Cool and wet. Still in the “t storms possible” part of the map… but this is the bayou city and our weather is driven by the Gulf of America and not the stuff blowing down from the Northwest. I mean, it comes down, but our weather depends on what the countervailing force coming in from the Gulf does. I think today will be like yesterday, patches of sunlight, mostly cloudy or overcast, and very moderate temps.
Spent yesterday morning asleep. Spent the afternoon at an event for D2’s school activity. The dad’s booster club was there and I spent the evening chatting with them. I know some of them from other activities, and one is a good friend of the family. The event was held at our old pool, so there was a lot of crossover. Had some good conversations.
Didn’t get anything on the list done.
So today, there will be poking at the list. Might even be some completed items, but that is not guaranteed. It’s funny that one of the dad’s I was chatting with complained that for every job he needs to do, there are many more that need to be done first… I shared my idea that some tasks were fractal, and he agreed with a good laugh too. Still, every journey begins with a single step (except a flight of fancy.)
Take the first step. Stack something, especially if it’s real world relationships.
nick
Monday. Good morning, Slugabeds!
I’m not in jail (yet), SteveF, but I was in Germany, so pretty similar…
Back to the usual grind today. Have a good one.
A lot of products had 3G embedded modems when that protocol shut down, particularly cars.
How many Kindles with “Whispernet” were in the field when 3G went away?
Whispernet was so easy to use. Getting on the free wifi in a hotel or similar always involves a portal and they never played nice with the kindle browsers. Whispernet just worked.
———
60F and overcast. Kids are stirring. Slept moderately well last night, only waking a couple of times that I remember.
Feeling not too bad this morning.
Lunch is made. My first “small” cup of coffee is made. Time to start the day.
n
Hotels are better, but airport Wifi is nearly useless now with every kid running an iPad.
I couldn’t connect at 6 AM yesterday morning in Airside C of TPA.
I overheard one parent tell his eight year old, “You have the biggest screen in the house.”
The cell service at Bonnet Creek was worse. I had a family issue last week, and urgent text messages took several hours to deliver.
SMS is a side effect of network diagnostics, not an IP service.
Whispernet ended mass market paperbacks sold at airport newsstands. The cost to Bezos was a small price to pay to gain control of that segment.
Amazon could offer something similar using unlicensed spectrum as part of the 5G protocol on any device with a 2.4 GHz modem, but then people would start to ask too many questions.
I assume any Amazon device with a 2.4 GHz modem is online 24/7.
I carry a Kindle Fire just to play movies I rip at home, and, ahead of the trip to Nashville last fall, when I transferred some of my files to the device, I had a message pop up to the effect, “You installed a file which contains copyrighted material.”
I assume the Fire did an audio fingerprint of the files and phoned home.
Waiting for the inventory:
https://redstate.com/nick-arama/2026/04/20/more-on-the-iranian-ship-fired-on-by-us-navy-n2201471
Would not be surprised if there was a “personal use” shipment for the mullahs.
Eh? Iran didn’t already have enough “personal use” goats?
Tampa Airport TSA went through my suitcase yesterday and, for some reason. dumped all of one bottle of BP meds into a store bag I had rolled up in the bottom of the main compartment, along with the lid of the empty bottle.
Everything then went back as close as the original packing as they could get.
Scalve, slave.
They will have to find someplace to unload it, and somehow I doubt our “allies” in the region are going to offer. The UAE is the only one to shoot back in the current brouha, as far as I know.
I have a strange transaction on my bank (actually credit union) account this morning.
It was for $0.00. I am not expecting anything from the government. SS deposits arrive on the 2nd Wednesday and 3rd Wednesday. Tax refund has been received over a month ago. VA benefits arrive the end of the month in a different account. All of those transactions are from US TREAS 310.
Searching on the web has revealed nothing of significance other than that a deposit is pending. OK, I can accept that, but for what?
The IRS, the VA and Social Security already have my verified account information so there should be no need to verify the accounts again. This would seem to indicate something new from the government.
Any ideas from the herd?
Do you have a TreasuryDirect account with maturing bonds?
Not that I am aware of unless it was something I purchased while in the service and I forgot about. The service did encourage the purchase of US Savings Bonds. That would be from 46+ years ago so I don’t think that is a reason.
I don’t see any reason for the US Treasury to verify my account since I have been receiving SS benefits for nine years, VA benefits for 17 years, IRS deposits for 35 years, all at the same account.
Maybe the treasury has to occasionally verify accounts. But why? If the deposits are going through, the accounts are obviously verified.
My curiosity is certainly piqued on what this could be. The bigger fear is the treasury is verifying the account to yank money out of the account. I would think that would require some letter of notification that funds are going to be removed.
I checked the VA website and there are no pending deposits so I have ruled out the VA. All that is left is SS and IRS but those come from TREAS 310, not TREAS 312.
It’s not just a career
https://redstate.com/wardclark/2026/04/20/gamers-hit-record-12k-new-atc-job-apps-faa-just-won-the-boss-fight-n2201478
guesstimate: 95% males
More research indicates that the TREAS 310 or TREAS 312 refers to the financial center for the treasury. That soft of makes sense as my IRS center is Kansas City which is 310 and that is where my tax return came from. But I also get SS and VA payments from 310 so that center apparently processes more than tax refunds.
The 312 is the San Francisco treasury center. My concern now is that someone used my account number for their taxes. Either a refund or owing. But I have never had my account verified for any tax refund. If a person is filing their first return maybe the IRS financial center verifies the account.
This could get nasty if the account is being used for the IRS and the person owes money. The routing number is public information, the account number would not be easy to guess.
Interest from t-bills is “APA TREAS 310 MISC”. My SS says “SSA TREAS 310 XXSOC”. This year’s tax refund says “IRS TREAS 310 TAX R”.
I have nothing from 312.
I don’t either, never have. 310 is the Kansas City finance center, 312 is San Francisco. I have no dealings with that area.
The IRS reviews old returns on a delay. I received a notice in January that I had under-reported 2023 income. Which was, unfortunately, true. So I agreed with their letter, sent it back, signed, and did a payment of several thousand dollars.
I just got another letter last week saying they recalculated, and I overpaid. I will be getting a $15 refund via check. I don’t have direct deposit set up for that.
Could your issue be for some prior year return where you overpaid? For instance, because your disability status changed retroactively?
I have no idea. My IRS center is Kansas City, the TREAS 310. What I got as a transaction is for TREAS 312, San Francisco. I don’t think my disability from the VA would affect my taxes. Clicking the disabled checkbox did not nothing to change my taxes for 2025.
I highly doubt that is the issue. I would have received a letter before the IRS attacks the bank accounts. Besides I considered my tax returns accurate and when downloading my information from the IRS site all my information matches the IRS data.
I just checked the IRS website and there are no notices or correspondence.
“Kennedy Approach“ was a classic home computer game 40 years ago. It was revolutionary at the time because of voice synthesis for the pilots and controller.
OK I needed this laugh
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNJFima6cs61Hh32pLig58iqPU45uETp7gvwCoP0DeSMHiEKKMLIaZHls75oPWUi-EEcsJvEM_V8q-N6VdNMq3EOnKIIpNclhbWXvXwnopMxoVnAjdteK5aeyMaUS69cxQtc2sKUaUJ10RA4X-FuN-JPJvnmALvTuRUFlprpToYlVlo5Fy0GdZ4ZqEtsY/s600/Meme%20-%20discrimination%20against%20dwarves.png
Have you done anything “gay” lately? 😉
I tiptoed through the tulips. Does that count?
Home from my first pickup. I was meeting a guy to buy some pipes and related things. I didn’t steal them but there is profit there. Met the guy in line at the estate sale this weekend.
—-
Time to hit my next couple of pickups.
n