Cold again, but less so. Fern moves on. Nothing really for us. If you were affected, please share any lessons learned either positive or negative. Presumably we’ll all get back to normal winter now.
Did mostly computer stuff yesterday, after a very leisurely start to the day. Did some fiction reading in between too. Snow days = slack off days for me this time around. Now I need to get everything back to its normal state, and maybe do more permanent and appropriate fixes instead of kludges…
I have one pickup today. I didn’t even really try to buy much in the last week’s auctions. Time to do a bit more ‘shopping in my closet’ and assimilating some of the existing stacks. Plus, there is a big list that needs attention and driving around to do pickups was eating a lot of time.
Kids are back in school today and their extra stuff kicks back in too. Still chilly though.
Lists. I got ’em. Plans. I got ’em. Stacks. I got ’em. And I always seem to get more…
nick
Tuesday. Busy, busy, but it’s fortunately time for a wee tea, internet and porter-cake break.
Reports are circulating here of criminals attempting to steal firearms from law-abiding shooters in the vicinity of shooting ranges. Carry, concealed or otherwise, is not a lawful option here, so that is a pretty easy low-risk gambit for the goblins. Not good. Not much for good people to do other than increase vigilance and discretion, and be prepared to flee or fight.
The blue is growing on me. It looks a lot better on a monitor than a phone screen, but then I have nice new monitors.
Have a beautiful day!
I drink decaffeinated coffee, and I avoid tea after 3pm, unless it is decaffeinated. I drank regular tea around 8pm on Sunday, and I was still awake at 3am, despite having gone to bed at 10pm. Lesson learned.
Colors on the phone this morning look like last week. Haven’t looked at desktop yet.
We are Five weeks past the winter solstice and the days are noticeably longer. Average coldest month of winter is almost behind us, but we’ll see if Feb extends the deep freeze or preps for an early spring.
Seize the day lest it seize you.
No one in the C-suites of those places is really interested in doing any retailing, and the women in the management positions and private equity investor firms don’t actually wear the clothing.
Ah, one hour of sleep. Now I’m up again.
25F and it’s cool in the house too.
I’ll be going back to bed as soon as possible. W won’t like it, but too bad.
———-
The difference in colors here is really pretty subtle, mainly toning down the cyan influence, and it’s possibly a touch darker in a couple of places. Or so I think.
———-
We’ll see what the news says as people start to post about the heavily hit storm areas.
n
With my joints I’m more likely to seize up.
n
ICE created a martyr.
Watching the video, the agents are angry long before the shooting started, most likely Show Ya and poorly considered ex-military quota hires recruited in a hurry.
Couldn’t have anything to do with a well-coordinated and clandestinely funded 24/7 harassment campaign where agents are assaulted with impunity by professional protesters and have no support from local law enforcement or corrupt state government?
The agents on the ground need a quicker rotation in and out of the war zone.
agents are angry
– I initially thought he got pistol whipped with his own gun, but now I think it was a can of pepper spray. One of the agents kneels and repeatedly hits him with something in his hand.
Allowing this to change the overall tactic, or to cause a withdrawal is a really bad precedent that will end up with more dead in the long run.
Punish the lapses, and the command structure if there are some. But stay the course or you’ll be challenged at every turn.
n
Show Ya has no business in a war zone in the first place.
I wonder how many agents in the video collect VA disability checks, whether for legitimate or questionable reasons.
Some outlets report the deceased was a VA nurse, and the licensed care staff in the clinics know how to push buttons with the Vets.
It was a bad situation among people on both sides, but the agents’ anger is “bad optics”.
I’ve noticed a lot of deep fake videos lately with a similar story line: Dangerous wild animal comes to human to help mother/cut stuck in trap/culvert/pit or down the well with freakin’ Timmy.
There’s an element that styles themselves as the fierce protectors of wildlife even though they don’t really know jack about animals of any kind, much less wild ones. Wild animals are wild. The stories about pet ferrets are true. Even bunnies can bite.
I’ve been inches away from a polar bear sleeping in the sun, rolled against the 4-6″ plexiglass that separated him from the crunchy humans. The musculature, the claws, and the teeth are impressive in a controlled environment. The Inuit have known them for centuries for what they are: a terrifying apex predator that views humans as a food source.
Go to a zoo. Stay on your side of the fence. Support wildlife habitat and stay home–do not visit. Buy a stuffed bear, or tiger, or leopard and enjoy it.
Every Spring in Texas, some dumba** tourist always ends up on the local Faux News after being bitten by a rattlesnake when they stopped between Austin and Houston to take pictures standing in the bluebonnets TxDOT seeds along the side of the roads every fall.
Even if they see a snake, post “Landman” Season One, I’m sure they will want a picture standing next to the snake as well.
Enemy insurgents have no business closing with law enforcement on our streets. If it’s a war then identify it as such, put the proper laws into place, and put the insurgents in prison for twenty years.
Send that rendition team for Alex Soros and treat him like the enemy that he is.
Doctors and Hospitals Refusing to Treat Law Enforcement Officers
https://hotair.com/david-strom/2026/01/27/doctors-and-hospitals-refusing-to-treat-law-enforcement-officers-n3811229
The response should be to pull all federal funding, including any tax exemptions for “non-profit”
The immediate response should be to massively stage ICE vehicles in the parking lot in front of the ER and effectively close it down until people get treatment.
Accidentally parking an MRAP on an ER doctors Tesla might concentrate his sense of duty.
Inside the resistance
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2026/01/inside-the-resistance.php
Flanagan, the self-proclaimed “light-skinned Indian”*, looks like a sibling of Dana Mulvaney. She’d look great in an orange jumpsuit kickin’ back in a federal holding cell with 20-50 of the illegal immigrants that she loves.
24 hours after being outed, no word from Flanagan.
* Ojibwe on mother’s side, 100% Irish on her father’s.
After seeing the video of the protestor having a flash-bang go off in her hand, rumor is that used hockey sticks and jai alai gloves are sold out at the local Goodwills.
Another Rioter Arrested for FBI Vehicle Theft — Allegedly Stole Agent’s ID, Vowed to Kill His Family
https://redstate.com/rusty-weiss/2026/01/27/another-rioter-arrested-for-fbi-vehicle-theft-allegedly-stole-agents-id-vowed-to-kill-his-family-n2198551
Stolen in the Jan 14 vehicle burglary filmed by Nick Sorley while MPD was safe at the station selecting latte’s from the Keurig rack.
Don’t know why federal agents might be getting angry in Minneapolis.
Trump should send a team into MPD and repossess every last bit of gear purchased with federal funds, right down to ripping radios out of squad cars.
Trump Should Talk To Angel Parents Before He Takes ICE Out Of Minneapolis
https://thefederalist.com/2026/01/27/trump-should-talk-to-angel-parents-before-he-takes-ice-out-of-minneapolis/
Minnesota has amateur frontons for Jai Alai?
The only one I’m aware of is in St. Petersburg.
Tampa and Orlando had pro frontons for decades, but those were torn down for redevelopment more than 20 years ago.
The Tampa fronton became a condo complex which received a lot of speculation attention by personnel from the nearby freak show commands at Mac Dill, incuding my Colonel Bat Guano neighbors.
Tenbagger!
A number of news stories about Nashville getting slapped by a nasty ice storm.
About 19F this morning outside my back porch in the California high desert before sunrise. Normal for this time of year. Some very high cirrus might even have kept it a degree or two warmer. No moisture predicted for the next 1-2 weeks.
The diesel parking heater, set to 3/10, kept that back room area toasty, even with the main unit outside and using cold air at the intake. Recommended.
The hummingbird was waiting for his feeder to be put out , the wild rabbits were waiting for the bird seed. The 40w heater for the bird bath kept it completely liquid – in the tweens I have seen the edges start to ice over.
Stay toasty my friends.
This morning 39F and tule fog all over the valley. Most schools on 2 hour delay. Yesterday didn’t clear here until afternoon.
Man, I’ve always hated living in that.
TBH, I’d rather be below freezing with sunshine.
“Minnesota has amateur frontons for Jai Alai?”
Doubt it.
I was thinking “lacrosse”, but in either one substituting a flash-bang would spice it up.
Little by little, it is coming out:
Alex Pretti broke rib in violent confrontation with ICE just days before he was shot dead in Minneapolis
Professional, paid, insurrectionist. Probably a cosplaying soy boy commie pinko bastard. Bury him face down so his “friends” can pay their respects. I can’t believe I simped for him.
His martyrdom will fade in a week and all we will hear is St. Floyd.
Got some sleep, up now.
n
More Oof! on Pretti:
SHOCKER! Could Be MORE to Nurse Alex Pretti’s Story That the Left Does NOT Want You to Know
To be confirmed, but probably true.
Notice how the LSM has plastered his AI doctored nurse photo everywhere. Even sports arenas showed it. All bullshit.
Michael Pretti did something stupid. He should have listened to his father. He’d still be alive.
Too much caffeine and too much sleeping in.
Wide awake at 330 to no purpose.
n
Are you normally a night owl ? I am. I want to sleep until noon and read until 4 am or 5 am.
From an essay about the Monkey Trick, whole thing here:
Snicker. LLMs are real, and they’re spectacular, sorta.
I’ve got some beautiful ice sculptures in the side of the office property under the 100+ foot wide Live Oak tree. That is where the septic tank sprinklers are. I’ve been running the faucets in the large office building all nights and have got a fairly large pool out there now. Plus the ice sculptures on the trees.
Enemy insurgents have no business closing with law enforcement on our streets. If it’s a war then identify it as such, put the proper laws into place, and put the insurgents in prison for twenty years.
Send that rendition team for Alex Soros and treat him like the enemy that he is.
After the Revolutionary war of the USA, George Washington deported all of the people in the soon to be states who supported the crown to Canada. It was over 100,000 people. We may have to do the same.
The hummingbird was waiting for his feeder to be put out , the wild rabbits were waiting for the bird seed. The 40w heater for the bird bath kept it completely liquid – in the tweens I have seen the edges start to ice over.
I have been putting food out for the three feral cats and the juvenile possum at the office. I bought another 13 lb bag Sunday night of the cheap stuff. They eat it all up.
Little by little, it is coming out:
Alex Pretti broke rib in violent confrontation with ICE just days before he was shot dead in Minneapolis
Professional, paid, insurrectionist. Probably a cosplaying soy boy commie pinko bastard.
You mess with the bull, you get the horns. The video that I saw was a man out of control challenging the federal officers.
I regard ANY interference, blowing a whistle, parking a vehicle in the middle of the street, yelling verbal threats, as interference. You cannot do this to federal officers doing their jobs. Or, any officers. You must keep your mouth shut and save it for the courtroom.
From an essay about the Monkey Trick, whole thing here:
Snicker. LLMs are real, and they’re spectacular, sorta.
The problem with the LLMs is that they are incredibly expensive. Just the hardware is over a billion dollars. Training an LLM is another billion dollars. Operating and maintaining the LLM is another billion dollars per year. All of these are minimum amounts, some companies are spending 5X to 10X that amount.
I just do not see the 10% to 12% ROI that most businesses require for investments of this magnitude. These investments are company breakers.
“SCOTUS Must CLEARLY Define Biological Sex or the Battle in the Courts Will Never End”
https://thelibertydaily.com/scotus-must-clearly-define-biological-sex-battle-courts/
“(The Daily Signal)—America is finally having to reckon with the issues of transgenderism in athletics and schools. From classrooms to locker rooms to athletic fields, the radical transgender agenda has collided head-on with common sense, fairness, and the safety of our children.”
“The Supreme Court has now heard the oral arguments for two different cases that involve biological male athletes competing in female sports. These cases hold high importance, and we are hopeful that the Court will rule in favor of protecting women and girls. But as critical as athletics are, this battle represents only one front in a much larger cultural and constitutional war.”
How in the world did we get ourselves into this mess ?
And is SCOTUS going to extract us from it ?
I cannot believe this. I had a second meeting with a realtor to list my office properties last week. He brought a friend and they had such grandiose plans. I asked him what commission he was asking for and we agreed on 6%, 3% for him and 3% for the buying realtor. I asked him if there was any up front fees like the previous guys told me and he said no.
I get the listing contract from him Friday and there is a $1,000 up front fee. I told him that I was not going to agree to that and he repeated that was the case. You know, I know what is going to happen. After the first month or two, he will need another $1,000. And then another $1,000. Not gonna happen. So I am talking with another realtor who does land sales out here.
I am listing the two properties for a total of $3,500,000. If I get $3,000,000, the 6% commission is $180,000, $90,000 each for the seller and buyer. I cannot believe that somebody would walk away from that.
The progressive rot of the Liberal brain. I believe SCOTUS will finally settle this, and it will be a 6-3 ruling using a definition right out of any High School biology textbook.
Remember, Minnesota was the only state that did not vote for Ronald Reagan in the 1984 Presidential election. The other 49 states voted whole heartedly for Ronaldus Magnus in the words of Rush Limbaugh.
Something is seriously wrong with Minnesota.
I will venture to say this started with letting women “sport reporters” into the male locker rooms.
Two ways this stops.
First, the females forfeit the games.
Second, it will stop when fathers and uncles start beating the pervs wanting to ogle their daughters. Oh, call the cops? Because someone punched you on your way into the girls locker room? Good luck hiding, you live somewhere…
“Ilhan Omar’s Multi-Million Dollar ‘Winery’ Doesn’t Have an Address, Social Media, or Working Phone”
https://rumble.com/v74xauo-ilhan-omars-multi-million-dollar-winery-doesnt-have-an-address-social-media.html?mref=1htl22&mrefc=4
Thieves gotta thieve.
And how did this woman get to a $44 million net worth when she was dead broke just a few years ago ?
Hat tip to:
https://thelibertydaily.com/
“Minneapolis and Minnesota: a “color revolution” in the making”
https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2026/01/minneapolis-and-minnesota-color.html
“Some readers may not be familiar with the term “color revolution”. American Thinker outlined the concept in an article last December.”
“A“ color revolution” … is a modern form of orchestrated political upheaval designed to replace an existing government without traditional military invasion or civil war … These operations follow a remarkably consistent playbook, refined over two decades by Western NGOs, intelligence-linked foundations, and State Department-affiliated entities (Open Society Foundations, USAID, etc.).”
“Authors describe seven stages of a color revolution. The stages include these tactics, which I’ll list in approximate chronological order:”
That is a lot of stages. And we are uncomfortably way down that list.
This summer may be dicey, very dicey with active fighting in the streets of several cities. You know, like it was in the summer of 2020.
“What to do if ICE shows up at your workplace”
https://www.cnn.com/2026/01/27/business/ice-workplace-what-to-do
Do not mess with the agents at all is all you need to know. Do not touch them, do not obstruct them, do not yell at them.
Minnesota was Mon-dull’s home state.
Note, however, that Minnesota did not return him to the Senate in 2002 when they had the chance. This means that Mon-dull is the only major party candidate to lose an election in every single state.
At this point, everyone’s pension and/or 401(k) plans have been bet on the monkey trick not running out of gas before the sex robots ship.
How big of an LLM do you need for a humanoid robot to administer a bl*w job?
LLM: Large, Long, Mouth in my case.
I just wanna know if Holly Hunter’s feet stink. Mmmm. There are Academy cancellation rumors starting. Holly may be available for “dates” in the near future.
His sex robot will look like Teri Hatcher.
It took me a minute.
“The Seinfeld Chronicles” pilot first aired almost 37 years ago. Summer 1989.
“Trump Administration Handed Victory as Appeals Court Blocks Lower‑Court Order Restricting ICE Amid Minneapolis Unrest”
https://resistthemainstream.com/trump-admin-gains-upper-hand-as-court-delivers-major-victory/
“A federal appeals court on Monday issued an indefinite stay of a lower-court order that had limited how Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers handle protesters in Minnesota, giving the Trump administration a legal victory amid ongoing demonstrations across Minneapolis.”
“The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals blocked U.S. District Judge Katherine Menendez’s Jan. 16 injunction, which had barred federal officers from arresting, detaining or using pepper spray against individuals described as participating in “peaceful and unobstructive protest activity.””
“The injunction also restricted vehicle stops unless officers had reason to believe drivers were obstructing immigration enforcement.”
We need to get rid of these woke judges like Menendez. But, the House is disfunctional and so is the Senate. That does not leave many options.
“DOE expands use of emergency orders amid winter freeze”
https://www.utilitydive.com/news/doe-expands-emergency-orders-winter-freeze/810599/
“The snow and ice of Winter Storm Fern have passed, but utilities and grid operators are are still struggling to meet higher electric demand amid a prolonged cold snap in parts of the country. The U.S. Department of Energy on Monday issued emergency orders to keep certain generation sources running, regardless of emissions limits.”
So, in order to meet emergency power needs, one has to call Washington DC and get permission now. When did this become part of serving the public’s energy needs ?
“Gov. Abbott orders Texas universities, agencies to halt H-1B visa petitions”
https://www.texastribune.org/2026/01/26/texas-greg-abbott-h1b-visa-schools-universities/
“Gov. Greg Abbott on Tuesday directed all public universities and state agencies to freeze new H-1B visa applications, escalating his administration’s scrutiny of foreign workers employed at taxpayer-funded institutions.”
“Under the directive, public universities and state agencies may not initiate or file new H-1B visa petitions without written permission from the Texas Workforce Commission through the end of the next legislative session on May 31, 2027.”
Yes !
Especially since President Trump has said that all H-1B applications must have a $100,000 check accompanying them.
That doesn’t stop the grad schools from serving as OPT visa diploma mills, particularly the CS programs at the state schools which have non-thesis Masters degree options.
The international tuition dollar at the Texas schools is so lucrative that my graduate program taught remedial C, not even C++, to most of the Colonist students.
My iPad is still on the old color scheme, I was wondering what everyone was talking about, then I logged in on the desktop (OKm Mac mini) just now.
So very very very blue….
——-
I was talking about NASA’S old WB57 with a friend about a week ago … looks like it made a gear-up landing today.
That might be the end of the line for it, though they may have a few out at the boneyard for parts.
@Lynn
“I am listing the two properties for a total of $3,500,000. If I get $3,000,000, the 6% commission is $180,000, $90,000 each for the seller and buyer. I cannot believe that somebody would walk away from that.”
He’s got $1,000 to cover his gas money and misc expenses, with enough left to buy lunch for a month. He can sit on his fat backside and wait for some other chump to find a buyer, then make as much money out of the deal.
What’s the price that would get them lined up to buy? Call it $2 million. WTF are you paying commission on the first $2 million? Rewrite the contract: 2% for the listing agent, 4% for the buyer’s agent, and the commission is 12% over $2 and up to 3.2 million, and 15% above $3.2. Reward effort, piss on sloth.
“What to do if ICE shows up at your workplace”
“Good morning, gentleman. What can we do to help so yousee we are in complete compliance with immigration and employment law and can go out after the chiseling bastards that are not.”
I know what a fan Greg is of VS Code and AI assisted programming, so here’s a twist on that. Hat tip to Vox Day.
It’s a step-by-step to use VS Code and AI to write fiction. You build a set of chapter prompts and let Claude or Codex loose to actually write the chapters.
Basically, a how-to guide for producing Clanker Slop fiction.
Bear in mind that Vox is mass producing Clanker slop in multiple modalities: Music, lyrics, videos, fiction, and non-fiction. I suspect he is making a pretty good income from it.
https://legalinsurrection.com/2026/01/vcu-medical-nurse-placed-on-leave-for-allegedly-encouraging-people-to-poison-ice-agents/
Fire her, strip her licenses, and inform her that there are 500 people lined up outside with syringes to give her a taste of her own medicine, and she has 3 minutes to exit the building.
Tom Homan Just Announced Major Action Against Anti-ICE Protesters in Minneapolis
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/jeff-charles/2026/01/27/tom-homan-just-announced-major-action-against-anti-ice-protesters-in-minneapolis-n2670162
Minnesota’s new family leave law (Somali Scam VII) is doubtless being used by some of the protestors. I wonder if there is enough federal involvement wrt to taxes, etc., that fraud can be federally prosecuted?
The Anti-ICE Protesters Just Set Their Sights on Tim Walz
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/josephchalfant/2026/01/27/the-ice-protesters-just-turned-on-tim-walz-n2670184
Homemade signs is an ominous indication. When they can’t wait for the funders to order slick printed signs things are out of control.
It would be too bad if rabid protestors screamed, blew whistles, and banged drums all night so Gov Tampon and his family couldn’t sleep. Some real pushing on the security detail would be too bad, too. Wouldn’t want anyone to actually have their fingers bitten off, but a good hard nibble might brown some uniform trousers.
Her employer will at the very least have to investigate outcomes for patients she had access to, even if they weren’t hers, even if just in the same ward, even if they didn’t die.
Deaths will get extra scrutiny.
Probably just another poser, but you never know.
VCU has their work cut out for them.
In the UK, the property sales agent (Realtor) typically gets around 1% of the sale (or a bit more), and there is typically no buying agent.
The last property I sold, I agreed to pay a base amount, up to an agreed sale value, and 20% above that. The base amount being around the value where it should sell almost immediately. The agent worked the last 5K of the sale; he walked with another 1K and I got 4K. The best agent I have ever dealt with.
42F but that should drop as the sun goes down. Really pretty sunrise and sunset today. Blue sky.
Did my pickup. Won’t be bidding in that auction again- his new place is too far away from anything else, and too far off the freeway. Took 15 minutes to get past the school…
D2 has school activity tonight, and D1’s car and keys are here but she isn’t. Dunno what that’s about. W still not home from work.
I think canned red beans and rice with kielbasa sausage will be dinner. That’s pretty hearty, quick, and cheap.
Also delicious.
n
Are you normally a night owl ? I am. I want to sleep until noon and read until 4 am or 5 am.
– normally yes. When I was foot loose and fancy free I would stay up later and later until I ended up going to sleep with the sunrise and sleeping til 3pm. I would be happy with that sort of schedule but have to get up at 630 to get the kids and wife out the door.
n
I grew up getting tutored every time my parents moved. Dad had a pocket book or amortization tables and could run loan costs faster than an real estate agent. He had enough memorized that he could get to within a few dollars in his head, but he liked to grab the ten-key, and later the digital calculator, and pound out the answer while they were still pulling a pencil.
In 1985 I read “Selling Your Home Sweet Home” by Sloan Bashinsky. He also wrote “Home Buyers: Lambs to the Slaughter” from the buyer’s perspective. Mostly outdated in the details, but still worth a read for the attitude.
The latter book had the most powerful piece of advice for the time, explaining that at closing, all of those other people were their because they wanted your money. If you didn’t understand something, or thought something was wrong or incorrect, or they popped some charge or fee on you that they did not explain beforehand, then things could just stop until you got the explanation and were good with it.
People in real estate work in an area that they have spent years making overly complicated and mysterious so they can squeeze extra money out of the sellers. The Multiple Listing Service (MLS) was the choke point that they held for decades until the internet made alternatives readily available, and the created the term “realtor” to legally identify their clique of extortionists.
Better yet, just write a non-linear equation, and hand them a copy, telling them you can supply a lookup table if they can’t do math.
“Minnesota Federal Judge Threatening ICE Director Todd Lyons Appears on Donor List of Pro-Illegal-Alien Group”
https://thelibertydaily.com/minnesota-federal-judge-threatening-ice-director-todd-lyons/
“(WND News Center)—The federal judge in Minnesota threatening to hold ICE Director Todd Lyons in contempt of court reportedly appears on a list of “donors and volunteers” to a group providing free legal advice and representation for illegal immigrants.”
“Bill Melugin of Fox News reported on Tuesday: “Fox News has learned that Patrick J. Schiltz, the Minnesota federal judge who is threatening to hold ICE Director Todd Lyons in contempt of court & is ordering him to appear in court on Friday, appears in a 2019 list of donors & volunteers for the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota, an organization that provides free legal advice and representation for illegal immigrants. Judge Schiltz was appointed by President Bush in 2006.””
And here is another judge that needs to go away.
Compare and Contrast
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2026/01/compare-and-contrast-5.php
Maple Grove is about 15 miles NW of Minneapolis on the way to Fargo. If you keep going that way you get to Rogers, the world-wide headquarters of The Woodworkers Store which was renamed Rockler a few years ago. A bit further and you get to Saint Cloud. If you turn left you can visit the quarry at Cold Spring, which produces beautiful green-black granite.
Pre-internet I did a major road trip to that area with a borrowed van for the primary purpose of attending the estate sale of a major collector of modern first editions. I worked in a quarry visit on the side.
The sale was not well advertised or attended for the books, and I did really well. The antiques, OTOH, saw fierce bidding. I was interested in a 5-section G-W barristers bookcase that had beveled glass in all sections. It needed some repairs and I thought it went much too high, until a casual conversation with another attendee, who pointed out that the typical upscale configuration was beveled glass in the top section only. The winning bidder would take the five sections and swap for the top section of four other units, ending up with five 5-section sets with the highly sought after beveled glass, which not only brought a lot more money they sold very fast.
“Nuclear Energy Outlook for 2026”
https://www.asme.org/topics-resources/content/what-nuclear-energy-technologies-are-actually-advancing-in-2026
“A realistic look at what’s advancing in nuclear energy in 2026, including SMRs, fusion milestones, and new reactor projects.”
Ain’t nothing happening of note in fusion and SMRs are in the nebulus zone since the white headed PhDs at the DOE have not approved a new nuclear design in over 40 years.
There are reputedly 300 orders for SMRs. No delivery dates.
https://www.nuscalepower.com/exploring-smrs/smr-101/what-is-an-smr
There is no reason not to build an SMR test project.
Oh, crap. All versions of TurboTax 2025 for 2025 tax year returns require Windows 11 or MacOS 14.
https://www.amazon.com/TurboTax-Business-Desktop-Federal-Download/dp/B0FWV2NJV5?tag=ttgnet-20
What is wrong with the Intuit people ? If you are still running Windows 10, they say that you can create a VM on Windows 10 and run Windows 11 in it. That is a Power User thing.
I may be moving to H&R Block software this year as I am not running Windows 11 at home yet.
There is no reason not to build an SMR test project.
There is no reason not to build an SMR test project or 300 of them.
Fixed that for ya.
A lighter shade of blue would be nice. To my eyes.
On my Lenovo Chromebook, the background colors in the comment box and post title box are a light cyan, and not bright at all.
Perhaps the color adjustments on your system (@paul) are set too high. There is a way to adjust colors on a Windows 11 (and prior versions) to adjust the colors to their proper levels, or a level that is not over-saturated. Asking your favorite search engine for ‘Windows 11 color adjustments” should get you several hits of text instructions, or videos that you can use to check your colors.
I do wish there was a way to adjust other site’s text colors. Many sites use a grayish text color on white background, which makes it harder to read for these old eyes. I’ve never understood why site designers use gray on white text, sometimes to the point that the text is near unreadable.
I have a new Thinkpad with Windows 11.
I try to keep one machine in the house running the current Windows, and my nine year old Thinkpad was beginning to have keyboard and mouse pad issues.
I can replace the keyboard myself, but the mouse pad is an order of magnitude more involved, requiring almost complete disassembly of the laptop.
I’m not thrilled with the Hecho en Vietnam build quality of the new Thinkpad, but it is snappy, especially running Linux in dual boot configuration.
More money for Microsoft since you will need a Windows 10 and Windows 11 license.
Redundant.
“Al Gore’s ‘Inconvenient Truth’ turns 20, and critics say biggest disaster is its failed predictions”
https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/energy/al-gores-inconvenient-truth-turns-20-and-critics-say-only-disaster-its
“Twenty years ago Monday, former Vice-President Al Gore’s documentary on global warming, “An Inconvenient Truth,” premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and received a standing ovation. The 2006 documentary was released to theaters the following May and went on to gross over $25 million worldwide.”
“Gore’s film was a primary catalyst for the climate activist movement, and it generated a lot of concern about global warming following its release. The movie left audiences with the impression that the human race was hurtling toward a dystopian future on a planet baking in unbearable temperatures where extreme weather caused frequent disasters.”
I am sitting here freezing my rump off and Al Gore is sitting in his over heated mansion, getting ready to swim in his money vaults while laughing his ass off.
Ahhhh…… When the lazy (in my eyes) realtor finally had a buyer for mom’s house…. they, whoever they are and the title company wanted copies of stuff. One thing simply had to be on legal size paper. Send a jpg scan they can print? Oh, no! Not good enough. That was a real pain in the ass. 500 sheets to a ream of paper and what do I do with the remaining 499 sheets?
There were group e-mails. In one e-mail I asked “what the fuck is this about?” and the realtor called and was freaking out because I might piss off the buyer. Or, mostly, God forbid!!! , the Title Company. Like someone helicopter pilot here would say, I said “fuck their feelings”.
I managed to make a copy of whatever on legal sized paper. And messed with FedEx. Then for payment it was “wire transfer” or $xx to send a check or you can come to McAllen at closing to collect the check. Uh, hey, fuck you Mr Realtor…. the whole point of hiring your lazy butt was because it’s a hard six hour drive from here to Edinburg.
What really sticks in my craw is the deal was “sell the place for 95 grand and pay me 6 grand as commission”. Didn’t sell for 95, closer to 50. The craw sticking part is when he asked me if I thought six grand was too much of a commission. Who does that? Really? Why would one ask the question? He did not seem happy with my answer of “I don’t think you earned the money but a deal is a deal. If it was not in the contract, I’d give you a grand because you really didn’t do shit.”
Oh well. It’s sold. The minimum bills for water and electricity on an empty house was pushing $80 a month. Plus property taxes. I don’t have to worry about it anymore. Mom’s ashes are there. Dad’s ashes are there. I don’t see Dad’s ghost anymore.
It’s all ok.
Give your browser cache time to catch up.
The flick was an effective commercial for the (then) new Apple Intel MacBook Pro.
Al Gore sat on the Apple board until recently, when he was forced out due to a maximum age rule.
I was disappointed the first time I accessed my proxy ballot and saw that his name had been removed
I always voted “Against”, of course.
I think I know how to set the gamma and such for color and brightness on my monitor. Since the days of Win3.11, even.
Working backwards… the site designers do not have old eyes.
Remember “bookmarklets”? Little javascripts (I think) that would do things like re-size the browser window?
I have one that still works. In Firefox. I named it “Zap Colors”. It works for me. But my Firefox profile dates back a long time, back to the Win98 days.
Anyway. Try this.
Yeah, there is some stuff in there to change the icon.
I still have my 2007 MacBook Pro.
As long as I can kinda-sorta boot Linux without a problem, I will keep the machine around.
Being able to change icons of bookmarks went away around FF ver 55. Why? Dunno. Anyway.
I’m too dumb to figure it out tonight. The icon change is probably buried deeply in my FF profile.
@paul
Life is messy.
Death doesn’t clean it all up nice.
Glad you’re here, Paul.
“bookmarklets”
Little things made out of scraps of construction paper in the spring, because the art budget in elementary school was empty?
Trump Tired of California Failure Theater, Issues Order for Administration to Take Over LA Fire Rebuild
https://redstate.com/bobhoge/2026/01/27/trump-tired-of-california-failure-theater-issues-order-for-administration-to-take-over-wildfire-rebuild-n2198561
Need to add auditing FireAid for the $100 million that was supposed to go to victims and went to PLT NGO’s instead.
“Democrats Turn Minneapolis Into Fort Sumter”
https://discernreport.com/democrats-turn-minneapolis-into-fort-sumter/
“Just as it did one hundred and sixty-five years ago, the Democrat Party appears to be making war against the federal government.”
“Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz have identified tens of billions of dollars in welfare fraud flowing through the Democrat-controlled state of Minnesota. President Trump has suggested that the level of Minnesota fraud may top a hundred billion dollars as investigations proceed.”
“The public is slowly learning that members of the state’s substantial population of Somali immigrants have been abusing state and federal programs to enrich themselves at the expense of American taxpayers. Fraudulent childcare centers were created to siphon federal tax dollars. Fraudulent healthcare clinics were designed to do the same. There are many signs that suggest Minneapolis is home to both a massive money laundering operation and a massive vote fraud scheme.”
And here we go …
And now we know how Ilhan Omar is worth $44 million now.
@paul, which part is too dark for you? Other than the menu at the top, only the block quote should have color behind text…
n
Should have remembered that. Cleared cache, and things got a lot ‘blue-er’. A bit much for my taste.
The blue in the background for blockquote (#8fc1e3) and the area in the comment entry box (#b6d5ec) are slightly different – the comment box is a bit lighter. And the ‘next/previous’ box is even darker than both (#b6d5ec) – and the links inside there are difficult to see .
Just my personal opinion, though. I’d go for blue shades for all three items that are more like the comment entry box (#b6d5ec) . Not my site, though.
I think I’ll have to convert my overly complex household finance spreadsheet to a database soon. I just spent roughly an hour adding a new credit card to the schema, and I’m pretty sure a decent finance database would do that in under a minute. Well, it ought to be educational.
Yeah. I figure life is suppse to be messy. And someone dying, well, hell, I still miss friends that have been gone for years and years.
But I figure that as long as you are remembered, you still live.
It’s been nearly thirty years, and I still catch myself thinking “I’m going to call Dad…”
The blue in the background for blockquote (#8fc1e3) and the area in the comment entry box (#b6d5ec) are slightly different – the comment box is a bit lighter. And the ‘next/previous’ box is even darker than both (#b6d5ec) – and the links inside there are difficult to see .
– all true, except the links in the next/previous should be “Brandeis Blue” which is like IBM PC system blue and the same as always, and a really bright blue, unless you’ve been to the link location in which case under the old scheme it was brown grey. In that one place I made ‘visited links’ almost white. (and made the other text cyan to make it pop. Cyan does and did ‘pop’. The color for ‘hover over link’ is the same as before, purple. Except where it’s not because it wasn’t consistent. The darker color should be the same color as the font size adjustment buttons…
I think I’ll swap the comment box color and the blockquote color. I do think it’s a bit dark.
n
Yeah.
More blue than teal or whatever floats the boat. I happen to like teal, that funky color between green and sky blue turquoise and emerald. But gamma that or whatever and make it a lighter blue. Oh. and go for true colors…. get out of the grey scales.
I don’t think that feeling ever goes away.
fake news tonight:
(Updated) MN Rep. Ilhan Omar Sprayed With Unknown Substance at Town Hall Event
https://redstate.com/smoosieq/2026/01/27/breaking-mn-rep-ilhan-omar-sprayed-with-unknown-substance-at-town-hall-event-n2198583
Looks scripted.
It did show that Minneapolis Police will put down their donuts and respond to a real crime when it involves Somali b.s.
ICE Agents Try To Enter Ecuadorian Consulate in Minneapolis
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/ice-agents-try-enter-ecuadorian-012259240.html
ICE agent barred from entering Ecuadorian consulate in Minneapolis: Report
https://www.fox9.com/news/ice-agent-consulate-ecuador-minneapolis-attempted-incursion-jan-27-2026
More ginned up bullshit. Agents never crossed the threshold.
It’s being breathlessly reported that this could be a “major incident”, and that the Ecuadorans are sending a protest letter to the U.S. Embassy in Ecuador.
“A statement since released has called the visit an “attempted incursion.”
My twin gluteus. The only incursion is the blatant violation of our national sovereignty by Ecuadoran invaders facilitated by their government.
Trump should just tell them to close the consulate in Minneapolis and he just put a 50% escrow on remittances to Ecuador pending proof of income taxes paid.
It’s been nearly thirty years, and I still catch myself thinking “I’m going to call Dad…”
It has been six months and I thought about calling Dad on Sunday and then realized that I could not.
I was going to ask Dad for advice on this lung mass thing. I go back to MDACC on two weeks from today for a MRI, consult, and a possible biopsy. I go to my cardiologist the day before to get certified for surgery as the biopsy is done under full sedation.
Mexico Cancels Oil Shipment to Cuba
https://hotair.com/john-s-2/2026/01/27/mexico-cancels-oil-shipment-to-cuba-n3811269
The corrupt communists who have ruled Cuba for more than 60 years are done. Let’s hope that the Cuban people change their government to something better this time.
So the blockquote color should be a bit lighter.
Really all I did to the old color scheme was change the cyan tinted colors for colors without as much cyan in them. The cyan is an IBM EGA color, so it’s probably a ‘taste of home’ comfort to the older guys here. 😛 I was surprised when divemedic made his site so heavily cyan… because it’s a bit old fashioned.
n
y’all would not believe the amount of effort needed to style the next/ previous links under the comment box. Completely not worth the effort since I’d bet that not one person here uses them…
And the Older Posts/ Newer posts link thing when you just have posts displayed is even stranger. I bet no one has every used that except me.
n
I dreamed about my dad visiting just a couple of nights ago. Woke up crying.
n
I use the ‘next/previous’ links after the comment box every day.
Each morning’s first visit does a refresh of the current page (an open tab from the night before) to read any comments added after my last read of the comments. Then I use the “Next” link to get to the current page. That process ensures that I don’t miss any comments.
The CSS classes used for the next/previous’ links are ‘post_previous’ and ‘post_next’, according to my reading of data in the Inspector.
Did Edison accidentally make graphene in 1879?
https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/01/did-edison-accidentally-make-graphene-in-1879/
I dislike the title, and really dislike the first sentence:
“Eddy had access to Edison’s original 1879 patent ”
So does anyone with an internet connection now and since the IBM Patent Server Project (1997) expanded to include photocopies of patents before 1971. Or anyone since 1879 that went to the U.S. Patent Office or a U.S Patent Repository.
As to the title, Edison’s equipment did not have an “accident”. Eddy showed that under normal operation it could have produced graphene if current flowed for a short time. The next step would be to examine the extremely detailed notebooks that Edison’s laboratory assistants kept to see if they ever used a cycle of that duration.
Edison was not looking for graphene and as noted would not have been able to characterize and differentiate it from graphite due to the lack of modern imaging devices. If graphene were produced, and if it were suitable material for a filament, then there might be more information in the notebooks, but it’s not likely, as the temperature range is not of interest in the investigation then conducted.
Have I mentioned how much I loathe “science writers” whose c.v.’s show and absence of science education (much less practice)?
Makes me appreciate someone like Leslie Eastman at Legal Insurrection all the more.
I use the ‘next/previous’ links after the comment box every day.
– well, if it saves even one life… I just scroll down a little farther to the Recent Comments list to see if there are any new ones, and to jump directly to them, but maybe that’s a result of me usually being zoomed in until the site is only one column and all the extra widgets show up under the main part.
n
– probably shouldn’t have ever opened them.
n
Trump should just tell them to close the consulate in Minneapolis and he just put a 50% escrow on remittances to Ecuador pending proof of income taxes paid.
How about putting a 50% tax on all remittances to all countries ?
Of course, figuring out the difference between a remittance and a legitimate payment might be difficult.
And figuring out how much of the money moving via Walmart from the USA to Mexico is as people buy groceries in the USA and pick them up in Mexico. Some say it is $100 million per year.
– probably shouldn’t have ever opened them.
I wonder what Big River is going to do with the package delivery lockers in those little stores. I have no idea if they were popular or not.
I had no idea the next/previous links existed. I maximize my window to fill the screen on my large netbook/small laptop.
My morning routine is a refresh of the page, which is now “yesterday”, read to the end, then scroll to the top, choose the most recent comment, and scroll to the top again.
I think I just found a time saver.
Ok, time for me to try to get back on schedule. Or, let’s go lay in bed for a while.
n
I wonder what Big River is going to do with the package delivery lockers in those little stores.
– I was thinking about those lockers. I would be happy to host some at my BOL, with power and internet, if I made money off of them. I have a spot away from the house that would work… or I’d add a little lean to shed.
n
“Arctic Blast Knocks 12% of U.S. Natural Gas Production Offline as Prices Surge to Three-Year High”
https://thelibertydaily.com/arctic-blast-knocks-12-u-s-natural-gas/
“(Natural News)—A brutal Arctic blast has exposed the fragile underbelly of America’s energy infrastructure, knocking a critical portion of natural gas production offline just as demand for heat and power skyrockets. This dual crisis, affecting roughly 185 million Americans under winter alerts, has sent commodity prices into the stratosphere and forced federal energy officials to issue emergency orders to keep the lights on. The situation is a reminder of how unprepared the nation’s grid remains for extreme weather, relying on last-minute interventions and fossil fuels to avert collapse.”
“Natural gas futures in New York surged as much as 31% on Monday, reaching levels not seen since December 2022. The immediate cause is clear. The major winter storm, known as Fern, has forced an estimated 12% of total U.S. natural gas production offline. In the southern central U.S. corridor, the figure is a staggering 22%. This supply shock comes precisely when heating demand is spiking, creating a perfect storm for energy markets and grid operators.”
The well owners did not listen to me and install ethylene glycol (radiator fluid) systems on the wellheads. The systems automatically startup at 40 F and start circulating 100 to 1,000 gpm of ethylene glycol using 50 hp to 400 hp electric pumps. The cost to purchase and install is around a million dollars. My engineering software can size the system automatically.
My guess is that all of the salt dome caverns that contain up to 10 BCF (billion cubic feet) of natural gas at up to 5,000 psia in Texas and Louisiana are flowing to the pipelines at max flowrate.