Hot and humid, some sun, and hotter when it’s shining. We did get some very light showers yesterday and they were VERY localized. Like it was a blue sky but somehow we were still getting wet, but 1000 ft later it was gone, localized. Just another day in the Bayou City.
I did my pickups, and shopping yesterday, but it definitely was a grind. Lowes is almost useless for real stuff. They had 20 ft of battery powered LED lighting. 20 ft of china plastic crap LED lighting, but not a single metal spotlight or flood fixture to replace the old incan floods on my dock. 20 ft of low voltage landscape lighting too. It’s all crap, cheap plastic crap.
Amazon isn’t much better. I had two choices for spot lights and two choices for flood light, and they were different brightnesses, so really only one choice each (120v LED fixture, to replace the existing and mount on existing boxes. Used to be you could easily do that with lampholders and R40 bulbs.) But they will be here today, hopefully before I leave.
Everywhere in the store the choices were either very restricted, the item was missing, or only cheap china crap was available. But they had aisles full of household stuff like shelves, blinds, decor, cleaners, and storage bins.
Today is my (supposed to be fun) hobby meeting in our new space. Then we’ll have a board meeting about why stuff isn’t getting done. MY STUFF is done. My ‘gimme’ tchotchke came in yesterday, all 225 of them. I even spent far too long doing half @ssed edits to a flyer that one of the other guys did using AI. Looks good but the dates are wrong, the QR code was wrong, and the location of the event is missing… and there isn’t an easy way to edit the result.
Then I’ve got an hour round trip to do an auction pickup. It was worth it, but the timing is unfortunate. Follow that up with taking the family to the airport, coming home to swap trucks, loading the pickup with the rest of the stuff for the BOL, and then heading back out of town past the airport…
It’s gonna be a busy day. Expect comments from me to be few and far between.
Use the time to work on improving something, or stacking!
nick
Saturday. Good morning!
I must have been tired. I just woke, and it is nearly 11am.
Still posting before Chicken Boy, though!
I gave W1’s flowers an emergency water. She is away, and there would be consequences were she to return to wilted petunias. Good thing I remembered.
Every job is fractal. I noticed that the hose connector on the outdoor tap is spraying water all around. Probably a bad O-ring. I will see what is in the stacks. Might even use the excuse to go to the DIY shop and admire more of Nick’s favourite Chinese crap …
Have a beautiful day!
Now that we’re a few weeks past the solstice, I don’t need to open up the chickens until 0450. They came right out when I opened the door but they hadn’t been yelling at me as I walked up. Why, someday soon I’ll even be able to sleep until 0500! (Assuming I’m not woken by the mother-in-law’s aides dropping something, etc.)
I understand. Ever since that Bricks and Mortar debacle, Lego collections have lost some of their charm.
(I’m not weighing in on the original consignment of the old man’s collection. To the limited extent that I’ve paid attention, it appears to have been an honest screw-up with no definite ill intent by any party. But OH MY GOODNESS did BAM fumble the public relations on this one.)
I’m so old that I remember when Lowe’s was a hardware store. Or maybe I’m so old that my memory is playing tricks on me and it’s always been a home improvement store. You can tell the difference by the number of women walking around, not counting the paint counter. Yah yah, muh sexism. And I realize that some women rassle 4×8 plywood sheets and such. By and large, spending time in the electrical aisle and trying to find enough outlet boxes of the correct size is a highly gendered activity.
I am so old that I remember hardware stores. I miss them!
SteveF, blaming astral bodies and chickens for your abject slugabedness is a low trick! It is clearly really caused by global cooling climate warmening change…
Isn’t KP George more hated?
Colombians are not Cubans. The Republican Party still hasn’t learned this.
The Republicans in Williamson County did not use the machines in the full primary at my usual precinct, but the ballot scanners were at the polling location I used for the runoff.
I don’t think that the fix was in for Paxton as much as Mays Middleton in the Attorney General race.
I’m not voting for “MAGA” Mays. His political career needs to go bye bye now, similar to P. Diddly’s.
Who is the Libertarian running for Attorney General?
I don’t understand why that iteration of Cringely and Oregon Public Broadcasting aren’t making a big deal about the 30th anniversary of “Triumph of the Nerds”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kP15q-s1yMM
I think it is safe to say that without “Triumph of the Nerds”, Apple may have gone in a different direction in the late 90s, maybe even Bankruptcy.
BTW, Bob Metcalfe. BillG wants to be Richard Feynman, but he will settle for Metcalfe.
Everybody sat for an interview with “Cringely” because no one thought that the documentary would see much play beyond Oregon.
The scandal also brought attention to the Mormon “good ol’ boy” network.
And, please, don’t pretend that one doesn’t exist.
Well, the A/C is not cooling. Fans are spinning, no weird noises, just no cool air. This could be related to a blocked condensate line, but diagnosing A/C problems is one of those things, like taking out garbage and grocery shopping, that I don’t do. So I’m going to my meeting and they can solve the issue themselves.
(I was hungry last night so when W came to me and said the propane was out, my first reaction was “So? I don’t do anything so the spare LP bottles ready to use AREN’T to be used, and YOU”LL have to change the bottle.” But I was hungry so I only said that and then took care of it.)
Petty? Someone had the opportunity to say “that’s crazy sweetheart, you do a thousand little things all the time to keep this place running.” But they didn’t.
———-
Enjoy the day.
n
Yesterday I signed up for a cell phone plan for myself. This is the first time since 2001 that I have done that. For all that time I have always had (and still have) a company provided cell phone. I’ve also been lucky to not have any of them managed by corporate.
I think I am in a very small minority at my current employer who has a company phone, as they have a BYOD policy. I am on call 24/7 for the labs, so the phone is a necessity.
I’ve been unhappy enough at work to consider trying to leave. I am using my wife’s old iPhone 13 and a $10/month plan from US Mobile (unlimited text and calls, 2GB data). I just need it for text confirmations.
The plan is to have all important sites (financial) use that number as the primary contact. I will use my wife’s phone as the alternate.
All other sites that need a number will use my google number. I’ve been lax about using that one consistently, so I have some work to do. I am just going through RoboForm alphabetically and changing info when needed. I’m also using this as an excuse to delete logins I no longer use.
The new-to-me phone will sit on my desk on the charger. No reason to carry it with me. I will continue to carry the work cell and use it as my primary.
AI is an incredible tool. Of course, that also makes it incredibly disruptive. It reminds me of the introduction of PCs into offices: over just a few years, entire classes of work were either eliminated or completely changed. We’re seeing much the same thing now: from programmers to artists to marketeers: lots of professions are starting to change.
It will get more interesting, as AI moves to run locally. I have a pretty decent model running on my PC. Compared to the commercial models (I subscribe to one), there are two differences: first, it is a lot slower. Second, it doesn’t have access to terabytes of cached websites, to search for information. Both of those limitations will inevitably be lifted in the next couple of years. When everyone can have a competent AI running privately, we will see the rest of the change happen.
Why buy the F-35? Switzerland is trying to buy F-35s. The delivery is delayed, and the price keeps going up. Meanwhile, the F-35 remains a hanger queen: last I looked, the full combat readiness rate was under 25%. Execrable.
This possibility is yet another reason that buying F-35s is dumb. Although they break so often that you don’t need an “off switch”. You just stop delivering spare parts.
I’ve seen this over and over again on the IT front. If you have a solid, competent IT team, there are very few IT problems in the company. Everything just works. Management then looks at the IT team and thinks: what a waste of money…
Those thousand little things go completely unnoticed. Just like good IT support…
Raining. Houston. Slime in the drain line.
“BTW, Bob Metcalfe. BillG wants to be Richard Feynman, but he will settle for Metcalfe.”
BiilG is more like The Master Cylinder Lite.
@ITGuy 1998
“I’ve been unhappy enough at work to consider trying to leave.”
Then act on it. Plan like it’s going to happen.
Hi Ho the dairy-o!
Swingin’ high, swingin’ low
Ding-dong the commie Nazi r*pist Dem has quit!
What kind of deal got him to go?
A dirty deal we’ll never know!
A lakehouse like the one his friend Bernie received in his deal with the Dems?
I was getting of The Legend of Graham Platner the Oyster Farmer, Jus’ Plain Folk.
His grandfather was Warren Platner, who designed Windows on the World, the restaurant which used to sit atop the old World Trade Center.
Fancy Lad.
Careful, the reward for ‘good hard work’ is often ‘more good hard work’!
That’s not petty, that’s educational.
Just beware they don’t call out an A/C guy for a weekend repair call while you are out of the house, and leave you with the bill…
Does anyone have a recommendation for a thread checker that covers very small metric (M1.6-M3) sizes?
I have several that cover sizes up to 5/8″/M14 or so, but don’t really cover the small end of the range. I’d like to get a combined set that covers precision sizes less than about 1/8″, but I don’t see anything like that.
Dr Williams, have a look at Brownells. They generally have thread checkers for small screws. A common one is a plate with a series of holes.
Otherwise, a supplier for watchmaker or optician equipment.
I know some of the people who work in emergency management at Transtar. Fortunately, they’re competent enough to work around her, and there are some good (really) FEMA people to override her. And they’ve all been on duty recently because of the world kickball contest, so they’ve got their skills sharpened and interagency contacts refreshed.
She’s mostly a figurehead. Her predecessor was actually competent and that made things easier. But he had some failures or at least less-successful events even so (Allison, Ike) . All before my time in Houston.
In fact, we may be better off if she’s on sick leave if an event happens. Just sayin’.
Harvey and the resulting gas “shortage” in 2017.
Plus 2018 was the “revenge” election.
We gonna git all you Devils, starting with your Orange King.
Leave me my illusions.
@Denis
Thanks, but no joy at Brownells.
Too much time down that rathole.
Fears of Gulf Stream Collapse Fade as Hard Data Reveal Major Role of Natural Variation
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2026/07/11/fears-of-gulf-stream-collapse-fade-as-hard-data-reveal-major-role-of-natural-variation/
Climate and eco-alarmists should get one mulligan and then be put to death on the second false prediction. Weasel words like “could” should require a probability drawn from their own activities, such as “50% chance as compared to my dead body being found in an S&M club in New Orleans”.
Every one of the North Pole Ice Free by 20XX crowd should be dropped naked in that pool and given 12 hours to investigate whether it is ice-free.
No government entity in the U.S. or Europe should have offices in a building with HVAC, coal heat only and no cooling aside from ceiling fans. Illicit electrical cooling or heating devices should be shorted and inserted upon discovery.
The “Net Zero” choir should be given that as their oxygen budget. If they think they need to breathe they can become oxygen farmers and tend plants.
And since we’re rolling here all communists show be hung as soon as their net worth is sufficient to be twenty feet of rope.
“And since we’re rolling here all communists should be hung as soon as their net worth is sufficient to buy twenty feet of rope.”
Hating on autocorrect and turning it off again.
A modest proposal:
The Law of Communist Averages: Any Commie running for office is subject to a challenge by any voter in which all their assets are pooled together and divided equally. The rule for both is that anything they have given away during the previous five years is taken back and added into the pot. After averaging the reclaimed funds are then returned–proportionally if the total is insufficient to return them all.
https://hotair.com/headlines/2026/07/11/nyc-building-at-risk-of-collapse-n3816771
Uh-huh. The most regulated jurisdiction in the U.S. with the highest costs of development, and hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars flowing to the city, and they didn’t see any problem until they almost had the whole building on the ground, and may still do so?
Gays cruising Middle East for Palestinians Denied Entry…
https://hotair.com/david-strom/2026/07/10/that-gay-cruise-ship-denied-entry-into-turkey-egypt-just-said-no-too-n3816823
Maybe they could meet up mid-ocean with one of Greta’s flotila’s and have a Don’t Ask Don’t Tell party.
“Be” twenty feet of rope is feasible. First the wood chipper. Set to coarse grind. Spread the output in a sunny place to dry. You know, save energy and be Green.
Probably not going to make a great rope. Maybe not good enough for enough drop to snap a neck. But hey, commie, let them strangle. But if it’s good enough to hang a single commie I’d call it a win.
Well, the A./C coil is kaput. No freon at all. Carrier. Known issue. Should be warranty replacement, but still $1500 labor.
I’m headed out asap. Thunder and lightning here, but maybe I can get out before the rain. Back early so I can meet the crew.
If it ain’t one thing, it’s another.
n
Why buy the F-35? Switzerland is trying to buy F-35s. The delivery is delayed, and the price keeps going up. Meanwhile, the F-35 remains a hanger queen: last I looked, the full combat readiness rate was under 25%. Execrable.
You can raise that 25% to 75% (SWAG) by turning off all of the warning sensors. Half of the warning sensors are faulty too.
The F-35 is a stealth airplane with the radar cross section of less than a square foot. Radar can’t see it until it is way less than a mile away. If radar can see you then missiles can see you. If radar can’t see you then missiles can’t see you.
Nobody else on the planet can build stealth airplanes that work. We have four of them now: F117A, F-22, F-35, and the B-2. Death from above in the middle of the night and nobody knows that you are there.
“How Big Healthcare Companies Keep Drug Prices High”
https://www.theepochtimes.com/article/how-big-health-care-companies-keep-drug-prices-high-6055260?utm_source=partner&utm_campaign=TheLibertyDaily
“A handful of large corporations now control medication availability, pricing, and payment for the vast majority of Americans.”
“Nearly all Americans now get their medications—and often much more of their healthcare—through a handful of companies that dominate almost every link from manufacturing to consumption, including the payment itself.”
Not good, we need more competition in the drug supply area. If there are only 2 or 3 suppliers in the USA then they have merged and merged too many times.
Hat tip to:
https://thelibertydaily.com/
“I Asked Microsoft About Windows 12. Here’s What It Would (and Wouldn’t) Say”
https://www.pcmag.com/news/i-asked-microsoft-about-windows-12-heres-what-it-would-and-wouldnt-say
“1. Don’t Expect Windows 12 Before 2027”
“2. Windows 12 Won’t Require a Subscription”
“3. Most Windows 11 PCs Should Run Windows 12”
“4. Agentic AI Will Define Windows 12”
“5. Windows 12 Will Feel More Familiar Than New”
“6. Watch the Windows Insider Program for Early Clues”
“2. Windows 12 Won’t Require a Subscription”
A subscription model for Windows would cause the entire consumer market to shift to Linux. Shoot, with all of the phones, watches, and tablets, the consumer market is already well on the path to Linux. I do not know about the business market since they are already paying using a subscription model for Windows every year.
I feel a big change coming on in the computer world but I am not sure what it is. I am working on making my software less tied to the Windows market. Maybe I am wrong, maybe I am right. At least giving us more platforms gives us more potential customers.
So….. why move from Win11? Oh, I guess for better integration of spyware.
I want drivers for WinXP or Win7. The shell was just about perfect. Heck, Win98Se was great.
“Steam sales reportedly topped $11 billion during H1 2026 due to shifting trends — staggering growth driven by influx of Chinese players and booming legacy catalogues”
https://www.tomshardware.com/video-games/pc-gaming/steam-sales-reportedly-topped-usd11-billion-during-h1-2026-due-to-shifting-trends-staggering-growth-driven-by-influx-of-chinese-players-and-booming-legacy-catalogues
Unreal. I knew that the gaming market was huge but I did not know that the market was that huge. I guess that Microsoft’s and Sony’s gaming sales are dropping???
Sigh. I am in the wrong software business.
So….. why move from Win11? Oh, I guess for better integration of spyware.
I want drivers for WinXP or Win7. The shell was just about perfect. Heck, Win98Se was great.
I have written device drivers before. No thank you. Getting the interrupt responses just right so that the whole machine does not fall over on its side dead is very tricky. That was way beyond me. Of course, I was working in Windows 92 XXXX 95, a very fragile environment to start with.
Windows is about to get containers installed in the base OS by default.
I think the goal is an immutable OS like Fedora Silverblue.
The F117 is nearly 50 years old.
The basic design originated in a set of formulas from a Russian textbook, but the Russians didn’t have the technology … or the Skunkworks.
Having been using macOS (yeh, Unix with a decent shell) for two+ years, and using Windows since 3.1, there are things like about each, and things I loathe about each. My dabbling in Linux I found nothing to like and everything to loathe.
There are some programs that I use that are Windows only. If those programs were available on macOS, I might just switch permanently, except for the Apple hardware tax, no upgrading, only configurations that Apple thinks a person needs. Thus, I will keep Windows and macOS and use both systems. Of course, my needs are light. The integration between my iPhone, iPad, and Watch is excellent.
Windows is about to get containers installed in the base OS by default.
I think the goal is an immutable OS like Fedora Silverblue.
What are containers?
If I understand right, essentially mini VMs.
Slime in the drain line.
– that is always on the list of things to check first but this ac unit is plumbed into the bathroom vent stack.
Before he got there, and after W and the kids left, I checked the cap with a Fluke meter. The 45uF was reading 40, and the 7.5 was reading 7.2. I thought that was ok because most caps are 10% tolerance but not AC motor caps, they’re 5%. So out of tolerance. The guy swapped in a new one and the compressor didn’t start. Then he suspected low gas pressure shut off, and got the gauges out. No freon. Bad coil. I’ll go home Fri, so we can install the new one Sat morning. Family is home Sun afternoon.
———
Finally got loaded and got here. Started mowing and the mower just slowly ran slower and died. I’ll have to see what that’s all about tomorrow. At least I got the front mowed, and it’s not a jungle yet. I was planning to use the mower and the garden trailer to move the bricks from the chimney to the other side of the lot. Not being able to do that will suck. I’ll figure something out.
Time for some reading and relaxing.
n
..without the need for an operating system that provides functions for the container program.
To expand…. a VM sits on top of it’s host Operating System (OS). You start the OS, then start the VM, which can (and usually does) contain an OS of it’s own.
The ‘container’ is a VM which contains everything needed to run it’s purpose. That allows the container to run in any environment: development, production, and/or operating system.
If I understand it all correctly…although I may not be explaining it well.
Before W12 gets forced on us let’s get the “send 50 volts to programmer” switch enacted into law.
or, alternatively, any electrinic system upgrade with less than a threshold user approval triggers monthly enemas to the entire corporate workforce, weekly enemas to management, and daily to everyone with stock options and board members.
I will get the specs on the 3D printed nozzles published later, as soon as I get the design patents filed on the “Ripper Ridges”.
I just watched “Moonfall” on Big River Prime. Pretty good scifi movie. I had heard it was terrible, they were wrong.
I have a high suspension of disbelief though.