Mon. Dec. 22, 2025 – time is short, I need to get my head out..

By on December 22nd, 2025 in culture, decline and fall

Warm again, possibility of rain. Although yesterday was very nice indeed. Still around 70F at midnight, it was warm all day. Not very Christmas-y but really nice. I wouldn’t mind another couple of days like that.

I got very little done yesterday and have fallen even farther behind. Some kid drama (D1 involved in her SECOND road rage incident, this time over a stolen parking space) and general work avoidance, and reading too much.

Today I have a doctor’s appointment, one pickup, and a whole sh!teton of stuff to do. D1 took a shift on Tuesday night, so W and D2 will head to the BOL today, or possibly tonight, and we’ll follow later. It does give me a bit more time to find and wrap presents, but it wasn’t how I expected to spend Christmas break.

We all know the truth about plans though.

Add practice de-escalating and some defensive driving lessons for D1 to the list. I did a hotwash of the incident with her last night, and we’ll be doing some training soon. I’d already decided to do some more advanced driving stuff with her, now that she is past thinking about ‘right foot’ ‘left foot’ ‘turn’ as she drives, but it’s clear she’s a magnet for trouble and needs some training sooner rather than later. Silly me, I thought it would be easier with girls.

Do the best you can with what you’ve got, wherever you are. And stack.

nick

89 Comments and discussion on "Mon. Dec. 22, 2025 – time is short, I need to get my head out.."

  1. Denis says:

    …it’s clear she’s a magnet for trouble and needs some training sooner rather than later.

    I hope D1 is OK.

    Good luck with the extra training, Nick! I would not have had road rage avoidance on my radar for a new driver. I suppose it is an indictment of the decline in manners of society in general.

    My late father taught me to drive, and he was big on defensive driving and courtesy to other road users. I must have retained something of his lessons. In more than 35 years, and probably upwards of a million km, I have had one accident which was my fault. Fortunately, that was minor and long ago.  It taught me an important lesson about stopping distances.

  2. Greg Norton says:

    “Green California to Keep Diablo Canyon Nuclear Plant Open 5 More Years”

    Whoa, there is still a person in kakafornia with some common sense.

    The Dems are going to run Gavin Newsom for President.

    Gavin had his own set of kneepads in Willie Brown’s desk drawer in San Francisco City Hall, right next to Kamala’s.

    Plus, the infrastructure for the sex robots will need a lot of electricity.

  3. SteveF says:

    But… but… Solar! Wind! Batteries! What do they need any of that dirty nukular energy for???

  4. dcp says:

    we’ll be doing some training soon

    Include in the lesson the quote (suitably modified) from Frank Borman:  “A superior pilot uses his superior judgment to avoid situations which require the use of his superior skill.”

    11
  5. MrAtoz says:

    We’re spending 3 nights on the Strip at the Bellagio. Family in town and MrsAtoz got a nice discount on the rooms. I’m meh about the Bellagio, but it’s MrsAtoz’s fav this time of year due to the Christmas decorations. The Twins are meh also and are staying home with the doggos.

    I gots First World problems.

    12
  6. SteveF says:

    A skilled operations guy, whether IT operations or warehouse operations or event planning operations, make it look like his job can be done by an intern because problems are anticipated. Work-arounds are planned. He has a list of contacts who can get things moving outside of the usual approval process or who can come in on a moment’s notice.

    He will then be “downsized” by a new vice president or a cost-cutting consultant.

    Things will then go awry.

    11
  7. drwilliams says:

    When things are under control many jobs look easy and the experienced talent seems overpaid. 

  8. EdH says:

    Gas at the little local market here in California was $4.599 yesterday when I drove by.   
     

    It’s probably a little bit cheaper in town, particularly at Costco or the lower price stations.

  9. Nick Flandrey says:

    avoid situations 

    – ‘don’t be there’ was discussed.    She has some practice with this already, leaving a couple of parties before the cops came.   I asked her why she didn’t just  say “sorry” and leave.   Blank look.   She’d “won” the contest for the space and wasn’t giving up the prize.  “I was late for work”.    I pointed out that she didn’t get to work earlier, because she had to stay in the car and call for an escort after the confrontation.    The guy went back to his car [likely arming himself], then returned to continue to call her out, trying to get her out of the minivan to [presumably] fight him or take her punishment.    Yeah.   

    Then we talked thru escaping, using the vehicle as a weapon, and how best to push cars out of the way  IF he’d have drawn or shown a weapon.   She’s worried about scraping or damaging the vehicles.   FFS.   

    She had a nice big reaction to the adrenaline dump, got scared pretty good, and maybe learned a lesson.  

    ———————

    Looks like rain never happened last night, but it is overcast and gusty today so we might get some later.

    ——————–

    Apple pie,  eggs, bacon, toast, and coffee for my late breakfast today.

    Time to get moving on my errands.

    n

  10. lpdbw says:

    I don’t know if he has a playlist for road rage or not, but John Correia, who has the Active Self Protection YouTube channel, covers road rage enough that he has his own set of cute little sayings about it.  The best is “your ego is not your amigo”.

    Because of ubiquitous video cameras, he’s been able to analyze more than 10,000 shootings and other deadly force encounters.

    One of the lessons I took from my motorcycle safety course was “If it has 4 wheels, it wants to kill you.”  This applies whether you’re driving a motorbike or an F-150.  I also assume the other driver is armed and stupid  I am always armed, so I try not to be stupid behind the wheel.

    But I am also human, and thus imperfect.

    I like that Borman quote.

  11. Nick Flandrey says:

    A skilled operations guy, whether IT operations or warehouse operations or event planning operations, make it look like his job can be done by an intern because problems are anticipated. Work-arounds are planned. He has a list of contacts who can get things moving outside of the usual approval process or who can come in on a moment’s notice.

    He will then be “downsized” by a new vice president or a cost-cutting consultant.  

    —  I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve seen this.   In event production, it usually plays out as someone who was in the room for the event gets promoted to the big job, someone FEMALE, who thinks they can handle it because the guy who did the job “just stood around talking to people.”   Of course, she’s exceptional at standing around talking.

    She, and whoever promotes her (she was in the room originally to give her “exposure”) , never sees the 4 inch ring binder full of plans, meeting notes, contracts and riders, or knows anything about the weeks of planning that went into the event.   And she has none of the long history of working together that the guy has with his vendors, crew, and relevant .gov officials.   And she was too busy standing around and talking to realize the number of issues, minor or major that were quietly resolved by the guy and his crew, by radio or phone, or by talking to one of those other people,  that made the event happen.

    My buddy had his event master chef collapse with a heart attack, DURING the event, at a private home that included catered dinner, pre and post dinner entertainment, artificial snow, an internationally known performer, and later DJ and rave for the under 18s.  100 guests were none the wiser as they got EMS in, the stricken chef out, and food served with the private concert and follow on party going off without a hitch.   The chef survived and recovered.   The guests had a good time.   

    My buddy is competent.  Skilled.  Experienced.   All the things bubbly cute intern/assistant girl is not.    Sometimes that doesn’t matter.  Sometimes it saves lives.

    n

    11
  12. dkreck says:

    Apple pie,  eggs, bacon, toast, and coffee for my late breakfast today.

    Lucky dog – apple pie!

  13. Nick Flandrey says:

    Yeah, I’ll pay for the sugar and carbs tomorrow with upset guts, but hey, pie for breakfast!

    n

  14. MrAtoz says:

    We’re in the room watching Home Alone 2 and a Gucci commercial airs. Ellen “Elliot” Page is one of the stars. Gucci didn’t get the memo QWERTY wokeness is over. The commercial about how a stink brings all of the 1,000’s of genders together in love. Page is one big downer of a person.

  15. SteveF says:

    I’ve been “downsized” once because what I was doing worked smoothly. Much more often I simply wasn’t valued and got minimal raises because I wasn’t doing anything visible and got passed over for interesting projects because the out-of-sight work that I did was “too important” for me to do anything else. The more discerning among you might see a bit of contradiction between those two points.

    I certainly noticed that the up-front-and-loud people got the interesting projects, threw together something half-assed which I needed to “just clean up so it will run on the server”, and got three times the annual raise that I did. (To be fair, the raises applied only when I was an employee. In the more common case that I was a contractor, the rate was set in the contract. However, respect for what I did applied, or should have applied, regardless of the employment status.)

    On the plus side, one company failed almost immediately after I left, another had big problems, and several projects or teams completely failed once I stopped holding them up.

    12
  16. MrAtoz says:

    BJ Klinton is really, really, trying to get the PLT woke crowd to repeat his mantra “It’s not about me! It’s now about me! It’s tRump! Get him! GET HIM!” about Pedo-stein pics. Apparently all the tRump photos were all in the public domain, so the DOJ must be hiding any others.

    How does it feel, ass-hoe? Feel your legacy crumbling? Maybe don’t molest females (and males?) in the White House and then have Kankles try to eliminate them.

  17. MrAtoz says:

    RIP Chris Rea. I only listened to The Road to Hell about a 1,000 times.

  18. SteveF says:

    Maybe don’t molest

    That’s hate speech!

    You’d almost think that ol’ BJ was a woman, with the way “he” avoids responsibility for anything.

  19. MrAtoz says:

    Sisu 2 is out in 4K. At least on the High Seas.

  20. MrAtoz says:

    /////NOT SUITABLE FOR WORK/////

    /////NOT SUITABLE FOR WORK/////

    I asked AI this:

    write an x-rated version of the first chorus of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer except use BJKlinton for Rudolph and Monica for Santa

    Only Grok would answer, with:

    Then all the interns loved him
    As they shouted out with glee
    BJ Klinton, the cum-nosed president
    You’ll go down on me in history!
    
    Then one foggy Oval night
    Monica came to say
    “BJ with your nose so red
    Won’t you stain my dress instead?”
    
    Then how the interns watched him
    As he bent right down to please
    BJ Klinton, the cum-nosed president
    You’ll go down on me in history!
    11
  21. Ray Thompson says:

    Only Grok would answer, with:

    Snicker.

  22. dcp says:

    playlist for road rage

    I had to remove “March of Cambreadth” from my commute playlist.  The chorus would wind me up too much while driving.

    “Sound the horn and call the cry!

    “How many of them can we make die?”

  23. Lynn says:

    We are going to have a Hawaii Christmas here in South Texas, 75 F and breezy.  The kids dreaming of a white Christmas will not be happy.

  24. Lynn says:

    Yeah, I’ll pay for the sugar and carbs tomorrow with upset guts, but hey, pie for breakfast!

    I looked at the pecan pies last night at HEB but decided to wait until Wednesday to purchase one.  I can hardly wait.  I knew if I bought it last night that I would get into it before Christmas day.

  25. Greg Norton says:

    Sisu 2 is out in 4K. At least on the High Seas.

    I saw “Sisu 2” the proper way, in a theater.

    A Sony theater.

    The flick is awesome.

    Does it stretch reality? Yes.

    Is it more of the same? Of course.

    Will you care? No.

    The box office wasn’t great so a third is unlikely, but the director has a deal for the next Rambo movie.

  26. Lynn says:

    We’re in the room watching Home Alone 2 and a Gucci commercial airs. Ellen “Elliot” Page is one of the stars. Gucci didn’t get the memo QWERTY wokeness is over. The commercial about how a stink brings all of the 1,000’s of genders together in love. Page is one big downer of a person.

    Ellen Page cut her breasts off so she could publicly swim like a guy in board shorts.  Do you how offensive that is to the thousands of women who are forced to cut their breasts off every year because of an advanced cancer diagnosis ?  The procedure is so common that the doctors even have a name for it, a mastectomy.

  27. Greg Norton says:

    We’re in the room watching Home Alone 2 and a Gucci commercial airs. Ellen “Elliot” Page is one of the stars. Gucci didn’t get the memo QWERTY wokeness is over. The commercial about how a stink brings all of the 1,000’s of genders together in love. Page is one big downer of a person.

    If Disney called … them … in to read for “Avengers Doomsday”, Ellen Page would be back in a heartbeat, squeezing into the Kitty Pryde costume with a pair of silicon falsies.

  28. Greg Norton says:

    He will then be “downsized” by a new vice president or a cost-cutting consultant.  

    The replacement will be a Fancy Lad or, as of late, a female type I call President of the Mathletes from a “good” school.

    The male will quit within a few months.

    The female will last longer but only because someone steps in to do her real work.

    A male from State U Engineering.

  29. Greg Norton says:

    If Disney called … them … in to read for “Avengers Doomsday”, Ellen Page would be back in a heartbeat, squeezing into the Kitty Pryde costume with a pair of silicon falsies.

    The “femme” bar is pretty high now that it appears likely Haley Atwell is back on the Disney Marvel payroll.

  30. Denis says:

    I asked her why she didn’t just  say “sorry” and leave.

    An apology that seems sincere will often defuse a delicate situation enough to facilitate a quick exit without further unpleasantness. An “I’m so sorry, here let me buy you a drink!” combined with some throw-down money is an advanced version of the same move for adults.

    The guy went back to his car [likely arming himself]…

    That is worrisome. I presume D1 is not yet of an age to be legally packing. I hope this incident will now have tuned her “leave immediately by all means possible” antenna.

    I visited another Christmas market this evening with W1 and members of her family. I spent the time in condition yellow, bordering on orange. It is striking how many people wander around in oblivious condition white with a side of zero situational awareness.

    It was interesting to play the “spot the plainclothes cops” game with myself. They were reassuringly numerous. The strategy seemed to be sending the (mostly pretty, young) uniformed lady cops to very visibly patrol on foot, while the male colleagues in mufti loitered around blending into the background. There were many non-indigenous persons in the crowd, noticeably more than in the past. Merkel Legos everywhere, but tastefully disguised as street furniture.

  31. Lynn says:

    “A Psalm for the Wild-Built: A Monk and Robot Book (Monk & Robot, 1)” by Becky Chambers
       https://www.amazon.com/dp/1250236215?tag=ttgnet-20

    Book number one of a two book science fiction series. I read the well printed and well bound hardback published by Tor in 2021 that I bought on Amazon in 2024. This book won the 2022 Hugo for best novella. People call this a novella but it is 160 pages which seems to be long for a novella. I have ordered the newly released trade paperback that contains both books so I can read the second book in the series:
       https://www.amazon.com/Monk-Robot-Wild-Built-Prayer-Crown-Shy/dp/1250386330/146-1679716-0544446?tag=ttgnet-20

    Sibling Dex is a tea monk. They (the pronoun used in the book) use their bicycle to tow their tea wagon from village to village through the wilds of Panga. One day, Sibling Dex goes off the main road, intending to visit an old monastery fabled to be down the old road. Halfway to the old monastery, they encounter one of the fabled robots who had gained sentience a long time ago and walked from the factories into the wildernesses of Panga. The robot’s name is Mosscap.

    This is a very laid back book. I liked the book but it is fairly strange. The society in the book seems to be fairly self contained, very reminiscent of the USA in the 1800s. In fact, the book reminds me a lot of the “Wolf and Iron” book by Gordon R. Dickson but with none of the violence.
       https://www.amazon.com/Wolf-Iron-Gordon-R-Dickson/dp/0812509463?tag=ttgnet-20

    My rating: 4 out of 5 stars 
    Amazon rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars (17,090 reviews)

    Lynn

  32. Denis says:

    A skilled operations guy, whether IT operations or warehouse operations or event planning operations, make it look like his job can be done by an intern because problems are anticipated. 

    This is a counter-productive side effect of mastery. Anything looks easy when a master does it.

    Inexperienced people much my junior make a song and dance about how good they are, and get lots of attention (and promotions) for so doing, but when something difficult absolutely, positively has to be done right and be done yesterday, it lands on my desk.

  33. Denis says:

    Monday bedtime. Time for some shut-eye. Early to rise tomorrow, to do the Christmas perishables grocery shopping before the crowds get too awful. W2 and her mother have been making a list and checking it twice…

    Goodnight!

  34. SteveF says:

    An “I’m so sorry, here let me buy you a drink!” combined with some throw-down money is an advanced version of the same move for adults.

    And then, when he’s picking up the money she threw down, bust a cap in his ass.

  35. Gavin says:

    When things are under control many jobs look easy

    The Zen of IT Management. “Why did you put in so much overtime? Nothing happened.”

  36. Nick Flandrey says:

    roomba would have to beat the dog, and he can hear a chip drop…

    n

  37. Nick Flandrey says:

    Dr says my nose getting bigger and asymmetrical is just aging.  On the one hand, I’m glad it’s not a lump growing in there.  On the other hand…

    n

  38. Lynn says:

    “Federal Firearms License”

       https://areaocho.com/federal-firearms-license/

    “Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Andy Kim (D-NJ) introduced the Federal Firearm Licensing Act, legislation that would require that individuals obtain a federal firearm license before purchasing or receiving a firearm. A license would require:”

    1.   Fingerprints and background checks
    2.   Signoff from local officials
    3.   Be required for each firearm
    4.   Expire in 5 years
    5.   even being arrested or accused of a crime is enough for denial
    6.   License holders would be placed on a ‘watch list’ called “RAP Back”
    7.   prohibit a licensee from giving or loaning a firearm to someone else without using a dealer

    “No. Just no. This is so incredibly unconstitutional.”

    Cory Booker can jump up and bite my posterior.

  39. Nick Flandrey says:

    Saw my first ID Buzz today.  It looks awesome, like a concept car, not a bland production vehicle.   

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/yourmoney/cars/article-15406255/volkswagen-ev-buzz-market-pause.html

    Another feel-good EV disappears as automakers rethink electric dreams

    By BEN SHIMKUS, US CONSUMER REPORTER

    Published: 13:11 EST, 22 December 2025 | Updated: 13:11 EST, 22 December 2025 

    Volkswagen’s most smile-inducing car — the electric reboot of its iconic hippie camper van — isn’t shipping to US dealerships in 2026. 

    The German automaker shelved next year’s Buzz for the US, pausing new production after just one full year on sale. 

    The stoppage comes as automakers reassess which electric vehicles still make sense in a market where federal subsidies of up to $7,500 were cut in September.  

    Meant to be Volkswagen’s crown jewel car, the Buzz instead became a case study in how quickly the US EV market has cooled. 

    Only 6,096 were sold in the US this year, a disappointing showing for a vehicle that debuted with a lot of hype and a $60,000 starting price. 

    The Buzz — complete with dual-tone paints, airy interiors, and a massive VW emblem on the face — mimicked the classic camper and hippie vans that became a relic of the counter-culture movement. 

    But with an EPA range of just 234 miles, the Buzz was thousands of dollars more expensive than gas- and hybrid-inspired minivan competitors that could go farther, refuel faster and weren’t caught in the throes of political crosswinds. 

    maybe if they made an IC vehicle with that much style and appeal, they’d have something people would buy.

    n

  40. Nick Flandrey says:

    Someone with that poor of an understanding of a document they SWORE to uphold and protect is unfit for office and should be impeached immediately.   Since we can’t do that, the voters should use their remedy.

    FFS.

    n

    12
  41. SteveF says:

    roomba would have to beat the dog, and he can hear a chip drop…

    … before it’s hit the floor.

    the voters should use their remedy.

    The ballot box is almost useless when it comes to incumbent legislators and judges.

    The soap box is under attack, with “hate speech” and differential enforcement of “harassment” and “incitement” laws.

    The jury box has been neutered by voir dire and by prosecution of jurors who exercise jury nullification.

    Refresh my memory, what’s left?

  42. MrAtoz says:

    Saw my first ID Buzz today.  It looks awesome, like a concept car, not a bland production vehicle.

    I’ve been watching vids on the hidden costs and problems of EVs. Registration is high to recover road use since EVs don’t use gas, Tesla’s not starting at all due to a software glitch (you have to get towed to Tesla), repairs are long and expensive, insurance companies are dropping EV’s, resale value is in the toilet, public chargers are few and break (a lot apparently), apartments and condo’s have a charging station is a crap shoot, fast charging at a public charger costs more than gas would, double the time to travel past the round trip range of the EV. And on and on.

    I’m not even going to consider an EV until batteries and charging improve. That may be never.

    I’ll get a gasser.

  43. dcp says:

    bust a cap in his ass

    Never shoot to wound.

  44. Ray Thompson says:

    I’ll get a gasser.

    Now if I could only get a methane powered one ………

  45. SteveF says:

    > bust a cap in his ass

    Never shoot to wound.

    Idiom fail

  46. drwilliams says:

    I knew a guy that had an old Chevy running but not moving on methane from a pile of chicken manure.

  47. drwilliams says:

    Conspiracy to violate constitutional rights should be a federal crime.

    In the specific case of federal judges issuing orders with nationwide effect, charges should be possible in any of the fifty states and any U.S. Territory.

  48. drwilliams says:

    What a Custodian Just Revealed Adds More Intrigue About the Brown University Shooting

    A Brown University custodian says he saw the alleged mass shooter, who opened fire in a classroom on Dec. 13, nearly a dozen times several weeks before the attack and shared suspicions about the man with an on-campus security guard.

    Lisi’s concerns were never investigated, and neither the private security firm contracted by Brown nor the school responded to the publication for comment. Brown has retained the services of former United States Attorney for the District of Rhode Island Zachary Cunha ahead of potential lawsuits that are bound to be filed. 

    https://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2025/12/22/what-a-custodian-revealed-adds-more-intrigue-about-the-brown-university-shooting-n2668329

    Brown University’s endowment is a collection of charitable gifts that are invested to support the university’s educational mission. As of October 2025, the endowment has a total market value of over $8 billion, providing significant funding for financial aid, research, and other academic priorities.

    https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=what+is+brown+University%27s+endowment%3F&ia=web

    Go for every stinking nickel.

  49. paul says:

    I put the mini away today.  Wrapping up the power cord to get everything to fit in the box was a pain.

    Anyway.  With the Starlink phone app you can look at your Starlinks.   I may be easy to impress but the app shows both receivers on my phone app, like magic. The Mini was already on my account when I powered it up, I just had to do the log-in thing and  get the e-mail with the secret code.  Slick.  Painless.  Simply works.  

    Big Boy (just made that name up) has a full view of the sky.  No obstructions.  The Mini, sitting on my patio, yeah.  Not full view.  But I’m getting the  full advertised Standby Speed of 500 Kb and a bit more.   It certainly seems real zippy with my phone.   And the blocked parts of the sky are shaped just like the tree branch above.  I was amused and impressed.  

    Mini problems?  Make the power cord detachable from the transformer too.  Easier to coil up for storage.  Make the end that goes into the dish ridged, or textured somehow, for grip, to unplug it.  But the kickstand is easy to remove so you can get a better grip.

    It has an Ethernet port so you can run it right into your router.  The Mini is pretty much like the big dish except smaller. Maybe that makes it slower, I really don’t know.

    Gotta say, Starlink’s got their shirt(-r) together. 

  50. Greg Norton says:

    maybe if they made an IC vehicle with that much style and appeal, they’d have something people would buy.

    Not at $60,000.

    My neighbor has one. She gave up her 2002 Camaro convertible Garage Queen for the Buzz.

    X-er. Female.

    Brain fart.

  51. paul says:

    Sisu 2 is out in 4K. At least on the High Seas.

    I don’t care about 4K.  But how does one sail on the High Seas?  To find a torrent file?  I have had almost zero luck for the last few years just finding a music album.  

    Totally call me a retard.  I’m cool.  

    I do have Sisu 2 in my Big River wish list.   Yeah, it’s down to $26 from $37.  No rush, I’ll wait for a  $5 used copy.

  52. Greg Norton says:

    I’m not even going to consider an EV until batteries and charging improve. That may be never.

    Subaru has a new EV coming, the Trailseeker, which is more or less an electric Crosstrek.

    FWD only.

    $44,000 to start. $53,000 est. 

    Now imagine if Subaru introduced a FWD-only Crosstrek for $25,000, less than the MSRP for the AWD Crosstrek.

    Sure, it might not sell in Oregon because everyone up there thinks they need AWD “for the snow”, but I see a lot of Crosstreks rolling around here.

    And what if the FWD-only Crosstrek reintroduced the stick shift.

    That would sell.

    Stick shift Crosstreks are bringing top dollar used since the model went automatic only.

  53. Nick Flandrey says:

    Hmm, my present buying might have been more balanced than I thought.   I thought I might have to throw a pink pistol on D1’s pile to balance out.     Maybe not.

    I can hold some of D2’s pile for her birthday.   There are only two sharp pointy things in the pile, I was sure I’d have a lot of them.   Maybe some are still MIA.

    womenfolk are making cookies.   My favorites.  Chinese noodle stick piles.   Chocolate covered peanut butter and rice balls.  No mini pecan pies this year though.  I’m the only one who likes them and my needs and desires are getting less consideration each year.

    n

  54. dcp says:

    Idiom fail

    Therein lies the humor.

  55. Greg Norton says:

    I do have Sisu 2 in my Big River wish list.   Yeah, it’s down to $26 from $37.  No rush, I’ll wait for a  $5 used copy.

    Physical media won’t be available until February.

    We gave Sony two paid admissions at Alamo, but I’ll get a physical DVD to support the artists.

    The “Sisu” movies and “Rare Exports”, the director’s … unique … Christmas film, were made for what would be rounding errors on recent Disney bombs.

  56. Nick Flandrey says:

    Can’t do a stick and meet EPA mileage from what I understand.  One more thing that should be dismantled.

    I was thinking about mirrors.   They used to be a mirror glued to a disk with a simple metal rod and ball joint for mounting.  My expy mirrors have motors to tilt the mirrors, heaters, turn signal lights, sensors and LED for the blind spot detection, puddle lights, and they fold in.  The mirror itself has holes in the coating for the LED and engraved text.

    The vehicles start at $30K for a reason.

    n

  57. drwilliams says:

    “my needs and desires are getting less consideration each year”

    That’s the slippery slope to Grandpa and then Babysitter.

  58. Greg Norton says:

    The “Sisu” movies and “Rare Exports”, the director’s … unique … Christmas film, were made for what would be rounding errors on recent Disney bombs.

    I’m also looking for a way to watch “Perfect Commando”, a limited run Finnish TV series from the same production team.

  59. Nick Flandrey says:

    Needed to order replacement lava lamp bulbs.   Amazon listings LOOK like free prime shipping tomorrow, but really it’s only Free Prime Shipping on orders of $25 or more.  

    So I got myself a nice butane torch insert for a zippo shell.   I’m sure I have a zippo insert that needs replacement, or I can do one of the zippo clones I have.

    Yeah, selfish of me, but I think I’m ok with that.

    n

  60. Lynn says:

    “The ghosts of WhatsApp: How GhostPairing hijacks accounts” 

       https://www.malwarebytes.com/blog/news/2025/12/the-ghosts-of-whatsapp-how-ghostpairing-hijacks-accounts

    Researchers have found an active campaign aimed at taking over WhatsApp accounts. They’ve called this attack GhostPairing because it tricks the victim into completing WhatsApp’s own device-pairing flow, silently adding the attacker’s browser as an invisible linked device on the account.”

    Good night, what will these people try now ?   There must be millions of scams out there.

  61. Greg Norton says:

    Yes, it woud be a great loss to culture if Manilow died.

    The “Foul Play” BluRay looks awesome but, more importantly, it sounds amazing, particularly the opening credits sequence.

    https://nypost.com/2025/12/22/entertainment/barry-manilow-reveals-lung-cancer-diagnosis-surgery-to-remove-spot/

  62. Lynn says:

    Finally !  Tomorrow, the daylight will 3 seconds longer in the northern hemisphere !

  63. Greg Norton says:

    Can’t do a stick and meet EPA mileage from what I understand.  One more thing that should be dismantled.

    I was thinking about mirrors.   They used to be a mirror glued to a disk with a simple metal rod and ball joint for mounting.  My expy mirrors have motors to tilt the mirrors, heaters, turn signal lights, sensors and LED for the blind spot detection, puddle lights, and they fold in.  The mirror itself has holes in the coating for the LED and engraved text.

    The vehicles start at $30K for a reason.

    The stick is maybe 5 MPG vs the CVT which currently is the only option.

    Crosstrek curb weight is 3300 lbs due to safety requirements. That’s the real MPG problem.

  64. Lynn says:

    “Charlie Kirk was right: How Islam is destroying the West”

       https://www.theblaze.com/shows/relatable/charlie-kirk-was-right-how-islam-is-destroying-the-west

    “Western nations are collapsing under the weight of mass migration, failed assimilation, demographic upheaval, and the growing alliance between Marxist and Islamist ideologies — a threat Charlie Kirk warned about with clarity long before his death.”

    ““We don’t talk enough about Islam. … We don’t talk nearly enough about the hundreds of thousands of Muslims that we have voluntarily imported into our country that build mosques, implement Sharia law,” Kirk once said.”

    ““You go to Minneapolis, you even go to Dallas, you go to New York, and it will metastasize. It will spread. You know why? Because the women of the West, they get cats. The women of Muslims, they have eight kids. Eventually, it doesn’t work very well,” he continued.”

    Dave Chappelle said that Charlie Kirk was not another MLK.  I don’t know about that but Charlie Kirk spoke the truth.   If we keep on emigrating muslims into the USA, our grandchildren will be their slaves.

    10
  65. drwilliams says:

    JD Vance Lights Up Nick Fuentes and Jen Psaki After Disgusting Remarks They Made About His Wife

    “Let me be clear,” he says. “Anyone who attacks my wife, whether their name is Jen Psaki or Nick Fuentes, can eat s***. That’s my official policy as vice president of the United States.”

    https://redstate.com/nick-arama/2025/12/22/jd-vance-lights-up-nick-fuentes-after-disgusting-remarks-he-made-about-his-wife-n2197366

    Let’s start a movement to send spoons to Psaki and Fuentes*.

    *What kind of name is Fuentes? Somebody embarrassed by a little of what their own sick ideology would call race mixing in their family tree?

  66. drwilliams says:

    Too Little, Too Late: Brown University Places Safety Chief on Administrative Leave

    https://redstate.com/jenniferoo/2025/12/22/too-little-too-late-brown-university-places-safety-chief-on-administrative-leave-n2197399

    Brown apparently hired someone to place DEI policies ahead of student safety. I’d hazard a good guess that the disabled camera decision was documented to the school administration, which became culpable when the decision was not reversed as risking student safety. 

    Another report indicated that the motivation behind disabling cameras was to protect illegal immigrants and pro-Palestinian hoodlums. If that’s the case it’s likely that the decision originated with the school administration, and the question is going to be if such a decision arises to a level of egregious malfeasance that will breach any separation between professional performance and personal liability for anyone who touched that decision. Throwing them naked in a wet rat-infested dungeon is too much to hope for, but extracting all their assets including university pensions should be the minimum.

  67. drwilliams says:

    ’60 Minutes’ Correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi, Who Cried Foul Over Delayed Immigration Piece, Was Behind ‘Intentionally False’ Hit Piece on Ron DeSantis That Even Democrats Said Was Wrong

    https://freebeacon.com/media/60-minutes-correspondent-sharyn-alfonsi-who-cried-foul-over-delayed-immigration-piece-was-behind-intentionally-false-hit-piece-on-ron-desantis-that-even-democrats-said-was-wrong/

    So the author of the “DeSantis got bribed to award vaccine distribution contract to Publix” fictional hit-piece is back. If CBS had been a legitimate news organization and not a fictional hit-piece factory in 2021 she would have been long gone. 

    Too busy to check: Does Polymarket have a line on whether Weiss boots her before the end of the year? How about before Christmas?

  68. drwilliams says:

    Claim: Anthropogenic Global Warming Could Lead to a New Ice Age

    https://wattsupwiththat.com/2025/12/22/claim-anthropogenic-global-warming-could-lead-to-a-new-ice-age/

    Some say the world will end in fire,

    Some say in ice.

    Either way the climate scientists,

    will claim they were right, 

    and want more money.

  69. Nick Flandrey says:

    All but one present for W is now wrapped.   That one is a sign and needs some touchup paint before wrapping.  I need her to not be here to do that, so tomorrow…

    Now to do the kids presents.   Might have to do a little  editing.  Really just moving to their birthdays in spring…

    Since giving road rage girl a pistol seems a bit counter to sanity at the moment.   Even though it would live in my safe.    I need to see some better judgement.

     And we need some range time together.

    n

  70. Nick Flandrey says:

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-15407719/Pete-Davidson-200k-tattoo-removal-journey-welcoming-child.html 

    Maybe fashion is shifting.   He’s not the only ‘celebrity’ getting tatts removed.   His are particularly sh!tty though…

    n

  71. Greg Norton says:

       https://www.malwarebytes.com/blog/news/2025/12/the-ghosts-of-whatsapp-how-ghostpairing-hijacks-accounts

    Researchers have found an active campaign aimed at taking over WhatsApp accounts. They’ve called this attack GhostPairing because it tricks the victim into completing WhatsApp’s own device-pairing flow, silently adding the attacker’s browser as an invisible linked device on the account.”

    Good night, what will these people try now ?   There must be millions of scams out there.

    Starting with Malwarebytes.

  72. Nick Flandrey says:

    Use as few apps as possible.  Avoid chinese hardware.  Do things in person when you can.

    Otherwise?   it’s just a matter of scale.   “Gypsies” were going around exchanging “new” coins for “old” silver ones when the coinage got debased.     My grandmother somehow got taken in and while she got the same value in new coins, having the silver was a lot better in the long run.

    I’m sure there were scams in Rome.  There sure seemed to be a lot of false prophets in history.

    n

  73. Greg Norton says:

    So the author of the “DeSantis got bribed to award vaccine distribution contract to Publix” fictional hit-piece is back. If CBS had been a legitimate news organization and not a fictional hit-piece factory in 2021 she would have been long gone. 

    DeSantis and Publix are not political allies. Publix backed Adam “Opie” Putnum for Governor in 2018, and then when the Dems nominated a known meth head for the top of their ticket, even the state RINOs such as the Bush cabal realized that DeSantis needed to win to avoid having Benny Crump as de facto Governor.

    $100,000 is petty cash for Publix.

    As far as vaccine distribution goes, Publix is the only player in the state with the pharmacies, personnel, and infrastructure.

    Only Eckerd’s came close to having the same reach, and they had been gone for almost 20 years when Covid hit.

  74. Greg Norton says:

    Maybe fashion is shifting.   He’s not the only ‘celebrity’ getting tatts removed.   His are particularly sh!tty though…

    The strip mall across from my employer’s campus has a Removery, what I’m guessing is a franchise operation for tattoo removal.

    Right next to the Batteries Plus and UPS Store.

    I thought the place would be gone quickly, but they’ve stuck around for a couple of years.

    Complete removal is not possible.

  75. Greg Norton says:

    Use as few apps as possible.  Avoid chinese hardware.  Do things in person when you can.

    “Apps” are about the dopamine hit from the higher degree of user interaction possible with the two smart phone platforms. Apple and Google spend millions on staff psychologists to optimize the “high” a user experiences when using the GUI elements on their respective cell phone platforms.

    WhatsApp also has a tighter integration of software with Android, doing God only knows what thanks to Zuckerberg’s minions.

    The one time I installed WhatsApp on an Android device, I had to root the phone and wipe he OS down to the bootloader in order to completely remove the software from the device. Just attempting an uninstall did not work.

  76. Greg Norton says:

    This channel was in my subscription list. A friend sent me the link to the story tonight.

    Employment as a YouTube personality does not offer benefis.

    https://fox4kc.com/news/popular-youtuber-adam-the-woo-passes-away-at-51/

  77. EdH says:

    Microsoft to Replace All C/C++ Code With Rust by 2030
     

    https://www.thurrott.com/dev/330980/microsoft-to-replace-all-c-c-code-with-rust-by-2030

    “Our strategy is to combine AI and Algorithms to rewrite Microsoft’s largest codebases. Our North Star is ‘1 engineer, 1 month, 1 million lines of code.”

    I want some of what they’re smoking. Bizarre.

  78. Ken Mitchell says:

    Claim: Anthropogenic Global Warming Could Lead to a New Ice Age

    Global warming is real – but it’s a CYCLE a thousand years long. At the peak of the last cycle, the Vikings had dairy farms on Greenland, and had sailed to Vinland. And the Green land was GREEN. 

    https://grok.com/c/ed267a1a-dadf-49b6-a928-58f3c7d4e05c?rid=c33c7630-0ca8-48b7-905d-6eedaf1a14ce

    At the peak of the previous cycle, the Romans had vineyard in London, and apparently made good wine there. 

    In between times …   Well, in London, they had “frost fairs” when they built temporary towns on the ice of the frozen Thames.

    https://grok.com/c/ec701ead-3af5-4a6a-a7c6-a83f82b4555d?rid=cc216617-8a24-4e95-91d8-9f5e856fafea

    And the Hans Christian Anderson stories of children skating on the frozen canals are from that same period.  In 1778, the Revolutionary armies dragged cannon across the frozen Hudson river.  None of those rivers or canals freeze today.

    But I think we’re about at the peak of this cycle, and I expect the long-term climate cycle will be colder by 2050. Because the cycle hasn’t stopped. 

  79. Nick Flandrey says:

    There have been a lot of influencers/youtubers that exited, stage left, in the last few weeks.  

    The holidays can be brutal.

    Content creators have a lot of the same stressors that traditional actors have without the structure or support.  And most of them are a bit shaky from the get go.

  80. lpdbw says:

    re: range time

    Athena gun club has a special “12 days before Christmas” going on.

    Range fees have been decreasing $1/day for a while.  $3 today.  $2 tomorrow.  $1 on Wednesday.   

    I tried my little .380 pocket gub at 17 yards.  Ok for torso hits, but only 60%  on head shots.

    I did work out a little problem I was having with magazines though.

  81. Nick Flandrey says:

    The strip mall across from my employer’s campus has a Removery, what I’m guessing is a franchise operation for tattoo removal. 

    – We’ve got one too, near our “big” HEB in the wealthier part of our neighborhood.   It started as a different name, same business, tattoo removal, but changed to this branding at some point.

    There are only so many clever names for tattoo removal businesses, it makes sense to band together.

    Wasn’t there a SF story about a tattooed man who has no visible signs but they show up in red when he’s stressed?

    n

  82. Lynn says:

    In between times …   Well, in London, they had “frost fairs” when they built temporary towns on the ice of the frozen Thames.

    https://grok.com/c/ec701ead-3af5-4a6a-a7c6-a83f82b4555d?rid=cc216617-8a24-4e95-91d8-9f5e856fafea

    I saw those paintings in the British museum in 1973 when we lived in London.  The paintings are huge, maybe 20 feet wide by 8 feet tall.

  83. Lynn says:

    Microsoft to Replace All C/C++ Code With Rust by 2030
     

    https://www.thurrott.com/dev/330980/microsoft-to-replace-all-c-c-code-with-rust-by-2030

    “Our strategy is to combine AI and Algorithms to rewrite Microsoft’s largest codebases. Our North Star is ‘1 engineer, 1 month, 1 million lines of code.”

    I want some of what they’re smoking. Bizarre.

    That makes no sense whatsoever to replace working code with code from an unstable compiler.  The Rust compiler is good by itself but its interfacing is difficult and easy to make mistakes.

    Microsoft ought to move to the Linux kernel instead. I am fairly sure that they have ported the Win32 and Win64 code GUI (graphical user interface) to Linux already.

  84. Lynn says:

    Wasn’t there a SF story about a tattooed man who has no visible signs but they show up in red when he’s stressed?

    “The Illustrated Man” by Ray Bradbury ???  His tattoos changed all the time depending on the story he was telling.

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Illustrated_Man

  85. Nick Flandrey says:

    Ah, old masters.   Been a while since I read either.

    n

  86. Lynn says:

    New Jimmy Stewart biopic coming out on Nov 6, 2026.

       https://www.jimmythemovie.com/

    The man was a genuine WW II hero, led the first daylight bombing of Berlin as a B-24 captain, pilot, and squadron leader.  But losing thousands of men under his command drove him to a severe mental breakdown.  He was a full bird Colonel at the end of WW II and eventually promoted to Brigadier General in the Air Force Reserves as a B-47 and B-52 pilot.

  87. Nick Flandrey says:

    Wow, been a while since I was up when the post went live.   I’m going to bed now…

    n

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