And it will be both hot and humid today. Supposed to be the end of Summer, but here in Texas, Summer hangs around for a bit longer. It wasn’t as hot yesterday, and it cooled off below 80F at night so we are headed in the right direction.
Worked on the ceiling in the living room all afternoon. Got the saggy ceiling reattached. Got a new piece of drywall in place where the fireplace used to be. W did some scraping of popcorn in the kitchen. I’ll do the living room once I have all the drywall firmly attached. So not this trip. I ran out of the washer that keep the screws from pulling through.
I did a few smaller things as I took breaks during the day. Treated the oil stains on the cheap leather chair I bought. We’ll see today if it had any effect on the stains. I also moved stuff around and put stuff away.
Dinner was grilled steaks from 2024 and it was delicious. Choice from Costco is almost as good as Prime from anywhere else. It took longer than I expected for the beef shortage to show up in stores, but I’m glad I jumped the gun a bit and filled the freezers when I did.
Today will be more cleanup of construction debris, maybe some brick work, and definitely some more smaller tasks from the list. Always be working.
And stacking.
nick
Monday. Good morning!
Labo(u)r day holiday for the colonials, so I am, of course, labouring. Enjoy your time off!
Getting the heating serviced at base. My guy installed the unit fifteen years ago, and has been looking after it ever since. Trouble free, other than the one time we ran out of propane without noticing (doh!).
Have a good day!
A nice long light ‘soaker’ rain yesterday, though a warm 70s temperature. It tailed off after sunset, though I heard sprinkles throughout the night. It is still mostly cloudy but that should let up by noonish and we should be up to flirting with 100° by the end of the week.
The old female cat has forgiven me, like Heinlein’s Petronius Arbiter she considers the weather to be one of my (failed) responsibilities.
16:25 here already and no-one else has commented yet. [Correction: EdH did while I was typing…] Yous take your bank holidays seriously!
Hooray. My bare bones ASUS PB-63 mini-PC arrived from Big River. I was out at lunchtime running an errand, and it was waiting for me on the doorstep when I got home around 14:00.
Hooray too for Linux Mint. I am up and running, and typing this post on a usable system. Installation from bare metal and a USB install disk took maybe 40 minutes, and that included updating the BIOS of the machine and updating Mint, drivers etc. etc. The ASUS worked perfectly, booting without any reconfiguration or messing with the BIOS (other than updating it to the latest version before actually running the OS install).
I barely had to mess with Mint at all other than setting a PC name, username and the system restore preferences. I do still need to poke around a bit and see why I am not getting Linux on both monitors, like I get Windows from my work laptop through the shared KVM switch. I honestly can’t remember if the previous machine was set up for dual monitors, which is a function I rarely need on my own machine, but which is essential for work. Maybe I need to configure a second output or something.
Oddly, the machine is not feeling noticeably snappier than its deceased predecessor of 2015 vintage. I probably need to do some something processor intensive to test it a bit.
Tomorrow I will probably see about getting the HDD out of the predecessor and copying over any useful files. I have an identical machine sleeping in my desk drawer at work, I will probably be able to just swap over RAM and HDD to recover.
I have been doing some experiments with local LLMs on my laptop and desktop systems. Google’s Gemma 4 12b is designed for “edge” computing. If you have a recent video card and 32 Gb it fits well.
I’ve asked it a few questions in chatbot mode and it does well. I connected it to the VS Code development environment and asked it to create some Python scripts, an improved UI for a Python program I have for processing game turn pdfs for a play-by-email game I play. The scripts were correct and worked well.
Never mind.
LG smart TVs caught logging audio with screen off and snooping on local devices
https://www.notebookcheck.net/LG-smart-TVs-caught-logging-audio-with-screen-off-and-snooping-on-local-devices.1391214.0.html
Wiretapping straight up.
Prosecute and levy maximum fines based on each instance. Use RICO. Confiscate all U.S. assets. Pull passports of any foreign executives in the U.S., bring criminal charges against anyone who knew or had reason to know about the wiretapping, and put them in jail for a minimum of 20 years.
also gathered the names and signal strengths of neighboring Wi-Fi networks along with location data.
I don’t have an LG smart tv. If my neighbors do, and my network information is in LG’s database, I demand to be first in line to take my pound of flesh, which I will do two testicles at a time with a blunt buttonhook.
Better yet, with potentially hundreds of executives involved, I’m going to filet each one and take the center slice.
I’ve been working my butt off for hours. Stopped to check email and then hit a few web sites while I get a bite.
Every time I come up to the family house (ie, my house now) to take care of something, I find more that needs to be taken care of. Not just ongoing stuff like mowing the lawn but problems that need to be handled sooner or later. I can’t really fault my brother for not handling them because he was on chemo for a couple years and didn’t have much energy for much beyond getting to the next day. On the other hand, he could have asked me to come up and take care of a few things. On the other other hand, I’ve been awfully busy and tired for a couple years and he didn’t want to bother me more than could be avoided. On the other other other hand, he could have at least made a list of things that needed to be handled. On the other other other other hand, he thought he had more time. The last week or so was a very rapid drop from feeling OK to having trouble breathing to breathing stopped.
Every time I come up to the family… I find more that needs to be taken care of. Not just ongoing stuff … but problems that need to be handled sooner or later.
— you’ve got a list, and it just keeps getting longer… We should have matching jackets or something. Every property has its own list and every list grows, so the master list seems to grow raised to the power of how many properties you are responsible for.
It’s why you can always tell an unlived in house, and why they fall apart on their own.
———–
Muscle relaxer means I can move my head and neck, after screwing into and scraping ceiling all day yesterday, but it does make for a late start.
Currently 91F and sunny. Coffee is made. Carton hash browns are soaking, soon to be delicious. I think I’ll have an egg and bacon bits over mine.
n
Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.
Today mine was sloppy joes.
FIFY!
Poor SteveF. On the gripping hand, maybe you can prioritise within the to-do list a bit and give yourself some breathing room?
I hope you are all enjoying your “day of rest” (chortle). I have been busy like a one-armed wallpaper hanger today. September is getting into full swing after the summer holiday lull, and suddenly everybody wants something from me, typically yesterday if possible.
I am going to finish paid work for the day, and look into a couple of more interesting tasks. I have some new-to-me gubs to inventory, plus two more tuba mouthpieces and a leadpipe adapter turned up in the big vans of happiness. I want to try giving them (mouthpieces, not gubs) a toot in the tuba. I will blow a special raspberry for the brave folks of the customs service, who charged 50 bucks on a 100-buck item to not inspect, merely delay, my parcel.
The new PC seems to be holding up; still working to type this at least. Experience indicates that if complex electronics survive the first 24 hours of being powered up, they have a fighting chance at some semblance of longevity. Fingers crossed!
When I drove into town yesterday for shopping I noticed that gas was now $6.20 at the local market and diesel was something like $7.60 a gallon.
I know it’s a Labor Day holiday price spike but suddenly my little diesel truck heater doesn’t seem that economical…
—-
Lists of chores…
One of my household to-do lists is “things that require standing on a ladder and leaning backwards”. Ugghh.
The bearings have failed in the big overhead fan in the great room and it is unusable at present, I think the vent is clogged in the hall bathroom exhaust fan, and the master bath exhaust fan hasn’t worked in several years (I leave the window cracked anyway, for household ventilation, but still…).
I also have a ceiling fan to put in the smaller guest bedroom – but that would also require going into the attic first and checking for reinforcement at the existing light power outlet.
The old wired smoke alarm in the hallway goes off at the slightest pretext.
And the LED strip lights in the kitchen are flickering in probable failure soon.
—
None of this means the end of the world but it’s a little fatiguing to have to look forward to all these different chores.
The problem with retirement is you can’t take the holidays off.
Today’s exercise in entropy is emptying and organizing some wire frame shelves in the kitchen. I’m sorting by needfulness and utility, with the intention of eliminating the shelves and opening the walkthrough area so I’m not constantly dodging shelves and pot handles. The tally so far is about a quarter going into kitchen cupboards, half going to the trash/recycle and about half currently pending moving to the garage or other longer-term storage spot, warm and dry required.
The truck passed ops checks for the brake repair and radiator replacement. I’m still waiting for the brake cable to show up.
@EdH, there are replacement fan assemblies for bath and kitchen exhaust fans. Might be easier than swapping a whole fan.
WRT ceiling fans, I’ve had good luck even with ordinary boxes in the ceiling. As long as the fan is smaller, and balanced.
Taller ladder means less leaning back with hands over your head.
——
I filled up at HEB on the way out of town Sat, and gas was 3.19/gal.
Diesel still under $6 everywhere I’ve noticed a sign.
One of the truck drivers on one of my tours back in the day said she knows which states to get fuel in, and which ones to avoid (by filling up before hand). She also paid attention to weigh stations, and would sometimes delay fueling if her weight was too close. She also was very aware of taxes in different places. It takes effort to make money as a truck driver.
———
Sun is behind a cloud and has been for an hour. Still blue skies inthe distance.
n
Ed, would it work to set up two ladders with a board across them and lie on that? If it was good enough for Michaelangelo, it should be good enough for you.
I have a couple of platform things. Hanged if I know what they’re called. About 3’x4′ and two tiers are a little taller than I am. All four tiers would be 13-14′ but I’m not sure I’d trust the stability. Collapse for easy transport. A contractor left them, and some other stuff, behind when he skipped out on the job. He got a pretty good deal, as he conned my wife out of $5000 in advances on the progress payments and the total value of the stuff was less than that even if new and working properly.
@steveF, Baker scaffold? Jokingly called Baker scaf after the first guy it killed.
n
Yep, that looks about like it. Presumably a variety of styles can all be called Baker Scaffolds.
When I said that I have two two-stacks, I was not quite accurate. I brought them to my dad’s house several years ago to use on something or other and haven’t gotten them back. Retrieval may involve paramilitary forces, or else waiting until he dies and collecting them then.
Somewhat on that topic, in going through the house, I’m noticing a lot of things missing. Nothing suuuuuper valuable but a lot of things. Some of it is not a problem because my mom lived here too and a fair amount of stuff was hers. However, I got the house and the contents which weren’t specifically my mom’s or specifically given to someone else. eg, the race cars, the motorcycle, and a few other things. My brother’s computers are gone, the DVD player, a number of other things. My sister had asked if it was ok to take a number of items and I usually said yes. I guess she took that as blanket permission to take whatever she wanted so long as I wasn’t there to say no. Like I said, nothing super valuable but it’s annoying.
On the list after not fooling Mother nature?
Not annoying SteveF.
Eufy security camera report: Homebase model 5380 (or S380; the former is printed on the unit and the latter appears when I’m configuring the software) and four E42 wireless cameras.
The first nuisance, and very nearly a deal-killer for me, is that you need to install an app on a phone or tablet to do anything with the units. This requires setting up an account with Anker. The software seems to be very flaky, at least the Android version. I installed on one low-end tablet and got the homebase and the cameras set up. The setup was a repetitive PITA but as a one-time thing, tolerable. Except that as I was mounting the cameras and adjusting the pan and so on, the app crashed to the extent that I had to uninstall and reinstall it. All of my configuration was wiped and I had to start over. The app crashed in the same way before I’d gotten the second camera set up. I accepted this because the tablet was low end and maybe it was the problem. There were other problems, such as apparently spurious error boxes about not being able to connect to Bluetooth; I didn’t know whether they arose from the tablet or the app. The app was also constantly asking to be allowed to know my location.
So I started over on a much better Android tablet. Had to start from the beginning, of course. I got the same spurious Bluetooth errors. I say spurious because I wasn’t able to finish setting up the second camera because of alleged dropped connection but I was able to view the image through the app. I’m not able to adjust the pan or tilt. Gave up messing with it for today. I’ll put up the other two cameras when I’m less annoyed.
Note also that this is the third day I’ve messed with the camera system. The first day, I was unable to connect the cameras to the homebase because they hadn’t charged for 8 hours; plugging them into a USB-C power supply didn’t do any good. The second try, I got everything connected, as noted above, but weather rolled in before I put the cameras up. I’m not blaming Anker/Eufy for these problems but they do contribute to my annoyance with the whole thing.
There were other problems, such as apparently spurious error messages that the homebase was not able to format the hard drive I inserted. It seems that the storage is available but I won’t know for sure until the amount of recording exceeds the built-in storage.
It’s possible that the iOS software works better. The Child will be staying here between semesters. I’ll have her try it with her iPhone and see what
Overall, I’m not at all impressed by this product. The apparent flakiness of the Android app is the biggest problem but the requirement to set up an account with Anker and to have internet access is also a big problem. I’m keeping this system for because it’s better than nothing. I’ll be looking for something better, similar to the unit in the other house, where I currently live.
Not recommended.
I was just mentioning this to my bride; because we’re retired, much of the pleasure of taking a day off from work has disappeared. Same thing for “weekends”; EVERY day is a “week end”. There are only 3 days in the calendar; Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow. I don’t set an alarm clock; I don’t even wear a wristwatch. It’s quite liberating, but the secret thrill of “a day that I don’t have to go to work!” is gone now.
Hmm. Have you also lost precision in counting? Do you count “one, two, three, many”?
Replace it with some other seldom-exercised pleasure. Like, when working people have a holiday, you rustle some cattle.
“Global Shipping Carbon Tax Negotiations Stall thanks to President Trump”
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2026/09/06/global-shipping-carbon-taxes-negotiations-stall-thanks-to-president-trump/
“States again failed to agree on a deal following pressure from a small minority of fossil-fuel producing nations and division among progressive states.”
“Negotiations at the IMO have drawn a blank for the third meeting in a row, as US and Saudi-led efforts to scupper progress were successful. With delegates from vulnerable countries highlighting the tragic cost of this year’s climate disasters, action is far too slow, warns T&E.”
“While pragmatic negotiators, including the EU, signalled openness to compromise measures such as avoiding a centralised fund and weakening greenhouse gas targets, US and Saudi negotiators largely held their ground. T&E urged negotiators not to cave to the Trump administration’s crusade to sacrifice ambitious targets in favor of fossil gas and crop biofuels – a lose-lose deal for the climate and for future-proofing the industry.”
Just another win for Trump that I voted for.
Addendum to Eufy review: The picture clarity is good, 4k or configurable to lower res to save memory. I haven’t gotten a chance to check the night vision. They claim to have facial recognition (for not bothering to record known people coming and going) which of course requires contact with headquarters for their “AI” to work its wonders. Haven’t even tried to set that up because I don’t want anything going to headquarters that I can prevent, probably a futile effort. And anyway, I was having so much trouble with the app that I wasn’t even tempted.
Get one of those ceiling fan bars from a hardware store. They will fit in the old opening after removing the old electrical box. Spread the bars and the bars jam into the joists. The box on the bar can slide to match the hole. Easy to install and will support 70 pounds.
I had zero issues with any of the six cameras and the base station. Using IOS on the iPhone. The install was really easy.
My old Apple TV, really old, the thinner box, will not work on my single SSID network of 2.5G and 5G. I had to setup a guest network of 2.5G only to get it to work. It is time to replace my current Apple TV with a new one this year. A new one is being released (according to rumors) soon. I will relegate my current box to the guest apartment and toss the old one, or give it away.
It seems that my smart plugs will only allow two Matter connected devices for some reason. One plug reset and I got it reconnected to the Kasa app, then Alexa. I cannot get Apple Home to connect. I reset everything and Kasa and Apple Home will connect, but not Alexa. I reset everything again and Kasa and Alexa will connect but not Apple Home. Strange as it used to work with all three apps.
Lots of videos on the youtoobs on how to replace the fan motor of a bathroom exhaust fan. And how to install a ceiling fan in a place where there is just a light fixture using the crossbar thing mentioned by @Ray.
Fan motor replacement parts available at your local big box store or the Zon. Motor/fan assembly pops out easily.
Does the single SSID 2.5G/5G network have an option to add WPA-PSK[TKIP] to the authentication methods?
Your guest network configuration may allow that authentication by default to maximize compatiblity with older devices.
Not that I’d recommend WPA-PSK[TKIP] for long term use on your primary network, but that might allow you to use the older Apple device.
Another possibility is that your single SSID 2.5G/5G is WPA3-Personal without WPA2-PSK[AES] while the guest network is more relaxed.
I’d also look at how your 5 GHz channels are sized.
Apple tends to be a bit behind on WiFi. I don’t think any of the MacBook Pro models offer WiFi 7 or 6E in the 6 GHz band.
IIRC, the Neo supports WiFi 7 since it uses the iPhone CPU, but only 2.5/5 GHz.
Early Apple TV? I’d be surprised if that supported anything better than WiFi 5.
I had to install a 2.5G quest network and change the authentication to WPA/WPA2. That seemed to work. It is only temporary for our guests of three days to use the very old Apple TV.
I can run three guest networks on my Asus routers (mesh with three routers). I have on set up for the guests, another just for the Apple TV. Those networks will be shutdown when the guests leave.
Why on earth would you need to watch a video? Stand on a chair. Pull the grill off of the fan. Yeah, the wire springy things… squeeze them together and you can totally remove the grill. It’s like one screw to remove the fan assembly. A somewhat clever 10 year old boy can do this.
If you are not mechanical enough take a simple motor apart to clean and then oil the bearings, scribble down the model number. Go to Big River and buy a new fan assembly, Like, $25 max.
As for the ceiling fan mounting thing…. yeah. Tried one. Almost used it. I had to go into the attic so I could remove the existing electric box. Heck. I cut a chunk of 2×4 and nailed it in place and added a few screws to attach the existing electric box. Seems to have held. Might fall down next week after 30 years, but so far.
Same. Exactly. Only 15 years though, when I moved from that house. But you do need to have access to the attic. If you’re limited to working from below, the hardware store bar is the way to go.
It’s even easier than @Paul sez: take off the grill (like he sez). One screw to remove fan/motor assembly. Unplug the plastic power plug.
Take the fan/motor assembly to the big box store, get the replacement. Bonus: you get a new fan in case the fan bearings are failing. And the new motor fan might be quieter and move more air.
Pop the new assembly in the housing. Attach the screw. Plug in the power plug. Replace the grill. All done.
As for the ceiling fan support; also easy. Remove old light fixture (power off first!). Remove the fixture box. Now you have a hole in the ceiling. Get the fan support thingy (make sure it’s rated for the fan weight). Feed it up into the hole. Position it so the ends hit the cieling joists. Use a wrench to expand the ends so they bite into the joists. Position the electrical box (it’s position is adjustable along the shaft) and feed the electrical wiring thought the box. Continue with mounting the fan.
Videos are handy to see how it’s done. Most will demonstrate little hints to make the whole process easier.
Tonight’s movie was just odd. It must have come with the DVDs my Mom brought with her.
The Fifth Element. It’s a Bruce Willis movie. I don’t know. I think I figured out the plot. Yeah, I might watch it again.
The one fan support gizmo I tried I didn’t use. I didn’t like the idea of wedging this thing to make the spikes go into the ceiling joists. They were not really spikes, more like pencil tips. Not very sharp. And the whole “pushing the ceiling joists apart” didn’t seem right.
But that’s me. I have no problems with crawling around in the attic.
The Fifth Element. It’s a Bruce Willis movie.
– It’s an iconic film. You either get it or don’t. I don’t. Cult favorite for lots of folks.
——–
W went home with the kid and dog, I stayed to keep working. I was cutting branches and string trimming. Opened up the view from the new window a bit.
Got a quick soak in the lake to cool down, although the shallow water was warmer than bath water. Floating as the sunset lights up the sky is very nice.
I’ll eat some dinner then head down for a tiny little fire and reading for a while. I hope some breeze starts up. It was quiet and still at dusk.
n
The Fifth Element had a plot? It was a “spectacle and feeling” movie. Fun to watch but don’t look for depth or coherence.
16:25 here already and no-one else has commented yet. [Correction: EdH did while I was typing…] Yous take your bank holidays seriously!
I am a slacker on every day except Sunday now. Many days I read until 4am and get up at noon CDT.
Connecting the set to WiFi probably involved a disclaimer which allowed them to eavesdrop.
We stayed in Downtown San Antonio last night, and the street racing was out of control from about midnight until 4 AM, when I finally heard sirens and all of the commotion finally died down.
When we woke up this morning, looking out the window of the hotel, we noticed that someone had done “donuts” in the parking lot between the convention center and the new Fancy Lad Hilton Monarch hotel.
Lots of skid marks.
Not much of one. My wife loves it, and I can tolerate it. The segment when Bruce Willis “negotiates” with the monsters is worth the rest of the movie.
My little brother, also retired, tells people that he gets up “at the crack of noon.” I’m up a little earlier, to feed the feral cats who live in my back acre.
The new PC seems to be holding up; still working to type this at least. Experience indicates that if complex electronics survive the first 24 hours of being powered up, they have a fighting chance at some semblance of longevity. Fingers crossed!
I just want to know what fits on that 256 GB SSD drive in these days of bloated operating systems?
I remember that day I bought a 200 GB hard drive in 1998 ??? for a new office pc and wondered what I would do with all of that space.
I have a 1 TB M.2 drive on my main office PC with Windows 11 Pro and I am using 450 GB on it. I have about a half dozen sandboxes of various versions of our software taking from 18 GB to 23 GB each. And many compilers that I have yet to delete.
When I drove into town yesterday for shopping I noticed that gas was now $6.20 at the local market and diesel was something like $7.60 a gallon.
I know it’s a Labor Day holiday price spike but suddenly my little diesel truck heater doesn’t seem that economical…
Hold on, it going to get far worse. Russia may be importing diesel soon. I am hearing nasty rumors that several of the 38 refineries that got buzz bombed by the Ukranians will not be ready for well over a year and maybe two years. Getting that much high dollar materials is going to be difficult. 4140 steel two foot diameter pipes and pressure vessels may be difficult without sourcing from the USA or Japan. Germany gave that up years ago. Or, they may just use plain old carbon steel realizing that they will have to rebuild in eight to ten years. Crude oil is very salty and vaporized salt is nasty.
The Fifth Element had a plot? It was a “spectacle and feeling” movie. Fun to watch but don’t look for depth or coherence.
The Fifth Element had a great plot. It proved that taxi driving is going to still suck two hundred years from now. And that driving an interstellar spaceship will be just like driving a taxi.
I went over to the office complex when it was still 100 F today. I replaced all of the exterior A21 light bulbs with the GE 150 watt equivalent LED bulbs. I got it all done by sun down.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CMBJ872P?tag=ttgnet-20
I used my truck as my ladder rather than dragging a seven foot ladder around the buildings. Clambering up and down that four foot tall tailgate is getting tough on me. I would really like to have to the tailgate with the steps in it. Not only is my F-150 a 4×4, I have a four inch lift kit on it with offroad shocks that really puts that tailgate even higher.
I can remember as a kid sitting on the tailgate of trucks and scuffing my feet on the ground. You can’t do that on mine.
“Aziz! Light!”
I’m a fan. Also, it feels much like The Mummy (1999) to me.
“I’m stuck”
https://www.reddit.com/r/f150/comments/1w8ztyd/im_stuck/
Why you get 4×4 and a locking rear differential with your F-150.
The driver is close to becoming a u-boat commander.
The Fifth Element ? Ha! Now, discuss Brazil. 🙂
Had a nice tiny little fire. Radio was booming in tonight, with WRMI in Miami sounding like commercial AM.
Time for bed though.
n
Took W1 for sushi tonight. Early 5 pm and almost empty still. She told the waitress and cook it was ‘her’ 54th anniversary. I said it was too bad her husband didn’t come along. Good start. We were going to get a couple of drinks after but our usual watering hole wasn’t open. Went to the local premium ice cream joint and blew 25 on a root beer float and root beer freeze, Wild time for people in their 70s.