Mon. Aug. 3, 2026 – time is just flying by

By on August 3rd, 2026 in culture, decline and fall, march to war

Still hot, still humid. Well over 100F yesterday, only broken when there were some clouds. It was still 90F at 9pm too. I’m predicting more of the same for today.

It was way too hot to work outside so I sat at the computer doing auction stuff. I do have an appointment with a new auctioneer on Friday to talk about consignment of my stuff. I can’t see why they wouldn’t take it, and I’ve got another one to try if they don’t want to deal, but it would be nice to just get started selling. I have a bunch of stuff waiting for more room at the shop. It can’t move forward until I sell some stuff.

I’m not even going to make a plan for today, other than trying to work on the lists. No need for the universe to crush my feeble dreams…

And I’ll be stacking. Always.

nick

77 Comments and discussion on "Mon. Aug. 3, 2026 – time is just flying by"

  1. brad says:

    Hey, there’s an estate sale down the block you might be interested in, lots of sci-fi books

    I have always had a book collection. In our last house, I finally fulfilled my personal dream of having a room as a dedicated library. Floor-to-ceiling books on all walls. It was great! But now that I’ve done that, the itch has been scratched. When we moved, we went through the books mercilessly. I have two shelf-units left in my “man corner”, and my wife has one of her own. I may sort through them again, because I now read almost only on my Kindle.

    Much of the American South, Southwest, and West is consuming water at an unsustainable rate and has been doing so for decades.

    Having grown up in the Southwest, I completely agree. The solution would be simple: Water is scarce, and should be priced accordingly. Fix the sometimes idiotic problems with historical water rights. Then let the free market play. If that means that rice fields in California and golf courses in Phoenix can no longer be sustained, then that’s a good thing. That will hit individuals as well – suddenly, it will be expensive to keep a green lawn in Albuquerque.

  2. Ray Thompson says:

    it will be expensive to keep a green lawn in Albuquerque

    When I lived in Victorville and Barstow as a youngen’ most of the “lawns” were nothing more than desert plants, rocks, and other decorations. We played in a dirt back yard and were quite happy playing with our Tonka Trucks. There was no need to water anything. The desert plants, native to the region, survived just fine without any additional watering. Contrast that to down in the valley, the LA basin, where lawns were green, automatic sprinklers running each morning, some watering the road. It was, and continues to be, a real waste of water.

    Water is scarce, and should be priced accordingly

    Water is not scarce here in East TN. Plenty of rivers and rain. But my water bill, with sewer, is $125+ each month for two people. I know families of four, with two teenage daughters, that are paying in excess of $250.00 each month. Their water bill exceeds their electric bill. I do not water any of the lawn. What nails me on my bill is the cost of the sewer. For water I pay about $40, for sewer the cost is double at $80.00. Then there are taxes added on to the bill, trash pickup, and some ancillary Fuel Service Charge.

    The water discharge from the sewer treatment plant has to be potable, drinkable. mandated by the state EPA, which is mandated by the FEDs. It is expensive to treat wastewater to that level of cleanliness. The town went significantly in debt because of state mandated upgrades to the sewer plant. With only about 1,800 customers on the sewer system the cost is significant to the rate payers.

  3. Greg Norton says:

    Anything nintendo sells well, and Sega consoles too.

    Switch 2 has been a disaster so far due to Nintendo attempting to shut down the used game market by selling “cartridges” which are nothing more than license keys used to install the software downloaded from a central server.

  4. Greg Norton says:

    Water is not scarce here in East TN. Plenty of rivers and rain. But my water bill, with sewer, is $125+ each month for two people. I know families of four, with two teenage daughters, that are paying in excess of $250.00 each month. Their water bill exceeds their electric bill. I do not water any of the lawn. What nails me on my bill is the cost of the sewer. For water I pay about $40, for sewer the cost is double at $80.00. Then there are taxes added on to the bill, trash pickup, and some ancillary Fuel Service Charge.

    In technical terms, SW WA State has been in a drought going back to when we lived there.

    The legacy HP campus in Vancouver, WA was a redevelopment puzzle for more than a decade because iCarly sold off the water rights to Shin Etsu, the Japanese company who currently runs the former Monsanto silicon wafer production facility.

    The buildings were used as a school for a while.

  5. Denis says:

    Monday. Hello!

    A short work week for me this week, Monday to Wednesday only, then my summer holidays. Hooray.

    Just a few days left to find Bambi in the woods. Tonight’s the night, for sure…! The weather is beautiful, if a bit too hot for hunting. There are some thunderstorms forecast for later, which might be to my advantage, as they usually cool the air, and ought to bring the game out after the rain.

  6. EdH says:

    I have always had a book collection. In our last house, I finally fulfilled my personal dream of having a room as a dedicated library. Floor-to-ceiling books on all walls. It was great! But now that I’ve done that, the itch has been scratched. When we moved, we went through the books mercilessly. I have two shelf-units left in my “man corner”, and my wife has one of her own. I may sort through them again, because I now read almost only on my Kindle.

    That is almost exactly my progression. Plus, I downsized to this smaller single story house almost 9 years ago now (wow, time flies), and the room is literally not there.

  7. Nick Flandrey says:

    Up and moving.  Not liking it much.   Slightly overcast.   

    Coffee and breakfast are started.  

    n

  8. nick flandrey says:

    sun poked thru.   86F and rising.   Time to get dressed to get the kid.

    n

  9. MrAtoz says:

    Tools: I love tools. I have tools I’ve never used. Just in case, you know.

    Books: I love books. I love the information in them more. I try to find digital copies of physical books. I have a book scanner I’ll set up to scan books if I can’t find pdf versions.

    Water: I live in Vegas, ‘nuff said.

  10. lpdbw says:

    I got up and mowed the front yard this morning.   Before coffee.  Because the forecast doesn’t show any sub-90 degree days and the grass is tall, so I did it before it got too hot.

    Didn’t use the strimmer (I’m not sure if I like that manufactured word, trying it on for size) and didn’t mow the back yard, which is out of sight of the HOA.

    re: water rights

    Something has always puzzled me.  There are political entities that prohibit you from collecting rainwater on your own property.  As a former libertarian, that offends me on principle.  As a sort-of engineer, it looks stupid on its face.

    You can’t collect water indefinitely.  You have to use it and release it eventually.  The only water you’re taking out of circulation is the limited amount you can store at any given time.  No one is harmed by your collecting, and then releasing your water.

    The only reason I can see is to force you to pay for water from the .gov, and every drop you save from rainwater is a drop you don’t pay them to provide.

    That sucks.  Unless I’m wrong somehow, and missed something?

    11
  11. Ray Thompson says:

    Unless I’m wrong somehow, and missed something?

    When my brother lived in California, the position of the state was that anything that came from above the state, belonged to the state. People were not allowed to collect water that fell on their roof as that was “state water”. Retention ponds required a license, and fee paid to the state, for the water. Even sunlight belonged to CA. My brother had solar panels on his roof. He had two meters on his house, one meter for power from the grid, the other meter for power from the solar panels. The utility charged him for solar power that he generated, even when such power was returned to the grid. It was a very low rate, and he did get some money for what the power returned to the grid. The net result was he still paid for power he generated.

    Of course, that example is California, the perfect example of a grossly incompetently run state. It should be no mystery that the population of California is dwindling. Those with the resources are leaving.

  12. nick flandrey says:

    the perfect example of a grossly incompetently run state. 

    —  nope.   It’s just that their goals are not your goals.     They are getting exactly what was predicted, and desired.   You just have to figure out which “they” it is.

    n

  13. lpdbw says:

    The purpose of a system is what it does.

    We who suffer from systems assume it’s because they’re failing or broken.

    But those who profit from them…

  14. Greg Norton says:

    That sucks.  Unless I’m wrong somehow, and missed something?
     

    In WA State, one of the concerns about capturing rainwater was insufficient runoff going into fish habitats.

    Rain barrels had just been removed from restrictions when we moved there in 2010.

    I concede that legitimate concerns are involved, but WA State is also home to a personality type that I call “Church Ladies Without Churches”.

    IIRC, the temperance movement started there before going national and resulting in Prohibition.

  15. nick flandrey says:

    Trying to assert state ownership of rain is hubris on a massive scale.  

    It’s a perfect example of laws and regulations that nobody wanted, or voted for, but we got anyway, because we get it good and hard, mainly because we’ve stopped tar and feathers as an appropriate punishment for our elected reps when they get stupid.

    n

    11
  16. drwilliams says:

    Star Academic EXPOSED RACE GRIFTER at Cambridge Can’t Back Up His Own Stories

    https://hotair.com/john-s-2/2026/08/03/star-academic-at-cambridge-cant-back-up-his-own-stories-n3817600

    If there are going to be different academic standards accoding to race, then transparency demands that the awarded degree be appropriately identified, such as “PhD(rg).

  17. nick flandrey says:

    @greg, as our local tv expert, how are indians portrayed on current tv?  If I was running a psyop, I’d make sure they were always friends, or sidekicks, and never competitors, bosses, or the rage filled bigots many of them seem to be.

    I’d make sure they were smart but team players or subservient too.

    n

  18. drwilliams says:

    @lpdbw

    “I got up and mowed the front yard this morning.   Before coffee.  Because the forecast doesn’t show any sub-90 degree days and the grass is tall, so I did it before it got too hot.”

    I’m impressed, but such need is why I usually have at least a half pot of cold coffee in the fridge. I use a repurposed Gatorade or similar bottle for better chugging, and swap the original cap with a contrasting cap and write “COFFEE” on top with a Sharpie.

  19. Denis says:

    I’d make sure they were smart but team players or subservient too.

    Have you not seen the Big Bang Theory? Portrayal exactly as you describe…

  20. Greg Norton says:

    @greg, as our local tv expert, how are indians portrayed on current tv?  If I was running a psyop, I’d make sure they were always friends, or sidekicks, and never competitors, bosses, or the rage filled bigots many of them seem to be.

    I’d make sure they were smart but team players or subservient too.
     

    Do you mean Colonists (as in dot) or Native Americans (as in feather)?

    I don’t watch a lot of TV anymore, but the Colonists are generally never portrayed as the  Upper Class Twits of the Year that I commonly encounter.

  21. Lynn says:

    One sadness comes with an estate that has personal items that should not be in a sale, but obviously there was no family or no one in the family that cared. Another is a collection that took years to assemble, but no one wanted. Travel souvenirs such as spoons and shot glasses are a little sad. The worst is seeing the Franklin Mint, the Hummels, the Bradford exchange plates, the blue delft plates and other “collectibles” that were simply scams. At least the price of silver is finally high enough that some of the FM products will recoup more than their purchase price, even though they were never an investment.

    There are some items that should not be in sales–family documents, photos, military medals, many things associate with the Mason’s, etc. Some years ago I purchased a lot that included an article of historic significance to a school in Peru. I sent it to them with a note requesting that they acknowledge the return, but never heard back–it was still the right thing to do.

    It was so difficult to get rid of the stuff that Mom and Dad had accumulated.  Mom wanted to keep it all in her 458 ft2 apartment.  I have had to put my foot down several times.  I resorted to not telling her about stuff we were disposing off.  However, I still have an office full of stuff at my office building.  Precious stuff.

  22. Lynn says:

    “Huge mob of Moroccans chanting ‘Allahu Akbar’ clash with Spanish police after marching through Ceuta as enclave remains gripped by fear”

       https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-16024349/Huge-mob-Moroccans-chanting-Allahu-Akbar-clash-Spanish-police-marching-Ceuta-enclave-remains-gripped-fear.html

    “Around 60,000 people swam from Morocco into the Spanish city, which shares a land border and is located on the northern coast of North Africa, on Thursday.”

    This was all predicted in the 1973 book “The Camp of the Saints” by Jean Raspail.  

        https://www.amazon.com/Camp-Saints-Jean-Raspail/dp/B0FG4MJS8K?tag=ttgnet-20

    Hat tip to:
    https://thelibertydaily.com/

  23. Lynn says:

    My good for nothing youngest brother just got thrown out of his apartment in west Houston with his wife and son.  They have been living in that apartment for over ten years.  He says that he always paid his rent on time but something is wrong.  

    He cannot get into another apartment because they apparently black listed him.  I was not aware that apartments are that full up that the apartment people can pick and choose who they want.  So they are moving into a Extended Stay motel.

  24. drwilliams says:

    @Lynn

    “Precious stuff.”

    Please tell us it’s not things you have to dust.

    Cabinets with doors are your friends.

  25. Lynn says:

    “Precious stuff.”

    Please tell us it’s not things you have to dust.

    Cabinets with doors are your friends.

    Precious stuff.  Things that go boom and other precious stuff.

  26. nick flandrey says:

    Have you not seen the Big Bang Theory 

    – nope, although I’ve seen enough clips on youtube shorts to know it  is probably exactly what I don’t want to see.   Kinda like Seinfeld.

    The only character that stands out to me is the fussy and sarcastic queen.

    n

  27. nick flandrey says:

    Control the language and you control the debate and you control thought about the subject too.

    “The deep state” captured and named something people had known for years and made it easier to talk about and even to see.

    Now “suicidal empathy” is doing the same thing.

    n

  28. Lynn says:

    “Gulf Coast hurricane season could take an unexpected turn as August nears”

       https://www.chron.com/weather/article/hurricane-outlook-texas-gulf-august-22367015.php

    “Forecasters say El Niño is expected to play a major role.”

    I’ll trade heat for not getting a hurricane or two.  Actually, tropical storms dumping 30+ inches of rain are the worst because rising water floods everything and the drainage is limited.

  29. Lynn says:

    BTW, the recession from 2008 onward is changing to a depression.  I am changing the five second rule to a ten second rule.

    If you never rolled back to a five second rule from the last depression then that is ok.

  30. Lynn says:

    “Boeing Wins Certification for Long-Delayed 737 Max 7 Jet”

        https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/boeing-wins-certification-long-delayed-174557639.html

    “Certification of the Max 7 and 10 is key to rounding out Boeing’s most-sold 737 family and helping it generate cash and improve its balance sheet after several tumultuous years.”

    “The Max 7 seats between 135 and 160 passengers, and has a range of up to 3,800 nautical miles, while the Max 10 can seat as many as 210 passengers.”

    Airbus has sold too many planes in the USA.

    And they now teach the pilots to shut off the plane computer on takeoffs and landings. They just flip the circuit breaker.

  31. Lynn says:

    Over The Hedge: I Laughed, I Cried

       https://www.gocomics.com/overthehedge/2026/08/03

    The midget T-Rex continues to make me laugh.

  32. Lynn says:

    “With Subscriber Counts Decimated by Starlink, Hughesnet Files for Bankruptcy”

       https://www.pcmag.com/news/with-subscriber-counts-decimated-by-starlink-hughesnet-files-for-bankruptcy

    “Hughesnet will continue serving customers during its bankruptcy proceedings, but the goal is to focus on business and government customers rather than consumers.”

    Wow, there goes a piece of history.  My country buddy’s four kids used to get home from school and would almost immediately put his Hudges system into limited download status due to their watching youtube videos.

  33. SteveF says:

    the recession from 2008 onward is changing to a depression

    I stand by my assertion that we’ve been in a depression for most of the past 18 years but it’s papered over [sic] by Money Machine Go Wrrr.

  34. Lynn says:

    “AEP secures 13 GW of gas turbines as generation ‘central’ to growth plans”

       https://www.utilitydive.com/news/aep-secures-13-gw-of-gas-turbines-as-generation-central-to-growth-plans/826808/

    “Turbines are “a scarce resource and will become increasingly more valuable,” AEP’s Bill Fehrman said. “We’re going to continue to be aggressive in our positions on this.””

    That is a lot of gas turbines.  Nice picture of an air cooled steam condenser being built for the combined cycle (gas turbines feeding a heat recovery boiler generating steam for a steam turbine).

  35. nick flandrey says:

    Looks like they intend to use them to replace aging plants, as well as new generation.

    And they’ll have them when the generators with less foresight need to buy turbines to power new development…

    n

  36. Lynn says:

    “How bad is August weather in Houston? ‘Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world’”

        https://spacecityweather.com/how-bad-is-august-in-houston-oh-its-terrible/

    “This is, quite simply, the worst month of the year in Houston.”

    Nah, September is worse.  More humidity.

  37. SteveF says:

    Went up to the family house and carried a couple hundred pounds of stuff from my car to the upstairs to get it out of the current house, brought a couple of queen-sized mattresses down to the truck to be taken to the dump. Dump run was nothing but a delight, between the rain, which started and stopped at whatever time was most inconvenient, and the reorganization of the dump, which led to people becoming idiots. (Rather, encouraged to let out their inner idiot.) Carried more hundreds of pounds of tools and such to the barn, which was the least nuisance of them all. Aside from my sister and me being splashed with dump mud and water, it was mostly just a nuisance. With several hours of driving being additional nuisance. Added to the usual nuisance of driving, this week is a “speed crackdown” throughout NYS, with stinking State Pigs Police Pigs sitting every couple miles along the highways and through roads. Because what the state needs is glorified meter maids pulling people over for doing 58 in a 55 zone. (But it’s about the safety, just ask them. The revenue from fines and “court costs” is just a side effect. Just ask them.)

  38. Greg Norton says:

    I’d make sure they were smart but team players or subservient too.

    Have you not seen the Big Bang Theory? Portrayal exactly as you describe…

    “Raj” actually grew up in India, but Brian George, who played Raj’s father, was of Iraqi and Indian ancestry, born in Israel, and raised in London and Toronto.

    Alice Amter, who played Raj’s mother, has absolutely no Indian ancestry.

    Sanitized for American consumption.

  39. Greg Norton says:

    “Hughesnet will continue serving customers during its bankruptcy proceedings, but the goal is to focus on business and government customers rather than consumers.”

    Wow, there goes a piece of history.  My country buddy’s four kids used to get home from school and would almost immediately put his Hudges system into limited download status due to their watching youtube videos.

    Hughesnet could not handle “SSL Everywhere”.

  40. nick flandrey says:

    Hughesnet was only a stop gap measure in any case.   I’m surprised it lasted this long.

    n

  41. Greg Norton says:

    He cannot get into another apartment because they apparently black listed him.  I was not aware that apartments are that full up that the apartment people can pick and choose who they want.  So they are moving into a Extended Stay motel.

    Keep them out of your parents’ house. You will never get them out.

  42. Ray Thompson says:

    When the shirt(-r) hits the fan, it really hits the fan.

    Four weeks ago we decided to replace the Samsung refrigerator. The ice maker would freeze up about once a week requiring busting ice out of the machine. I had to pull the refrigerator out from its space because the left freezer door would not open all the way due to cabinets. The door had to open all the way to get the ice bin out to bust out the ice.

    No one would work on the Samsung. Even the Samsung warranty business would not work on those devices outside of the warranty period. It is a known problem with Samsung. There are repair procedures, well actually replace and reseal the entire ice assembly, but it is risky without proper tools, apparently easy to rupture a refrigerant line. I suspect that is why no one works on the Samsung.

    Bang, $2,200.00 out the door. We bought an LG. It was on sale for about $1,100.00 off. Which means they are charging too much to begin with.

    Then last week the washing machine busted. Some part of the tub suspension system on the front loader was on its last legs. Then the wife washed a heavy blanket. The spin cycle put too much stress on the system and busted an already weak system. We found parts in the drum that should not be in the drum. And the horrible banging noise was also a big clue that the machine was done.

    They were Kenmore machines, purchased 16 years ago so I guess I should not complain. I did have to do one repair about 10 years ago when the fill valve for the hot water quit working. A fairly easy repair and an expensive part.

    Off to Home Depot last Wednesday for a new washer and dryer. Of course, they had to match even though the dryer was still working. The sizes changed and the shelf that sits on top would no longer fit properly.

    Bang, another $2,400.00 out the door. Both the washer and dryer were on sale for almost $300.00 off on each appliance. They were delivered today.

    Since Murphy seems to think things come in threes, I am waiting for the next big event that will be costly.

  43. Ray Thompson says:

    He cannot get into another apartment because they apparently black listed him.

    That is significant. Something happened that your brother is not telling you about.

    Don’t let them in your house, you will suffer, for a long time.

  44. Greg Norton says:

    They were Kenmore machines, purchased 16 years ago so I guess I should not complain. I did have to do one repair about 10 years ago when the fill valve for the hot water quit working. A fairly easy repair and an expensive part

    I could not get a replacement fill valve assembly for our Kenmore Elite washer when the component failed after 20 years of service.

  45. Greg Norton says:

    Hughesnet was only a stop gap measure in any case.   I’m surprised it lasted this long.

    The system was designed for a different era but was highly reliable.

  46. paul says:

    I could not get a replacement fill valve assembly for our Kenmore Elite washer when the component failed after 20 years of service.

    eBay man.

  47. paul says:

    I watched Thor tonight.   Well, I liked it but parts made no sense.  The whole traveling from Asgard which looked like something on Vulcan but with water,  to Earth  looking like something from Stargate seemed odd. 

    Anyway.  A keeper. I have the 2nd movie.  Maybe it will fill in the gaps. 

  48. nick flandrey says:

    Or get the new part and swap the solenoid over to the old bracket.     I steal that part off the ones on the curb when I can because they work for air as well as water and I’ve built some special effects for theater and my halloween display with them.  

    The valves from sprinkler systems don’t actuate fast enough, or definitively enough.

    In fact, of all the junk I save for a future project, I’ve used those washer solenoid valves more often than any of the motors.

    n

  49. nick flandrey says:

    Maybe it will fill in the gaps.  

    – nah.   Those movies are just fast moving eye candy as far as I can tell.   Or maybe we’re just too old and slow.   All those that my kids have watched failed to make any sense to me.

    n

  50. Lynn says:

    He cannot get into another apartment because they apparently black listed him.  I was not aware that apartments are that full up that the apartment people can pick and choose who they want.  So they are moving into a Extended Stay motel.

    Keep them out of your parents’ house. You will never get them out.

    No freaking joke.  I just gave him some cash from Mom to pay the $400 weekly at the Extended Stay hotel.  I will do that forever rather than let him move into Mom’s house.  Of course, her house is 120 miles down the road and I doubt his 2005 Civic would make it that far.  It was painful listening to it start.  His 1998 Lincoln sedan is dead again.

    A flipper looked at Mom’s house last Friday.  He is talking with his bank today according to my realtor.  I am expecting a lowball $350K offer soon.

  51. Lynn says:

    He cannot get into another apartment because they apparently black listed him.

    That is significant. Something happened that your brother is not telling you about.

    Don’t let them in your house, you will suffer, for a long time.

    He is a dumpster diver.  He keeps crap on the front of his apartment that they were continually pissed off about.

    Houston has laws about rental properties rent cost.  I suspect that the owner wants to raise his rent from $1,300/month to $1,900/month.

  52. Greg Norton says:

    I watched Thor tonight.   Well, I liked it but parts made no sense.  The whole traveling from Asgard which looked like something on Vulcan but with water,  to Earth  looking like something from Stargate seemed odd. 

    The Vasquez Rocks.

  53. Greg Norton says:

    I could not get a replacement fill valve assembly for our Kenmore Elite washer when the component failed after 20 years of service.

    eBay man.

    I was over the washer at that point.

    The washer had two chronic problems which required a Saturday morning every 6-8 months to resolve, and, when we moved to the current house, the movers dropped our TV onto the middle of the control panel, creating a massive dent.

    To Whirlpool’s (manufacturer?) credit, the washer still worked.

  54. Alan says:

    “That’s where the CUDA moat from Nvidia gets broken because CUDA is no longer a factor in the inference side,” Choy said. “It’s an open source play.”

    https://www.businessinsider.com/nvidia-cuda-new-threats-ai-coding-agents-2026-8

  55. Greg Norton says:

    “That’s where the CUDA moat from Nvidia gets broken because CUDA is no longer a factor in the inference side,” Choy said. “It’s an open source play.”

    Nvidia’s “moat” also depends on the company having executed flawlessly to date and continuing to execute flawlessly.

  56. drwilliams says:

    Attitude Control Issues Leave Swift Rescue Mission Spinning in Orbit

    Early in his career Louie Anderson did a bit where he described the family burial of a parakeet. They flushed it down the toilet, and Louie described the last few minutes where it was literally circling the drain by spinning on stage with his arms up.

    I imagined the hapless rescue satellite doing the same dance.

  57. paul says:

    Tonight’s dog supper was interesting.  I buy the “ chunks of beef” or chicken stuff that sorta looks like tofu chunks  in the cans.  Tonight’s can was “chopped beef” because someone didn’t actually read the labels. 

    Interesting.  Smells great.  Looks like potted meat.  But missing the salt.  The dogs very much approved.

    Anyway.  I won’t be eating cat food come the Depression.   I tasted a little bit.  Good enough for my dogs so why not?  Needs salt and pepper.  Perhaps a bit gritty but not much.  Smells good, tastes pretty good.  Slop some mayo and mustard on some bread and this stuff will be really great.

  58. Greg Norton says:

    Anyway.  I won’t be eating cat food come the Depression.   I tasted a little bit.  Good enough for my dogs so why not?  Needs salt and pepper.  Perhaps a bit gritty but not much.  Smells good, tastes pretty good.  Slop some mayo and mustard on some bread and this stuff will be really great.

    During the runup to Y2k, I remember Dr. Pournelle recommending laying in a supply of Purina Monkey Chow if you were seriously concerned about the event.

    I swear I recall him dropping the Paul Hogan quote from “Crocodile Dundee”, “It tastes like sh*t, but you can live off of it.”

  59. drwilliams says:

    I’ve been wearing New Balance athletic shoes for many years, and ordering from their outlet. They are having a 2 for $100 sale and have some pretty good styles that are not yet sold out of the good sizes (like mine).

    https://www.joesnewbalanceoutlet.com/men/deals/2-for-100

    Not sure why the link didn’t show up with the affiliate suffix for the site?

  60. EdH says:

    Have you not seen the Big Bang Theory

    – nope, although I’ve seen enough clips on youtube shorts to know it  is probably exactly what I don’t want to see.   Kinda like Seinfeld.

    No, I would disagree, no-one on Seinfeld was in the least redeemable, everyone was nihilistic and selfish to the core, users of everyone, even their ‘friends’.

    I never purposely watched it, and although I laughed when I watched it at someone else’s house I always felt a little bit dirty.

    The BBT cast were portrayed as people that had their very human issues (vanity & insecurity, mainly) but were, at heart, decent.  

  61. EdH says:

    Saw a meme:

    Young Kid:  I would never use an FN 5.7 pistol to engage an active shooter. 
    Achilles:   And that is why no one will remember your name.

  62. Greg Norton says:

    The BBT cast were portrayed as people that had their very human issues (vanity & insecurity, mainly) but were, at heart, decent.  

    The core regulars of “The Big Bang Theory” were terrible people too if you paid attention.

  63. drwilliams says:

    Anthony Fauci’s Fifth Amendment Strategy May Not End the Investigation

    Lying to Congress under an order to testify puts Fauci’s cheese in the wind in a major way.

    Finally there’s one other lever that could drag Fauci into another disastrous hearing, this time with no protections at all from the Fifth Amendment. The Senate could vote to grant Fauci formal use immunity for any actions he took as part of his job performance at NIAID and then subpoena him to come back to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs for a full tell-all session that gets watched awfully closely for any departure from full, maniacal candor and veracity.

    https://spectator.org/anthony-faucis-fifth-amendment-strategy-may-not-end-the-investigation/

    An interesting turn of phrase.

    I wondered if someone would get around to granting the little goblin immunity. If they do so, they should do a deep dive on his phone call records, text messages, and internet use before he testifies, and supply him with copies of all those records and more to facilitate his accurate recall and prevent any “I do not recall”.

    I think the real benefit at this point is having him out every accomplice along the way, so that the committee can call them in turn, ruin them, and put targets on their backs. There’s a manageable list of smug little totalitarians that would benefit by having their social and professional lives followed on a dedicated fan’s webpage, and then see how many people want to stand close to them.

    I’m not concerned about sending Fauci to jail. Beggar him, yes, but jail is a waste of resources and would make it harder for someone to act on a decision that it’s time to send him to divine judgement.

  64. lpdbw says:

    Not sure why the link didn’t show up with the affiliate suffix for the site?

    Is this site an affiliate for the New Balance outlet?  I thought the affiliate tool only worked for amazon.

  65. lpdbw says:

    Seinfeld was a recurring topic of discussion at work, and a source for a lot of memes.  I watched occasionally, but heard most of the stories.   I’m sure even if you haven’t watched it, you know a bunch of them:  Festivus, They’re real and they’re fabulous, No soup for you, Sponge-worthy, Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

    I made it a point to watch the final episode, and it was perfect.

    A whole crew of people suffered bad consequences for their life choices, and they were so vapid, reprehensible, and valueless that you didn’t care.  You didn’t even care if it was just or not.  Because these were people you don’t care about.

  66. drwilliams says:

    Amazing New Ocean Tech Solves Water Scarcity and Fuel Needs

    Traditional desalination has involved reverse osmosis, in which salty water is pressed against a membrane hard enough that freshwater squeezes through and the salt stays behind. On land, this requires a bank of high-pressure pumps — and running those pumps runs up the cost of delivery.

    To get around that problem, a Bay Area company called OceanWell has already pilot-tested a scheme that involves putting the membrane filters into a sealed pod and placing it 1,300 feet below the surface so that the weight of the water overhead eliminates the need for pumps, potentially cutting costs by up to 40%.

    By drawing water in slowly, OceanWell is minimizing damage to sea life. During the trial, cameras showed fish swimming around the screens and a diving bird hunting a school of fish right next to the equipment. The internal prefilters and automated backwash enabled live algae, diatoms, and copepods to avoid being swept into the pod.

    The demonstration was run in the Las Virgenes Reservoir at only 50 feet below the surface and reduced dissolved solids levels in the treated drinking water from 320 ppm to just 50 ppm. The three-month trial also yielded more than 150,000 gallons of water at just 7% downtime, all for scheduled maintenance. Now OceanWell is ready to test the pods in Santa Monica Bay this fall.

    https://redstate.com/wardclark/2026/08/03/amazing-new-ocean-tech-solves-water-scarcity-and-fuel-needs-n2205130

    https://www.cfact.org/2026/08/01/mining-the-oceans-for-fresh-water-and-uranium/

    Yes, another paywalled article by Ward Clark, but I posted the only relevant part. 

    The blockquote above comes from the second link, which is not paywalled. Neither does it have any additioal information. You’d think there would be a photo of a demo at a public facility, but not only is there no photo, there isn’t even a sketch of a vague description telling us how big these “pods” are. Be nice if they were on to something.

  67. drwilliams says:

    “I thought the affiliate tool only worked for amazon.”

    That’s it, of course. Too many open windows on the browser divides the attention span below minimus.

  68. Ken Mitchell says:

    @Ray;  Sears used to have a “scratch and dent” store that would sell ALMOST new appliances for a considerable discount. I bought two refrigerators there (10 years apart) rather than pay full price.

    But I would not purchase ANYTHING from Samsung. We had a Samsung washing machine that failed after about 3 years. 

  69. Lynn says:

    Amazing New Ocean Tech Solves Water Scarcity and Fuel Needs

    Traditional desalination has involved reverse osmosis, in which salty water is pressed against a membrane hard enough that freshwater squeezes through and the salt stays behind. On land, this requires a bank of high-pressure pumps — and running those pumps runs up the cost of delivery.

    To get around that problem, a Bay Area company called OceanWell has already pilot-tested a scheme that involves putting the membrane filters into a sealed pod and placing it 1,300 feet below the surface so that the weight of the water overhead eliminates the need for pumps, potentially cutting costs by up to 40%.

    By drawing water in slowly, OceanWell is minimizing damage to sea life. During the trial, cameras showed fish swimming around the screens and a diving bird hunting a school of fish right next to the equipment. The internal prefilters and automated backwash enabled live algae, diatoms, and copepods to avoid being swept into the pod.

    The demonstration was run in the Las Virgenes Reservoir at only 50 feet below the surface and reduced dissolved solids levels in the treated drinking water from 320 ppm to just 50 ppm. The three-month trial also yielded more than 150,000 gallons of water at just 7% downtime, all for scheduled maintenance. Now OceanWell is ready to test the pods in Santa Monica Bay this fall.

    https://redstate.com/wardclark/2026/08/03/amazing-new-ocean-tech-solves-water-scarcity-and-fuel-needs-n2205130

    Ah, a perpetual motion machine.  

    So how is the water being pumped to the surface?

  70. nick flandrey says:

    The samsung ecosystem for A/V and personal electronics is pretty well done and pretty well integrated.   Appliances, nah, not for my money.

    In Houston the Sears scratch and dent got taken over by American Freightways, iirc.  It’s still there and full of good bargains last time I looked.  I’ve bought a lot of stuff from them.  Two or three fridges, washing machines, dishwashers…  You have to be lucky and persistent and not in a big hurry though.  That said, I found several of the appliances on my first trip.

    ———-

    Had to play A/C guy again at the rent house.    “It’s over 90F inside and not getting cooler.”

    Turned out the main blower fan wasn’t starting.  I could hear the buzz.   Motor spun freely so it’s the starter cap.  Didn’t have one in the stacks in the right size (without checking the secondary location where I have dozens of motor starter caps) but the HD down the street had 24 in stock.   A quick run, and it was blowing again. 

    The attic fan had the attic at 104F, pretty much every surface I checked.  That’s a HUGE improvement from the 140F before I replaced the fan.    It barely felt hot up there.

    Hopefully now the damnable thing will run for the rest of the season.  It’s teetering though.

    Guess that’s another thing I don’t do around here.

    ——–

    Had my tiny little fire on the way back, since it’s still too warm to sit out.

    I think I’ll have some chocolate cookies for dessert.  I earned them.

    n

  71. nick flandrey says:

    So how is the water being pumped to the surface? 

    – and how is there enough pressure differential in a pod to make the thing work?  Everything at that depth will be under the same pressure, no?

    n

  72. Lynn says:

    So how is the water being pumped to the surface? 

    – and how is there enough pressure differential in a pod to make the thing work?  Everything at that depth will be under the same pressure, no?

    n

    There will be huge pressure drop across the membranes.  But in order to get the water across the membranes, there needs to be a pump on the discharge side that will pump the water back up to 1,300 feet to the surface.  The concentrated dirty water can be just pumped to the outside water.  So, two pumps are needed.

  73. nick flandrey says:

    I didn’t realize there was pressure involved, I thought it was a chemical/physical process called osmosis.  That is the name of it?

    ——–

    Oh well, sounds great if they can make it work in volume.   It’ll short circuit all the dire  predictions of a water war on the horizon.

    ———

    Time for me to shower and sleep.   Past time really.

    n

  74. Lynn says:

    I didn’t realize there was pressure involved, I thought it was a chemical/physical process called osmosis.  That is the name of it?

    It is Reverse Osmosis using forced pressure drop through membranes.

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

  75. Lynn says:

    Oh well, sounds great if they can make it work in volume.   It’ll short circuit all the dire  predictions of a water war on the horizon.

    The first power plant that I worked at from 1982 to 1985 pushed 150 gpm of 2,300 TDS (total dissolved solids in ppm) water with naturally occurring gypsum (sheetrock) in it through an RO at 400 psig.  It produced 100 gpm of 100 TDS water and 50 gpm of really nasty waster that we threw back in the lake.

    We used the 100 gpm 100 TDS water to make ultra purified boiler water by running it through cation / anion beds.  Cost was about $10 per gallon.

    We replaced it with a 400 gpm 200 psig RO right before I left the plant.  The membranes in the old RO were about 6 or 7 years old and had tears and rips in them so the gypsum was bleeding through.

  76. Lynn says:

    Oh well, sounds great if they can make it work in volume.   It’ll short circuit all the dire  predictions of a water war on the horizon.

    There are RO desalination plants all over the world.   Probably 100 million gallons a day (SWAG) is made in the Middle East right now.  It could be 1 billion gpd, I do not know.  There are several plants in California, all over the place, making a million gpd ???.  Corpus Christi is arguing about putting in a Billion dollar plant right now but the dumbocrats don’t want to do it because the salt gets thrown back in the ocean and supposedly the fish do not like locally saltier water.

       https://www.texastribune.org/2026/06/03/texas-corpus-christi-water-plant-desalination-decision/

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