At least Fall has finally arrived. It’s still hot but the humidity is lower and so is the max temperature. It was pleasant all day yesterday and the sun wasn’t set on ‘brain broil’. It was 77F by the time I finished my evening quiet time.
I spent part of the morning doing office stuff, then I spent some time poking at the golf cart. I cut away some of the melted plastic body, took a cover off, and triaged the damaged bits. The solenoid and motor controller look ok. The motor controller got VERY hot though, so I’m going to replace it anyway. I’ll test the solenoid before making a decision about it. The Forward/Reverse switch seems to have been the start of the fire and suffered the most heat damage. Luckily the wiring harness will just need some ends spliced on, and not complete replacement. The fat DC cables to the motor look fine. I’ll order the parts later today. After looking at video of a golf cart burning down a home after being subjected to flood water, I don’t think swapping for a liIon battery system is a good idea anymore.
Speaking of today, I’ll spend a few hours this morning at the middle school with the district’s staff guy, poking at stuff. If we can confirm the PSU is toast, that should move the district’s replacement policy along, and I can move on to working on the theater program’s show without worrying about it.
After that, I’ll do a pickup and head home to poke at the cart. And continue working on my client’s issues, and probably go grocery shopping. And I’m sure there will be at least one more ‘and’ before I’m done…
Keep working. Keep stacking. Keep improving.
nick
Thursday already? Where is this week going? Good morning!
Lots on at work today, and I need to make some time to deal with domestic admin too, such as paying bills… Grump.
I had a nice evening out yesterday with a colleague and friend who had been away from work for ten years in order to take care of a child with special needs. I admire him and his wife for their dedication. I think many other parents would have had the child institutionalised. Certainly puts one’s own very minor challenges in perspective.
Nice that one can see a friend after ten years and still enjoy companionable silence soon after exchanging the key news items of the past decade. Of course, W1 later peppered me with all kinds of questions that I “should have” asked. Wimminfolk.
Eep. The good news is, if you heard the shot, they missed you!
Speaking of which, doctors in Bavaria are running a state-wide exercise today: a major catastrophy, including gunshot wounds and working together with the military. The Germans are low-key preparing for an invasion.
I don’t understand why Nick got a golf cart. As I understand it, Nick doesn’t drink. As I understand it, based on any number of video clips, you have to be three sheets to the wind to drive a golf cart. Something’s not adding up.
Hmm. Maybe it’s for the kids. D1 being hung over all the time would explain why she’s “sick” so often.
This smells like a political stunt.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/hail-satan-invocation-ottumwa-city-212546948.html
Satan worship built Hollywood.
Glorifying and normalizing debauchery certainly contributed to hollywood success. Not as convinced there was organized satan worship, as P. Diddler and his parties showed the world, once you were inside that world, they had you.
——–
The Germans are low-key preparing for an invasion.
– another step in the march to war – nations prepare for war.
———
73F. Coffee is brewing and breakfast is heating up.
Snack is packed.
Kinder are poked but not in evidence yet.
n
I almost went looking for news this week of our old friend ebola. Seems my instinct was correct.
https://www.zerohedge.com/medical/ebola-patient-dies-disease-spreads-kenya
https://allafrica.com/stories/202610080007.html
It had been out of the news for too long.
n
Preparing for war.
https://allafrica.com/view/group/main/main/id/00097919.html
n
I was gonna argue that this woman wasn’t “elderly” at 67 but then I saw the picture.
https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-16190297/Elderly-Indiana-lady-drink-donuts-courthouse-lawn.html
Ok, fair enough.
n
It’s about time BillyG and his ilk use experimental mRNA, etc, drugs on other than the US population. BillyG is not a genius and will not get immortalized when he croaks.
I’m back in Vegas and managed to get a bug the last day in SA. Runny nose, raspy throat, and hack with phlegm. It is probably COVID and will subside in a couple of days. I can breathe through my nose at night so little nasal congestion.
The mover’s driver called last night that he would be in Vegas on Saturday. They’ll have to get a smaller truck to shuttle stuff into the house. Their 50+ foot trailer can’t make the turn through the gate. The storage unit, where most of our precious junk is going, is no problemo.
MrsAtoz will drive with her SIL and nephew to Vegas on Sunday. The Bug is loaded with my Mac server and NAS stuff.
People age at different rates, and it’s “funny” (peculiar). Yesterday at lunch, we mostly old fogies were talking about going back to work after retirement, and we were mostly against it. This was in the context of my 78-year old friend still working full-time (he owns the company).
In any event, one of the younger participants looked at me after I made my comment about not wanting to get another job, and said I was young enough to go back if I wanted. He guessed, out loud, that I was about 55.
Now, I’m sure there’s a bit of “always take off 10 years when guessing ages” about that, but I told him I’m 72.
Cigarette smoking, excess drinking, and drugs can have a huge effect, and those are not my vices. Looking at her picture and reading the story, I’d guess she’s got at least two of those factors.
My dad retired at 55 and just turned 80 this year. Almost immediately after retiring, he started supporting his church’s IT equipment. Not a fulltime job most days, but it got him out of the house more often than not. He is still doing it and plans to continue until he can’t anymore.
Keeping active is the key. I just got back from a quick visit with him and he had just finished washing the siding on his house and was getting ready to clean the deck. I do see he has slowed down a lot, but he is healthy (for 80) and in way better shape because he doesn’t just sit all day.
. . . miles of bad road n.
Rode hard, put up wet.
I just got the email notifying me of this. Now I am wondering whether this counts as taxable income or not. My first pass at looking into this leads me to think that it becomes taxable income if I elect to include my Medicare premiums as itemized deductions on my 2026 tax return – which leads me to think that this will become a “gotcha!” trigger for tax audits.
Research into this continues….
The Africans have a resistance to the doctors there already, apparently believing that they are out to kill them rather than save them.
Reduce your deduction for Medicare premiums by $90.00. I highly doubt the IRS would audit about $90.00 even if you don’t reduce the amount.
So are you saying they are incorrect?
Canadian doctors are killing more patients, intentionally, than people die of gunshot wounds in the US. Not per capita, actual numbers. American Standard-of-Care for Covid killed (at least) tens of thousands with ventilators and Remdisivir, not to mention denying them Ivermectin, Hydroxycholorquine, and antibiotics. And that’s if you believe the vax was harmless.
Why should Africans believe doctors there would do any better?
Personally, I trust AI more than doctors, and I don’t trust AI to tell me the current weather.
No, but horses for courses.
Unlike the flu, if I was bleeding from my eyes, nose, mouth, and anus: I’d risk the MRNA side effects.
Didn’t get a lot done yesterday: using a hammer and mason’s chisel on Tuesday did a number on my hands.
Today I am weeding, the neighbor’s bin is available for the tumbleweeds, but gets emptied on Friday mornings, so it has to be done today.
Tomorrow morning there is a dental appointment.
Tough to get improvements done.
Bah.
African elites are another demographic overrepresented at the Austin VA, particularly among the nursing ranks.
If what my wife has witnessed first hand from that group is any indication, Africans should be afraid of dying.
@Lynn
”The warehouse is 3,750 ft2 with a huge overhang on one side. Three 18 ft wide, 16 ft tall doors. The guy that I bought this place from used the warehouse to rebuild his three Caterpillar D9 bulldozers on lowboys after building a subdivision or a golf course. There is an 800 ft2 two story office with a kitchen and shower.”
What’s the nut?
$2,700 per month. Water and septic included. Electricity is not included, the warehouse is on its own meter. Plus there is a fenced side yard of about a half acre.
Nope, that is the rent. The nut is what it costs me. Duh.
Probably about $1,300 per month. Law mowing, property insurance, property taxes.
That does not include the sunk costs.
And that does not include fixing broken stuff like pipes and air conditioning. And 72 bulb LED light fixtures, of which one just died on me that is 25 feet off the ground so I have to rent a man lift to replace it. They are out of production but I have three spares.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077ZK6Q26?tag=ttgnet-20
And the warehouse tenant paid his October rent last night. I am amazed and grateful.
Home and eating lunch.
Swapped out the dead gear. Opened it up out of curiosity, and there were visibly swollen caps on the PSU board. Not real bad, but apparently enough that the 5v rail doesn’t power the network card.
Did some more maintenance and mods to the system and came home.
After lunch I’ll do my pickup. Maybe a dump run too.
n
This story stinks like fake hate.
https://www.dailymail.com/news/us-politics/article-16191393/Married-Democrat-says-horrifically-raped-man-political-slur-fixing-campaign-fences-late-night.html
yeah, sure he did.
n
https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-16186995/cornell-7-rape-investigation-timeline.html
Yeah, again, something ain’t right.
n
Juicy Smolay was not available for comment.
Dilbert: Beware Of AI
https://www.reddit.com/r/dilbert/comments/1wnlfix/beware_of_ai_as_dilbert_shows/
Yeah, those AI boxen will betray us as soon as they can.
On 10/7/2026 4:23 PM, Lynn McGuire wrote:
> “The Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier: Dreadnaught #1” by Jack Campbell
>
> https://www.amazon.com/Lost-Fleet-Beyond-Frontier-Dreadnaught/dp/1937007499?tag=ttgnet-20
>
> Book number one of a five book military science fiction series. Plus an
> awesome prequel series of six books and several sequels consisting of
> fourteen books total. I read the well printed and well bound MMPB
> published by Ace Books in 2011 that I bought new on Amazon. I have
> purchased the rest of the four books in this book series and plan to
> read them soon.
>
> I did not know John G. Hemry was the real name for Jack Campbell as I
> purchased the Stark series quite a while back and enjoyed it also. BTW,
> the author says on his website that the MMPB books will not be reprinted
> in MMPB or republished in trade paperback so buy your copies soon before
> they run out.
>
> Captain John “Black Jack” Geary was found by the Alliance fleet on their
> way to Syndicate space, in stasis in an old emergency pod. A hundred
> year old emergency pod. Captain John “Black Jack” Geary may be a
> hundred years out of date but some things like tactics of war spaceship
> fleets never go away. The Alliance Fleet Admiral left Captain John
> “Black Jack” Geary in charge of the Alliance fleet before he and his
> staff were murdered by the Syndics in their surrender negotiations.
> Black Jack subsequently defeated the Syndicate CEOs and returned to
> Alliance space with much of the fleet.
>
> The Alliance council promotes him to Fleet Admiral from Captain,
> resupplies and fixes his fleet. Now they send him and his newly rebuilt
> fleet back through Syndicate space to investigate the mystery of the
> space aliens, the Enigmas, on the other side of the Syndicate territory.
>
> The author has a website at:
> https://jack-campbell.com/
>
> My rating: 5 out of 5 stars
> Amazon rating: 4.4 out of 5 stars (3,047 reviews)
>
> Lynn
I have arisen the SF/F snobs.
https://www.reddit.com/r/printSF/comments/1x08ur8/the_lost_fleet_beyond_the_frontier_dreadnaught_1/
I had no idea that there were snobs in the SF/F readership.
“3 reasons why Starbucks buying Chipotle would make zero sense”
https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/article/3-reasons-why-starbucks-buying-chipotle-would-make-zero-sense-173756540.html
Yeah, that dog don’t hunt.
“EPA Wants to Scrap Biden-Era Regulations That Pose “Monumental Threat” to American Methane”
https://thelibertydaily.com/epa-wants-scrap-biden-era-regulations-that-pose/
“(The Daily Caller)—The Trump administration is preparing to scrap another Biden-era climate regulation, taking aim at a methane leak program that federal officials argue has burdened American oil and gas producers with billions in costs.”
“Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin announced Wednesday that the agency will soon propose eliminating the Biden administration’s “super-emitter” program, which requires oil and gas operators to investigate reports of major methane leaks detected by third parties. The announcement came during an oil and gas industry meeting in Santa Fe, New Mexico.”
“Former President Joe Biden’s EPA finalized sweeping methane regulations in 2023, later establishing the super-emitter program as part of its 2024 oil and natural gas rules. The administration projected that the broader regulations would prevent approximately 58 million tons of methane emissions between 2024 and 2038.”
Yup, another federal program that costs billions of dollars and just generated a lot of paperwork.
Chipotle is 93% owned by the usual institutional investment firms, and the C suites are probably looking for an exit.
“4-hour storage cheaper than gas peakers across global markets: WoodMac”
https://www.utilitydive.com/news/4-hour-storage-cheaper-than-gas-peakers-across-global-markets-woodmac/832489/
“In North America, data centers are boosting the long-term investment case for energy storage and renewables as gas turbine backlogs and rising fuel volatility drive up peaking costs, a report says.”
“Gas turbine prices are projected to rise to $600/kW by the end of 2027, a 195% increase since 2019, Wood Mackenzie said in April. The three major gas turbine manufacturers — GE Vernova, Siemens Energy and Mitsubishi — each have backlogs ranging from 35 GW to 116 GW as they plan capacity expansions.”
“While Wood Mackenzie did not publish exact prices, a spokesperson told Utility Dive in an email that in the United States for a 2026 commercial operation date, 4-hour battery storage is 65% to 75% cheaper than new open-cycle gas turbine peakers, depending on whether state-level carbon pricing applies.”
What happens when the batteries start dying in ten years? Is the disposal and rebuild cost of the battery cabinets factored in?
Doh! I forgot that the Starbucks CEO used to serve the interests of the C suites of the institutions as CEO of Chipotle.
Some sheeple still invest in Starbucks. Shearing time.
Line up sheeple!
Knocked off weeding just after noon. It was 95F then and I cleared about 2500sf of tumbleweeds & miscellaneous yard enemies . Neighbor’s bin was nearly full, and he asked me to leave a little room for him.
Place doesn’t have quite the abandoned look now. Still another 5000sf to go.
That’s for next week, for now I cooled down, ate, had a shower.
It is 99F in the shade right now.
Fixed for her.
New TVs are getting more annoying. The spare TV had a black shadow across the top. It is an older TV, probably 25 years, so I figured one of the backlight tubes was out. Off to Costco to buy a new TV. Samsung, second smallest that Costco offered. Getting anything decent below 43″ is difficult. The 32″ model was a Hisense which I consider crap. We got the 43″ Samsung for $200.
The setup is multi-step wanting to connect to WiFi, set up a Samsung account, and other nefarious options. All of which I declined. When starting the TV the dark bar was still across the top. Bummer. Replaced the HDMI cable. No luck. So off to Xfinity to replace the cable box. Problem solved.
When powering on the TV there is all kinds of junk about streaming apps (Netflix, YouTube) etc., with a small window for the Xfinity connection. The screen stays that way for about 5 seconds before switching full screen to the Xfinity connection. Annoying promotion of other products. Such company having paid Samsung to display their shirt(-r) on every screen when the TV powers on.
I suspect this the new normal. Advertisers destroyed radio (with help from streaming), destroyed print (with help from internet), destroying broadcast TV (with help from streaming), destroying streaming (with help from pointy-haired-ceos) anything in which the advertisers get involved eventually evolves into crap.
I get it that someone has to pay for the product. I remember when a 30-minute TV program was 27 minutes. Now the showing is only 20 minutes of material and the rest is advertising. I can record a two-hour program, watch it later, and get the entire program watched in 90 minutes by skipping the commercials. Old TV shows being rebroadcast have much stuff cut to fit into the time slot.
Yeh, commercials which state “Be one of the first 200 callers and get upgraded to the deluxe version at no additional cost.” That same commercial has been running for three years. If the producers have not received 200 calls by now, their promotion is worthless.
Plexaderm is nothing more than Preparation-H, repackaged into a smaller package, and tripling the price. “It is so quiet none of my co-workers know I am using it.” Yeh, they know because you’re an idiot.
Meanwhile, Christa Pike, the recipient of a botched execution at the hands of an incompetent executioner, continues to survive.
My gut feeling is that her lawyers coached her on how to make her veins difficult to get an IV. No fluid for a couple of days, no food, all coached by her lawyers. Her lawyer’s best interest is to keep her alive so they can continue to bill the state for her representation.
Now the state is paying tens-of-thousands of dollars a day to keep a condemned person alive. Simply disconnecting all the machines, would have solved a lot of problems. So would have about 24 rifles, pointed at her heart, with half of the rifles staffed by family members of her victims.
Now I believe, with much certainty, the lawyers will now file a massive lawsuit against the state, the executioner, the governor, even the janitor, for hundreds-of-millions of dollars. Of course, her lawyer will get 40% of any settlement, maybe more as Christa will remain in prison. The lawyers will appoint themselves fiduciaries of the remaining money, and will pay themselves a healthy salary until the money is gone. I believe the lawyers are using Christa Pike as a pawn to line their pockets.
How about we first scrap the entire EPA? All of it.
Did I miss a /sarc tag? or are you unaware of the Hugo Awards, which are awarded based on elitism, snobbery, racism (anti-white), sexism (anti-male), and last and least of all, actual readability?
The Hugo award has been a personal “Don’t read this cr*p” signifier for me for decades now.
States need to go back to death by firing squad. It’s the only way to be sure. I’ve held my dogs in my arms while the vet put them down. How hard can lethal injection be?
Nice weather here. Sure, the outside temp says 88. But 34% humidity. The temp was 56f this morning.
Inside says78 and 47%.
I run the central air at 80 for cooling. I turned it off a week or so ago. Open some windows in the morning, close the house at bedtime. Wake up cold around 4pm…. normal for me.
Great crystal clear skies. A bit of high cirrus. Not much breeze, just a it of wind chime tinkling.
I seem to have missed the whole Saharan Desert Dust Cloud this year.
This is great weather.
Not at all. But killing Fido or Kitty, fluffy fur coated creatures, seems to be a big difference than killing a serial rapist and murderer.
So yeah. People want to “be kind” so the murderer doesn’t hurt. Pussies.
Me? Hang them. Not enough to snap necks…. enough to let them strangle to death…. so it hurts them like it did the folks they killed.
Also. The entire 30 years of appeals for a death sentence is bullshit. Dude was caught covered with the victim’s blood and what is there to appeal?
BOOM! Administration Shutting Down Foreign Worker Flow to Companies That Abuse Programs
https://hotair.com/david-strom/2026/10/08/boom-administration-shutting-down-foreign-worker-flow-to-companies-that-abuse-programs-n3819755
“It turns out that this tactic fulfills the letter of the law, but subverts its purpose.”
Haul the HR managers in front of Congress, put them under oath, and ask them how they came to use this tactic. Absent divine revelation, I would submit that companies discussed their tactics amongst each other, that they did so with the intent of breaking the law, that such discussion rises to the level to be prosecuted under RICO, and significant jail time and bars of ever working in the industry be sought as penalties.
I bought a new solar panel for the gate. Have not installed it because the gate seems to be working just fine.
Yesterday, maybe day before, it blurs together, I heard what sounded like Jim pulling his trailer to the neighbor’s house. A couple of times.
Oh. Hey. The last time the gate screwed up was when I heard Jim’s trailer.
Ok. So like Lynn and other folks say, 20 years is end of life for solar panels.
All I can figure is whatever remote Jim is using to open the neighbor’s gate is wacky and is constantly telling my gate to cycle. We have the same code.
Today the gate has lost the closing limit. That’s weird. The battery went that dead I guess.
Tomorrow I install the new solar panel. And after the battery charges I change the code on the remote fobs while setting the “closed gate” setting.
If this doesn’t work, new gate controller.
Yeah. I don’t want a new boy or girl friend here. Might be great but I don’t want to deal with the entire training thing like we did to each other 44 years ago.
I’m doing fine, I think, with just me and the dogs.
All that said, I’ve got a sore spot under a shoulder blade and it needs more than rubbing on a porch post. And when I hit the sore spot it goes all the way down to my right hip.
So maybe I need to change my attitude.
I’m so old that I remember when a few law firms started taking 30% and there was outcry among the hoi polloi about the greedy legal profession.
They haven’t always been completely worthless. Acid rain was a real thing in the Northeast and the federal EPA was a large part of cutting down on emissions from midwest industrial smoke stacks.
That said, there were probably other approaches which would have worked, including but not limited to the NY National Guard driving to Ohio and shooting up a number of coal burning plants. Also, the EPA doing something worthwhile 50 years ago doesn’t mean they haven’t been worthless for the past 45.
See if one of the ranchers in the neighborhood has one of those cow-scratching things that’s like the rotating brushes in a car wash. For that matter, just go to a car wash, pay your $10, and take your shirt off.
If it’s a persistent itch, you might want to get a doc to check whether it’s something that will turn into more than a pain in the back. You could at least take a few pictures to see if it looks funny.
@paul, cheaper to head into town and pay to get the massage…
not necessarily with a happy ending. The whole foods here used to have a guy doing chair massages for 15 minute sessions. The mall had guys too. I would like to find one of them myself right now.
n
“So maybe I need to change my attitude. ”
Or find a little Japanese girl to walk on your back.
Fort Hood attacker’s execution by firing squad will be livestreamed, Pentagon says
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cmy0r96xygx6o
Stereo sound, 4k, no hood, and superglue the perps eyelids open.
Read the boo-hooing horsehocky in the article. Baloney. Graphic content? revisit a couple seasons of CSI and get back to me.
Bang Bang!
“James Talarico missing from Texas campaign trail due to flu, team says”
https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/elections/james-talarico-missing-texas-campaign-trail-due-flu-team-says
“Talarico, who has made virtual remarks recently, was last seen in Texas on Sept. 26, but he made an appearance in New York on Sept. 29.”
Yeah, Talafreako has not been seen in 12 days according to Michael Berry, radio show host.
I am guessing that six gender Jimmy is working on his drag queen skit after a short stay in an remote Austin psychiatric unit.
Hat tip to:
https://thelibertydaily.com/
“President Trump announces former MLB player Roger Clemens will receive Presidential Medal of Freedom”
https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/all-things-trump/president-trump-announces-former-mlb-player-roger-clemens-will
“Clemens, who played in the sport for over 20 years for teams that include the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox, introduced Trump at the San Antonio rally.”
Interesting.
I still remember and applaud Trump for giving Rush Limbaugh the Presidential Medal of Freedom at the State of the Union address to Congress, right before Rush passed away.
Katy Mills mall, which is surprisingly active throughout the week and moreso on the weekends, has a massage business in a storefront, and a chair massage center in the corridor/throughway in front of the store.
During the recent hot spell, which we call June through September, I quit walking in my neighborhood daily, and switched to 1-3 times per week at the mall. It’s a mile-long loop, they say, so I did it twice each time.
Just this week I started my daily 2 mile walks in the neighborhood again. I got weak and flabby with the layoff, and I have to build up my endurance again. And I’m pretty sure the Mall is less than a mile, despite what they say.
Time for bed.
I was tired all afternoon. Drooping in the car is no bueno, even at 35mph.
Kids don’t have school tomorrow so I’ll be sleeping in too!
n
Just this week I started my daily 2 mile walks in the neighborhood again. I got weak and flabby with the layoff, and I have to build up my endurance again. And I’m pretty sure the Mall is less than a mile, despite what they say.
Just drive your truck in the mall to check mileage using your odometer. Should be fairly accurate.
@paul, cheaper to head into town and pay to get the massage…
not necessarily with a happy ending. The whole foods here used to have a guy doing chair massages for 15 minute sessions. The mall had guys too. I would like to find one of them myself right now.
There is a chain called “Massage Envy” that has a really good reputation around here. I note that there is a place in Katy.
https://locations.massageenvy.com/texas/katy/9550-spring-green-blvd.html
There are six in Austin with one in Leander.
https://locations.massageenvy.com/texas/austin/14005-north-us-hwy-183.html
“Jimmy appears to be having a full-blown mental Tala-freak-out on the national stage. My campaign has a simple request: proof of life.”
https://x.com/KenPaxtonTX/status/2108250407277588546
“Approach with caution!”
Hat tip to:
https://www.newsweek.com/ken-paxton-trolls-talarico-missing-posters-12-day-flu-absence-12543967
“Have you seen this man?”
https://x.com/tedcruz/status/2108271987982278691
TGiFriday!
Good morning, slugabeds! The early worm flips the bird, or something.
I was up at 0 dark thirty to get W1 to the train station. She has a godchild who is studying in Bordeaux, and they are having a long girly weekend. I can hear the credit cards squealing already.
I compensated myself with still-warm baguette from the bakery on the way home. The breakfast of champions!
I noticed SecWar Hegseth is gunning for a public firing squad at Fort Hood for traitor Hasan. I also noticed that Army Regulation 190-55 of 2006 specifically requires lethal injection. I suppose the SecWar can change that…
A propos lethal injections, maybe TPTB need to hire a veterinarian (or a Canadian doctor) to not botch the job…