoulder? That my scrawny 14 year old self had trouble lifting just one? See? Being a Marine is useful. I learned a lot from him.
In my experience, many musicians get paid in cash, and view reporting that income as optional. One very close to me used to get paid for some gigs as 1099, some under W-2, and some cash. Not to mention tips and drinks and meals.
Just sayin’
If she fails to keep accounts or pay taxes, let it be by deliberate choice, not accident nor ignorance nor neglect.
That has happened to me on multiple occasions. What is strange is the USPS is delivering from Knoxville, not Oak Ridge which is much closer. I can understand my town as it is a small post office. Instead a delivery person must come all the way from the Knoxville sorting center, about 25 miles away.
I ordered a $5.00 light switch from Home Depot. Home Depot delivered the switch from the Oak Ridge store. Delivery probably cost Home Depot more than the switch.
Sunday bedtime. Back from a nice sing-along Christmas concert. It was the first time for nephew, aged 11, to see an orchestra live. He was pretty much blown away. Interesting to see it all through his fresh eyes.
Eyelids drooping. Goodnight, all.
99.90% accuracy at the tolling company using the optical vehicle tracking system depended on perfect lighting conditions and a fixed environment surveyed down to the centimeter. A Tonymobile using a pure optica system will not be able to achieve that level of reliability.
If we missed 20 cars in a 12 hour shift doing tolling, that was no big deal. Miss a single pedestrian running a self driving car and that’s a problem.
Eh, if it’s a registered Republican, the news won’t even bother reporting it. No problem!
Jeff doesn’t code. The legend is that he worked on the business plan sitting in the passenger seat.
MacKenzie drove the Bronco.
The shortest day off the year, I dressed for the weather: shorts & a t-shirt.
My friend and his wife came over and we concreted in three posts for the enlarged Chihuahua run. We also took down all the awnings in back, and while R and I were working on concrete his wife trimmed all the Mulberry trees in front. She also started a batch of Homemade bread in my machine. She says my machine seems anemic and not kneading properly and probably needs replacing. I knew something was wrong but I blamed myself and not the tools…
I’m pretty beat, this is more than I would normally get done in a week.
The Chihuahuas arrive on the third, for 10 days, so I need to get chain-link around all the sides and some sort of coyote proof fabric over the top. They’ve been particularly active this fall, even in broad daylight. Should be doable, weather permitting.
Currently we’re expecting to get a pretty good pineapple express starting Tuesday or Wednesday. Hopefully this won’t be a western Washington type of event.
Jeff Bezos dies and his attempt to buy his way into heaven does not work. Saint Peter informs him that he will be tested:
“You now have Heavenly Prime Service from Amazon–order anything and it appears instantly. All you have to do is click on the item you need.
“So here’s the situation, Jeff: You’ve just been shot and have thirty seconds before you bleed out. You pull out your cell phone–already open to the Amazon search page–and you have to search for the tourniquet, open the product page, and click to order. The package will come open and the product will take 2 seconds to apply and save your life, so you will have 28 seconds to find and order the correct product. I’ll even give you the exact product name to search.
“What do you think? Sound fair?”
Bezos looks like he just got force-fed a bag of lemons.
“You may as well send me straight to hell! You know the search algorithm never puts the exact item searched for on the ten pages!”
Saint Peter waves and a chute opens. Jeff drops in a puff of brimstone and the the ground snaps shut. Saint Peter mumbles as he makes an entry in his book. “No credit for last-minute honesty.”
I have a work friend who did a lot of home automation programming and GUI development. He would sometimes get paid in shoeboxes full of cash. This later made it very hard to get a mortgage as his declared/taxed/verified income wasn’t enough to qualify, even if the mortgage would have been less than his monthly rent.
I learned that lesson as a freelancer in college. I couldn’t get a loan because my tax returns didn’t show enough income. After that, I took to declaring every penny, from every source, and hired an accountant/EA to do my taxes so I didn’t suffer and pay more than the absolute legal requirement.
I think my choice was the better choice in the long run.
n
That said, looking at history, and recent world events, having access to ready cash or cash equivalents, that no one knows you have, would be a prudent prep.
I’m on my phone. Connected to the starlink mini Wi-Fi.
Yeah, .7 down and .4 up. From my phone. I aimed it north and had to aim more north. It’s on the patio and under tree branches. Pretty damn slick
Set-up is stupid easy.
And doing here aka this site on my phone sucks.
I’m going to leave it powered up tonight. Hey, how else to see if the cats eat the power cord?
The mini is activated . They do pro rate the charge.
Cool, I will add “set up the mini” to my list.
Now you need a peplink load balancing gateway so you can use all your bandwidth for cat videos. I can haz bandwidth?
n
Dogs can use a “talking board” to demonstrate that they have real thoughts going through their heads. (Some dogs, anyway. Some are too dumb to figure it out.) It would be interesting to set up a board for dogs or cats to control video selection and playback. See if they veg out watching cat videos all day, prefer particular genres of music or forest noises, etc.
If it works, dedicating bandwidth to cat videos takes on another meaning.
“Trump TORCHES Biden-Buttigieg EPA rules”
https://www.theblaze.com/align/trump-torches-biden-buttigieg-epa-rules
“The new policy restores balance to an industry pushed into transformation without consumer support or infrastructure readiness.”
“Washington rarely admits when policy has failed. But earlier this month, the White House stepped back from more than a decade of regulations that drove car prices to record highs, limited consumer choice, and tried to force an industry to move faster than technology, infrastructure, or American families could manage.”
“The Biden-Buttigieg standards were projected to generate $14 billion in compliance fines between 2027 and 2032, costs manufacturers said would be passed directly to buyers.”
“Putin Has His Eye on a New Land Corridor to Asia”
https://www.newsweek.com/putin-has-his-eye-on-a-new-land-corridor-to-asia-11244144
Have you ever played the game of Risk ? Obviously Putin has.
Trump loves a bargain–this sounds like a two-fer:
Death Throes of Socialism
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2025/12/death-throes-of-socialism.php
Reports differ on whether Tanker #3 is in the bag or not.
Makes you wonder if the millions that the Castros stole from Cuba is very far away.
Is it far enough away, and would anyone shelter the old bastards?
n
A few drops of moisture from the sky have started to fall. Dunno if it will turn into rain.
I was sitting out having a read and a tiny little fire, but I think it’s time for a shower and bed.
n
Looks like our Constable patrol is doing extra trips down our street. Just showing the flag for our neighbors, I think.
We were told that they all had to be in by 9pm but one just walked past, and up their driveway and it’s 12:30. Why yes, I think I will be adding a camera on the back corner of the house that looks down that side of the house… and maybe swapping out the old cam that covers my driveway and its IR floodlight too. Grrr.
n
Monday. It seems to be contemplating getting bright outside, so we survived the longest night of the year. Turned the corner, so Winter should be on the wane. Maybe we could have a festival, with lights and some greenery and food and presents and a message of hope…
I hope you all have a good Monday. I expect I will be conscripted into helping with last-minute pre-Christmas grocery shopping. Crowds and queues. Ah well, ’tis the season to be jolly and all that.
“Green California to Keep Diablo Canyon Nuclear Plant Open 5 More Years”
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2025/12/14/green-california-to-keep-diablo-canyon-nuclear-plant-open-5-more-years/
“h/t mleskovarsocalrrcom – Some Californians question why they need a nuclear plant, given all their renewable and battery investments.”
Whoa, there is still a person in kakafornia with some common sense.
“Episode 3049 CWSA 12/21/25” “Real Coffee with Scott Adams”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMX5D6ExVKo
Scott Adams is home from the hospital and apparently paralyzed no more. Nothing like a bit of targeted radiation to free things up.