Tues. June 8, 2021 – busy week, of course.

By on June 8th, 2021 in decline and fall, dogs, personal, WuFlu

Supposed to be a bit more clear than previously, and about as hot. Didn’t get any rain yesterday. Did get heat and humidity. Still 82 F and 82%RH at midnight. Under those conditions, water won’t dry out in the buckets on the driveway.

Spent the morning yesterday getting fangs polished. No cavities anywhere in the brood.

Spent the afternoon cleaning, and hitting the grocery store for fresh veg. Picked up some meat too. Prime chuck at $5/pound seemed reasonable and so we’ll be having pot roast once this week, and the rest will go into the freezer. Everything else was more than I wanted to pay. Still managed to top off a couple other things, and spend over $300. Soda aisle was still half empty. The major brands and flavors were there but a whole lot was missing. No non-alcohol beer in the cooler either.

Picked another 16 blueberries. I have three varieties that mature at different times because they need to be different to pollinate or something, so some of the ripe berries are a bit more tart than the others. So far it’s been a bumper crop (and given the count in individual berries, that is pretty sad.) I am seeing improvement every year.

Oh, and the puppy got love and attention.

Grandparents arrived, were fetched and welcomed. Dinner was eaten, and another day passed by.

Today I’ve got auction stuff to set up. I’ve got to get out to my client’s house this week to check a few things before we can finalize the design for the rip and replace. Also, I’ve been scheduled to take the puppy for checkup and shots in the middle of the day on Thursday. Suddenly, the week that looked like a great time to get a bunch of auction sale stuff done, isn’t. C’est la vie, and especially my vie….

So I should probably start on something……..

After all, it ain’t no step for a stepper.

Keep stacking, and read John Wilder’s latest Civil War update. Time is flying by. These are the good old days.

nick

81 Comments and discussion on "Tues. June 8, 2021 – busy week, of course."

  1. dkreck says:

    No non-alcohol beer in the cooler either.

    Is this really the time to be drinking that? Just kidding of course. My consumption of beer has gone way down over the last few years. Why doesn’t my weight too? Not unusual nowadays to go the whole week without even one.
    Doctor’s appointment this am at 8:30. Hope being that early it goes fast. Took over an hour to get lab work last week.

  2. Greg Norton says:

    Soda aisle was still half empty. The major brands and flavors were there but a whole lot was missing. No non-alcohol beer in the cooler either.

    IIRC, plastic for the bottles is in short supply. The majors only produce the most popular flavors.

    Bottled water supplies were screwed up around here for months after the ice storms.

  3. drwilliams says:

    @Jenny

    Good looking pup. Great ears!

  4. Nick Flandrey says:

    For some reason Corgies are an internet/young girl kawii thing right now. There are stickers and merch everywhere. Super cute fuzzballs….

    n

  5. Jenny says:

    @nick

    Yeah, there is a bizarre fixation on Pembroke Welsh Corgis and their fluffy butts. Makes me cringe. And is hurting the Cardigan breed because unscrupulous folks out to make a buck are lying to get blue merle colored Cardigans to cross with Pembrokes, calling them American or Cowboy Corgis, then charging twice what a reputable breeder that does for a pup with great genetics, parents that have had all their OFA health clearances, and were raised with modern puppy protocols. Maddening.

    Just as there are multiple breeds with Retriever as part of their name, there are two different breeds with Corgi in the name. Corgi comes from ‘cur’ and means ‘dwarf dog’.
    Pembrokes are what the queen has and originate from Finnish spitz type dogs. They are from southern Wales, fewer hills, easier landscape for a farm dog. Supposedly tailless to avoid a tax (working dogs weren’t taxed?).

    Cardigans are north Wales, very hilly rough terrain. From the Teckel breeds like Dachshunds and German Shepherds. A well bred GSD and well bred Cardigan have more in common than a similarly well bred Pembroke.  They got to keep their tails.

    Both  breeds were invaluable cattle dogs. Temperament wise, the Cardigan is more laid back and calm, but more prone to distrust strangers and bark if not carefully socialized. Imagine the bar scene, Cardigans are the bar tender who has seen it all and rolls his eyes at the antics of the drunk chick dancing on a table. The Pembroke is the drunk chick.

    I’ve met Pembrokes I like and admire, but far prefer the Cardigan.

  6. Chad says:

    For some reason Corgies are an internet/young girl kawii thing right now. There are stickers and merch everywhere. Super cute fuzzballs….

    They’ve sort of taken over from pugs as the trendy dog breed (for that age group).

  7. Nick Flandrey says:

    The Pembroke is the drunk chick.

    –that got me to lol!

    n

  8. Nick Flandrey says:

    FWIW, ammunition depot has 9mm for 60c/rnd and that is actually a good price in the current market….

    https://www.ammunitiondepot.com/zqi-9mm-124-zqi-9mm-nato-124-grain-fmj.html

    n

  9. Greg Norton says:

    Both breeds were invaluable cattle dogs. Temperament wise, the Cardigan is more laid back and calm, but more prone to distrust strangers and bark if not carefully socialized. Imagine the bar scene, Cardigans are the bar tender who has seen it all and rolls his eyes at the antics of the drunk chick dancing on a table. The Pembroke is the drunk chick.

    Management at the last job preferred to hire the “drunk chick dancing on the table” type.

    I don’t have any idea about what kind of dogs they owned, but one had a family “compound” outside of town so I assume cattle were around for tax reasons.

  10. JimB says:

    Reminder: today is Patch Tuesday. I usually wait until Wednesday, just because.

  11. Alan says:

    He is in a crate, and slept in it last night. My daughter slept on the floor next to it and soothed him the couple of times he woke up. We’re planning the same tonight.

    Another option is to cover the top and all four sides of the crate with a bedsheet so as to shut off any external stimulus. They will learn it’s their safe place. Keep the door propped open when he’s awake so he can retreat into his ‘cave’.

  12. Alan says:

    Doesn’t sound like the original Beetle, but that didn’t have a designed-in place for a front license either. We used hose clamps around the upper round tubes, with inner tube rubber under them. Remember inner tubes?

    No, not a Beetle, it was a Rabbit (or Golf outside of North America).
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_Golf#Fifth_generation_(Mk5/A5,_Typ_1K;_2003)

  13. Alan says:

    I like Five Guys burgers.

    But, the frys are awesome.

    Five Guys:
    Burgers – too smashed
    Fries – excellent – fresh cut in the store – and usually VERY generous portions
    Franks – very good (Hebrew National iirc) – but no saurkraut available (essential for someone from NYC)

  14. ~jim says:

    Franks – very good (Hebrew National iirc) – but no saurkraut available

    Ohfergoodnessake, what’s the world coming to? Cancel! Cancel! Cancel! I won’t support or condone prejudice against sauerkraut and urge you to do the same. Sauerkraut Matters!

  15. Alan says:

    IIRC, plastic for the bottles is in short supply. The majors only produce the most popular flavors.

    Our local recycle place is paying 20 cents/pound for #1 plastic (soda and water bottles) and 50 cents/pound for aluminum cans (about a penny and a half per can). We collect both separate from our city recycling and donate them to a local non-profit that helps to support the county animal shelter.

    BTW, besides plastic, also seems to be some aluminum shortages:
    https://kjzz.org/content/1689529/aluminum-shortage-causing-license-plate-delays-arizona-nebraska-north-carolina

  16. EdH says:

    Pirate Ship update: I finally got the wheels off this morning.

    A couple lug nuts were frozen to the point that I was thinking of heading over to Tractor Supply for a nut splitter, but a liberal dose of PB and 24 hours did the trick. (One has to be careful with boat trailers, corrosion means you can twist off the stud before the lug loosens…as my father and I found out the hard way years ago).

    New Trailer King matching tires (!) tires are on order and will arrive Friday, Walmart will put on rims for $14.

    If anyone is interested in it, or just my friends amusing narrative, here’s the eBay link:

    https://www.ebay.com/itm/154477957999

     

  17. Nick Flandrey says:

    That ship is awesome, and a great story too.

    n

  18. Nick Flandrey says:

    saurkraut or a sour old kraut?

    n

  19. ~jim says:

    Great biography Ed! Long may she continue to sail. I’m sure I’m just having a senior moment, but what’s PB? All that comes up is peanut butter…

  20. Chad says:

    Our local recycle place is paying 20 cents/pound for #1 plastic (soda and water bottles) and 50 cents/pound for aluminum cans (about a penny and a half per can). We collect both separate from our city recycling and donate them to a local non-profit that helps to support the county animal shelter.

    I had heard PET is the only plastic with any decent recycle value. We put our 64-gallon recycle bin out at the curb every other week. I’m assuming the only things in it that actually get recycled are #1 plastics and anything metal. Everything else probably end up at the landfill. Especially now that China and others won’t accept it. I don’t even bother putting paper in the recycling bin (it takes up too much space considering our recycling only gets picked up ever other week and is biodegradable anyway). Cardboard boxes I will breakdown and stack up in the garage and then take to work occasionally and throw in our cardboard dumpster. Our recycler won’t accept glass or styrofoam. Every time someone on the Nextdoor app is being holier-than-thou about recycling I tell them to google how much of the crap they put in their recycle bin actually gets recycled.

    Burgers – too smashed

    Generally, I like Five Guys. They are a bit of a ripoff. Get a burger, small fry, and soda and look at your total. Pretty steep for what is basically fast food.

    Thin burgers seems to be how most people prefer them these days. They take 4 or 5 ounces of ground beef, place on grill, smash down until paper thin. I think it makes for a dry burger and screws up my preferred beef to toppings to bun ratio. The trend is obvious in many online reviews as every time a restaurant serves a thick juicy burger there are several ladies in the reviews complaining about their burgers being “greasy.”

    Me, I’ll take 6 to 8 ounces of 80/20 ground beef cooked medium and a raw onion slice almost as thick as the burger. 🙂

  21. Greg Norton says:

    I had heard PET is the only plastic with any decent recycle value. 

    PET gets remade into a lot of things other than soda bottles.

    A big recycled PET consumer is carpet, but I’d never go that route again after living with it in our house for the last seven years. PET fiber has zero crush resistance.

  22. Alan says:

    Great biography Ed! Long may she continue to sail. I’m sure I’m just having a senior moment, but what’s PB? All that comes up is peanut butter…

    https://blasterproducts.com/product/pb-blaster-penetrant/

  23. Lynn says:

    “2022 Ford Maverick: A Small, 40 MPG Hybrid Pickup That’s $20K”
    https://news.pickuptrucks.com/2021/06/2022-ford-maverick-a-small-40-mpg-hybrid-pickup-thats-20k.html

    You want a compact pickup, I’ve got your compact pickup right here. And the strippo model is just $19,995 plus destination. Unibody. 3.5 ft bed. 40 mpg in the hybrid 4 cylinder model in the strippo model.

  24. Lynn says:

    Sitting in the 75 counter drivers license office in Rosenberg. I am old and they will not let me renew over the internet this time. There are at least 500 or 600 people in here. Yes, I had an appointment for 2pm and it is 230pm now.

    They built the DL super center in the old Kmart building on the far west side of town. Smart. It is huge, well over 100,000 ft2.

  25. EdH says:

    @Jim:  Alan has the PB link above.  Great stuff, a mechanic friend told me about it, swears up and down it’s better than WD-40.

    I don’t personally use it enough to  be absolutely sure of that, but it seems to be at least as good as the old WD-40 stuff.

    It also *reeks* more…

    It’s a bit sad seeing the pirate ship go: I pulled it in a couple of parades, and across California, but it doesn’t get used any more.  If it can bring joy to someone new that would be great.

  26. Chad says:

    A couple lug nuts were frozen to the point that I was thinking of heading over to Tractor Supply for a nut splitter, but a liberal dose of PB and 24 hours did the trick.

    I’ve always sworn by PB Blaster, but I have been seeing several product testers saying Sea Foam Deep Creep is the better product. I don’t use the stuff often enough to weigh-in.

  27. Nick Flandrey says:

    AvE, one of the most brilliantly scatalogical and irreverent channels on youtube has done several “shoot offs” with different penetrating oils.

    Well worth a look for the entertainment value and info…

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeTNXbDbHcM

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2G-dX50JuXE

    Popularizer of the “safety squint” and machine guarding sign “Not To Be Operated by F#ckwits”, KING of the Empire of Dirt….

    His tool take aparts are hi-larious, and you will learn something. He has some serious education and real world experience behind the persona…

    n

  28. Greg Norton says:

    They built the DL super center in the old Kmart building on the far west side of town. Smart. It is huge, well over 100,000 ft2.

    Taylor city hall is in an old Kmart. The pipes burst in February inside the building during the ice storms due to freezing temps resulting from the power failure, and the city is still cleaning up the mess.

    Just down the street from ERCOT!

    I kinda-sorta understand clueless homeowners with burst pipes, but a government building with (assuming) paid facilities management?!?

  29. Greg Norton says:

    Sitting in the 75 counter drivers license office in Rosenberg. I am old and they will not let me renew over the internet this time. There are at least 500 or 600 people in here. Yes, I had an appointment for 2pm and it is 230pm now. 

    They want to make sure you can pass a vision test in person at a minimum.

  30. paul says:

    Sitting in the 75 counter drivers license office in Rosenberg. I am old and they will not let me renew over the internet this time.

    My understanding is you can renew on-line or change your address two times. Or one of each.
    Not sure about the age thing.

    Here it use to be at the court house annex. With a Surly Cow in charge that radiated an “I hate my effing job” aura.

    Then the county moved it all to a building by the Home Depot in Marble Falls. Ok for parking. Hmm. Twelve stations and three open. About forty victims waiting their turn. Two black women and a white guy. Three or four more folks wandering around… “supervisors”. Guess what? The white guy was handling twice what the both women did. That is, four victims himself in the same time they, together, almost did four.
    And you can hear what is being said, it’s not like they were dealing with folks that shouldn’t be allowed to drive.

    I fail to see how consolidating a few renewal offices into one is any kind of improvement.
    Surly Cow worked a half day on Saturday. Sunday and Monday off. And the longest line I ever saw was one victim, one waiting, and then me. In and out in half an hour.
    Now you take a number and wait an hour for your turn.

    Surly Cow wasn’t hard to deal with. She knew what she was doing. I think she was bored shitless.

    Hey Nick! Could you possibly find a cuter puppy? Anywhere? 🙂

  31. paul says:

    They want to make sure you can pass a vision test in person at a minimum.

    Yes, true. On my last renewal he let me try the eye test without my glasses. Ok, I tried to get rid of the restriction.

    And yeah, I do want to keep my motorcycle endorsement.

    I might find a gas tank for the bike someday. Heck, it’s been in the barn for ages. Out of the weather. I suppose it might still run.
    This is the Yamaha that ants got into the electronic ignition module. I went to the generic motorcycle repair shop on Burnet Rd and they wanted $180 for a used module. Eh, no, but thank you. So off to my favorite junkyard in south Austin and I snagged an electronic ignition module off of an old Plymouth along with a foot of wiring harness. Five bucks. (The car was pretty stripped bare.)
    It worked. The spark curve isn’t correct but I don’t need to go 80.

    This is all pre eBay or Google or much Internet at all beyond dial-up at 26.4.

  32. lynn says:

    “US Recovers Millions In Bitcoin Paid During The Colonial Pipeline Attack”
    https://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonbrett/2021/06/07/us-recovers-millions-in-bitcoin-paid-during-the-colonial-pipeline-attack/

    “U.S. officials announced in a press conference Monday afternoon the successful recovery of some of the funds paid in the recent Colonial Pipeline hack. Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco of the Department of Justice noted that the scope of the investigation involved “…going after an entire ecosystem that fuels ransomware and digital extortion attacks including criminal proceeds in the form of digital currency.” Monaco declared, “…we will continue to use all of our tools and all of our resources to increase the cost and the consequences of ransomware attacks and other cyber-enabled attacks.” Paul Abbate, the deputy director of the FBI, said the bureau successfully seized the ransom funds from a bitcoin wallet that DarkSide used to collect Colonial Pipeline’s payment.”

    Those who think that they are beyond the USA government are sadly mistaken.

    That said, do not pay the ransom for the ransomware. No telling what the ransomers will drop in your system.

  33. lynn says:

    Both breeds were invaluable cattle dogs. Temperament wise, the Cardigan is more laid back and calm, but more prone to distrust strangers and bark if not carefully socialized. Imagine the bar scene, Cardigans are the bar tender who has seen it all and rolls his eyes at the antics of the drunk chick dancing on a table. The Pembroke is the drunk chick.

    Management at the last job preferred to hire the “drunk chick dancing on the table” type.

    We had one of those in 1995. She fell off her office chair trying to adjust something on the wall and filed a report. What moron stands on a rotating and leaning office chair ? She also filed a report with HR that I was a male dominating sexist pig because I wrote too much code and she could not keep up with me. I wish that I was kidding.

  34. Chad says:

    That said, do not pay the ransom for the ransomware.

    They should making paying the ransom for ransomware a crime. Like, it can only be paid with approval of the DOJ or something. Companies pay out millions (billions?) a year which fuels and encourages this crap all because they can’t keep their servers patched (or upgraded after their version EOLs). Actually, while we’re at it, let’s make not patching servers a crime too for anything impacting infrastructure, national security, or human life.

    6
    1
  35. Alan says:

    Our recycler won’t accept glass or styrofoam.

    Ours stopped taking glass so the city started a voluntary drop-off program where they grind the glass and mix it into their asphalt.

  36. Alan says:

    Taylor city hall is in an old Kmart. The pipes burst in February inside the building during the ice storms due to freezing temps resulting from the power failure, and the city is still cleaning up the mess.

    Just down the street from ERCOT!

    I kinda-sorta understand clueless homeowners with burst pipes, but a government building with (assuming) paid facilities management?!?

    The facilities management staff were working from home in their jammies!

  37. lynn says:

    Sitting in the 75 counter drivers license office in Rosenberg. I am old and they will not let me renew over the internet this time. There are at least 500 or 600 people in here. Yes, I had an appointment for 2pm and it is 230pm now.

    They want to make sure you can pass a vision test in person at a minimum.

    So I got there at 1:50pm for my 2pm appointment. The lady, a fresh immigrant from Seattle, saw me at 3:15pm. 15 minutes later I was gone. We tried to decide if my hair was 1. bald, 2. gray, or 3. white. She wanted bald. And no, brown is not an option anymore.

    The vision test was one inch tall letters at ten foot. Now that was easy. What is that, about 20/50 ?

    My first trip back there since I was 45 or so. I got my first license in 1975 in the Bellaire, TX license office. Three counters IIRC.

    BTW, my 85 year friend has to go in every year now for a vision test to keep his license.

    BTW2, Ms. Seattle told me that she could not believe the temperature outside today, 94 F. I told her to just wait until August and September. I told her 105 F at 80 percent humidity and she did not believe me. She asked her next counter person who agreed with me. Her husband got transferred here last October.

    BTW3, they are making the unvaccinated counter people take weekly covid tests. Sounds like fun. Not.

  38. lynn says:

    Sitting in the 75 counter drivers license office in Rosenberg. I am old and they will not let me renew over the internet this time. There are at least 500 or 600 people in here. Yes, I had an appointment for 2pm and it is 230pm now.

    They want to make sure you can pass a vision test in person at a minimum.

    Yup.

  39. Greg Norton says:

    The facilities management staff were working from home in their jammies! 

    No one on a government payroll in Texas was truly doing any work after 5 PM on Thursday, Feb. 11. Everyone was looking forward to a long holiday weekend even though the most conservative weather forecasts for Sunday night had lows in the teens in Austin.

    Whether or not he deserves any direct blame, a repeat next winter would be the end of Governor Abbott’s political career.

    Imagine Governor Robert Francis.

    Or, worse, an Inaguration Day speech opening with “All right. All right. All right”

  40. Alan says:

    Every time someone on the Nextdoor app is being holier-than-thou about recycling I tell them to google how much of the crap they put in their recycle bin actually gets recycled.

    The other way people are misled is when manufacturers list on the package “made from 100% recycled (whatever)”. That product was actually made with zero percent of what you threw into your recycling bin and with 100% of materials that are left over from their manufacturing process. Clean, fresh materials that go right back into their manufacturing process. What you want to see is the percentage of the packaging that is made from “post-consumer recycled products” – see how little you see it.

  41. lynn says:

    Keep stacking, and read John Wilder’s latest Civil War update. Time is flying by. These are the good old days.
    https://wilderwealthywise.com/civil-war-2-0-extreme-and-inflate/

    “7. Common violence. Organized violence is occurring monthly.
    8. Opposing sides develop governing/war structures. Just in case.
    9. Common violence that is generally deemed by governmental authorities as justified based on ideology.
    10. Open War.”

    “May had (again) increased violence, but not as bad as it could have been as unseasonably cold weather kept other temperatures down. Again, none of the violence that I could see originated from the Right.”

    “I’m holding May at 9 out of 10. That’s still two minutes to midnight. Last month I said that “ July or August could take us to a 10” and the reason is becoming clearer, as hot weather and economic woes will be showing up on the street.”

    “I currently put the total at (this is my best approximation, since no one tracks the death toll from rebellion-related violence) up to around 800 out of the 1,000 required for the international civil war definition.”

    The economic woes are definitely coming. The extended unemployment is stopping here in Texas very soon.

    You know, I wish I could disagree with this guy but I am stupefied that city governments have allowed the open demonstrations with molotav cocktails, fireworks, and such. Me, I would have told the cops to use their rifles to disperse the crowds and had snipers waiting for the stragglers. Yup, Kent State over and over again until they learned to stop that crap.

    The price of crude oil went over $70/bbl today. I paid $69 to fill my 3/4 empty 35 gallon gas tank yesterday at $2.55/gal. Today the price is $2.59/gal.

  42. Greg Norton says:

    BTW2, Ms. Seattle told me that she could not believe the temperature outside today, 94 F. I told her to just wait until August and September. I told her 105 F at 80 percent humidity and she did not believe me. She asked her next counter person who agreed with me. Her husband got transferred here last October.

    Portland gets a couple of weeks of 100s right after the Solstice, spanning July 4th, but not Seattle.

    We usually made a point to get out of the Valleys for the 4th. The air can’t move in either direction up/down the Columbia and the pollution ratings are “unhealthy” every day.

  43. Greg Norton says:

    You know, I wish I could disagree with this guy but I am stupefied that city governments have allowed the open demonstrations with molotav cocktails, fireworks, and such. Me, I would have told the cops to use their rifles to disperse the crowds and had snipers waiting for the stragglers. Yup, Kent State over and over again until they learned to stop that crap. 

    In Portland, as I’ve noted before, the cops let the antics go on in a very small portion of the city, which could be easily pacified in a few hours whether the Feds stepped in or not. Skulls get cracked when Antifa tries it in The Pearl or Hollywood District. And it is a pretty short list of riot events happening in Linus Torvalds’ neighborhood up in the hills near the zoo.

  44. Chad says:

    Anyone else’s homeowner’s insurance spike? I use USAA and mine just went up 30%. They say it’s a combination of an increase in the replacement cost of my home (that went up all of about 8%) and an increase in the rate in my state. Seems like an absurd statewide rate increase to me.

  45. drwilliams says:

    @Lynn

    “You want a compact pickup, I’ve got your compact pickup right here. And the strippo model is just $19,995 plus destination. Unibody. 3.5 ft bed. 40 mpg in the hybrid 4 cylinder model in the strippo model.”

    My ’71 Olds Delta 88 had more cargo capacity in the trunk. And just in case I needed it, the 455 could cruise all day at 120mph.

    Yeah, it only got 16mpg. BFD. Nobody laughed when I parked it.

  46. lynn says:

    Anyone else’s homeowner’s insurance spike? I use USAA and mine just went up 30%. They say it’s a combination of an increase in the replacement cost of my home (that went up all of about 8%) and an increase in the rate in my state. Seems like an absurd statewide rate increase to me.

    Yes, massively last year. My agent says this years increase will be breathtaking.

    We are two counties away from the huge hot tub known as the Gulf of Mexico, 40 miles by crow. The word on the streets is that they are going to increase our wind requirements for new buildings from 130 mph to 140+ mph. Insurance companies look at that and just quake in their boots at the possible damage. The most that we have had is 90+ mph with hurricane Ike. Three hours of constant 90+ mph wind. The gusts were 100 ? 110 ?

  47. Greg Norton says:

    “You want a compact pickup, I’ve got your compact pickup right here. And the strippo model is just $19,995 plus destination. Unibody. 3.5 ft bed. 40 mpg in the hybrid 4 cylinder model in the strippo model.”

    Ford needs to reintroduce small *beater* pickups with a standard transmission, not a fussy unibody hybrid. They still produce them elsewhere, just not for the US market.

  48. Greg Norton says:

    Anyone else’s homeowner’s insurance spike? I use USAA and mine just went up 30%. They say it’s a combination of an increase in the replacement cost of my home (that went up all of about 8%) and an increase in the rate in my state. Seems like an absurd statewide rate increase to me.

    Where do you live?

    My last renewal was November.

    Texas isn’t nearly as ugly as Florida, where most of the carriers are technically insolvent, and “Flo” along with her friends the General, the Emu and the Lizard are not required to offer homeowners for access to the auto market.

    The last two years I lived in Florida, my rates were above $4000 annually with Citizens, the state’s carrier of last resort. When we left in 2010, the quote for the renewal was $5000.

  49. drwilliams says:

    When Fulton County, Ga., poll manager Suzi Voyles sorted through a large stack of mail-in ballots last November, she noticed an alarmingly odd pattern of uniformity in the markings for Joseph R. Biden. One after another, the absentee votes contained perfectly filled-in ovals for Biden — except that each of the darkened bubbles featured an identical white void inside them in the shape of a tiny crescent, indicating they’d been marked with toner ink instead of a pen or pencil.

    Adding to suspicions, she noticed that all of the ballots were printed on different stock paper than the others she handled as part of a statewide hand recount of the razor-thin Nov. 3 presidential election. And none was folded or creased, as she typically observed in mail-in ballots that had been removed from envelopes.

    In short, the Biden votes looked like they’d been duplicated by a copying machine.

    “All of them were strangely pristine,” said Voyles, who said she’d never seen anything like it in her 20 years monitoring elections in Fulton County, which includes much of Atlanta.

    She wasn’t alone. At least three other poll workers observed the same thing in stacks of absentee ballots for Biden processed by the county, and they have joined Voyles in swearing under penalty of perjury that they looked fake.

    Now election watchdogs have used their affidavits to help convince a state judge to unseal all of the 147,000 mail-in ballots counted in Fulton and allow a closer inspection of the suspicious Biden ballots for evidence of counterfeiting. They argue that potentially tens of thousands may have been manufactured in a race that Biden won by just 12,000 votes thanks to a late surge of mail-in ballots counted after election monitors were shooed from State Farm Arena in Atlanta.

    https://www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2021/06/08/why_a_judge_has_georgia_vote_fraud_on_his_mind_pristine_biden_ballots_that_look_xeroxed_779795.html

    uh-oh

    Gonna charge my spare battery and emery cloth the alligator clips just in case I get the call.

  50. Ray Thompson says:

    Gonna charge my spare battery and emery cloth the alligator clips just in case

    My first thought was what does the post have to do with sex toys. I really need to get out of the house more often.

    Knee update with the VA. Had me go for an X-Ray on Thursday. I heard nothing back by Monday. So I called and left a message at 10:00 in the morning on Monday. Today at 4:00 I finally get a call back. The doctor had not even looked at the X-Rays that he had ordered with “STAT”. He looked while I was on the phone. Yeh, I bet that was comprehensive. He did say there were no breaks on any bones. The doctor has ordered an orthopedic specialist. In the private sector as the VA has no one within 30 miles. VA, or rather Tri-Care will pay for everything. Wonder how long it will take to get an appointment? I suspect the orthopedic specialist will order an MRI. I suspect it is soft tissue damage, which I told the VA doctor. But he probably has to follow rules.

  51. Marcelo says:

    We had one of those in 1995. She fell off her office chair trying to adjust something on the wall and filed a report. What moron stands on a rotating and leaning office chair ?

    Guilty as charged but then again, I do not fall from them. The moron charge is probably still valid regardless.

    I have stools that I may step on top of when the ladder is a bit further away than the stools and have occasionally stepped on top of office chairs which are waaay more unstable.

    PS: Three Edits afterwards and I hope that is the last one. (See moron above). GO EDIT!

  52. Nick Flandrey says:

    they are making the unvaccinated counter people take weekly covid tests

    –the process IS the punishment.

    n

  53. JimB says:

    @EdH, that pirate ship is really something, and the narrative was fun to read. I hope it gets bid up, up, up.

    My favorite line:

    No warranties, No Guarantees, No returns.
    Dead men tell no tales.

  54. Nick Flandrey says:

    YEah, I used my chair to get up on my desk a couple of days ago. I had 3 points of contact with the desk though, and stepped briefly to boost myself up. I kept my weight centered, and long ago learned about the spinning and tilting back….

    And I still had to think about doing it, convince myself I’d be ok if I was careful, and then I WAS careful, and it STILL moved when I pushed off…..

    You’ve seen a hint of what my desk looks like, falling on that would HURT.
    n

  55. Nick Flandrey says:

    Ford needs to reintroduce small *beater* pickups with a standard transmission

    –can’t. Too many rules. Gotta have auto power locks because of roll over rules. Gotta have backup cams because the rules made the rear windows too small. Gotta have multistage airbags because the mandatory airbags were injuring people. Ditto for seat belt pre-tensioners- need them because of the airbags. Side impact beams, because the doors have no structure, can’t hit your mandated fuel efficiency with manual shift, gotta have the “Nader pin” in to keep the doors shut, and gotta have the jacking bar under the dash so they can lever it up and get your legs out after the crash, when the unibody folds.

    Ford put in the adjustable pedals because women were sitting too close to the airbags in order to reach them otherwise, and getting hurt. I’m surprised that hasn ‘t been mandated. Black boxes for insurance and NTSB investigations. Drive by wire and everything on a canbus instead of point to point wiring to save 20 pounds to hit your numbers.

    Vehicles today are a horse designed by committee (ie. a camel) with 2 feet of regulation bolted on top.

    n

  56. SteveF says:

    –can’t. Too many rules.

    Congress has 535 members. I can name about half a dozen who shouldn’t be horsewhipped.

    The NHTSA, per Wikipedia, has around 626 employees. I can’t name a single one who shouldn’t be horsewhipped.

    Continuing in this vein, the United States has two Presidents, one legitimate and one not, and two Vice Presidents, likewise. Two of them should be stripped, dragged by their heels behind a horse, pelted with garbage and feces, whipped, burned, and disemboweled, and finally have their hearts cut out while still beating.

    7
    1
  57. Marcelo says:

    Regarding Patch Tuesday:

    The visible impact will be: today’s updates enable the News and Interests feature by default. However, it can be turned off if you do not like it.

    More details at: https://www.neowin.net/news/windows-10-patch-tuesday-updates-are-now-live-here039s-what039s-new/

    I normally wait about three weeks before installing and sometimes take a backup as well. Sometimes…

  58. Greg Norton says:

    can’t hit your mandated fuel efficiency with manual shift

    Automated Start Stop — think about that acronym — isn’t possible with standard transmissions, but that may go away regardless because the class actions are starting to collect members for lawsuits whose engines are croaking prematurely.

    I don’t think small beater pickups will come back, but there is a market.

     

  59. lynn says:

    can’t hit your mandated fuel efficiency with manual shift

    Automated Start Stop — think about that acronym — isn’t possible with standard transmissions, but that may go away regardless because the class actions are starting to collect members for lawsuits whose engines are croaking prematurely.

    I don’t think small beater pickups will come back, but there is a market.

    The original Honda Insight had automated start stop with a manual transmission.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_Insight

  60. lynn says:

    “Southwest Airlines raises order for smallest Boeing 737 Max by 34 planes”
    https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/08/southwest-orders-34-more-of-boeings-smallest-737-max-plane.html

    “The Dallas-based airline said in a filing that will exercise options to increase its firm orders of 737 Max 7s by 34 planes, bringing its total order book for that plane to 234. The all-Boeing 737 airline also has orders for 149 Max 8 planes to be delivered through 2031, as the company retires older 737s.”

  61. Marcelo says:

    Heh, pretty sneaky. Pity it will probably be a one-off.

    FBI sold phones to organized crime and read 27 million “encrypted” messages
    Messages were routed to an FBI-owned server and decrypted with master key.

    https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2021/06/fbi-sold-phones-to-organized-crime-and-read-27-million-encrypted-messages/

  62. lynn says:

    “This is is revenge for the Benitez decision”
    https://gunfreezone.net/this-is-is-revenge-for-the-benitez-decision/

    “There are no coincidences in politics.
    This was just finished by the ATF, they have been sitting on this.
    The gun-rights community celebrated the Roger Benitez decision overturning California’s AWB so the Biden DOJ drops this on us to remind us of our place.
    There are millions of braces on the market. They have been available since the ATF signed off on them in 2013. They have turned into a sort of cottage industry with small accessories companies designing and manufacturing braces of all sorts.”

    I am not real interested in having Chipman at my front door. The last place he made an example of burned to the ground (Waco).

  63. Nick Flandrey says:

    No more free Wacos.

    n

  64. Nick Flandrey says:

    BTW, iirc re:Waco, no convictions, no trials, promotions all around for the .gov

    n

  65. Nick Flandrey says:

    Ditto for Ruby Ridge.
    n

  66. Ray Thompson says:

    Buc-ee’s is going to have a ground breaking ceremony on June 15th. About 45 miles from me in Crossville on I-40. The route I take to my son’s house. But-ee’s will have 120 pumps so it will be a large installation.

  67. Nick Flandrey says:

    The FBI move is so cunning I can’t really believe it was their idea. It now plants the seed of doubt for ANY encrypted app…
    n

  68. JimB says:

    My ’71 Olds Delta 88 had more cargo capacity in the trunk. And just in case I needed it, the 455 could cruise all day at 120mph.

    Yes, but you would have been hard pressed to get tires that could do that in 1971. Not impossible, but difficult.

    I ran a similar car at just 100 for two hours at an ambient temperature of 70F, and cooked all four tires. A short while later, one of them separated and lost air. A Michelin dealer at first refused to replace them under warranty, saying they had been heat damaged by excessive speed. I countered with the fact that the tires had no speed rating, which was almost universal in those days. He didn’t budge. I ran them a while longer and had one separate and lose air. Another dealer said they had just over 40k miles, and that was the warranty, so no adjustment. They still had about half tread. I went to a third dealer who wasn’t very familiar with Michelins in those days (1970,) and adjusted them based on tread depth. There was no comment on the obvious cracking in the tread grooves.

    My troubles were not over. For the next few years, I went through about a dozen Michelins due to vibration and separations at half remaining tread, all adjusted under warranty for manufacturing defects. What a hassle. I finally changed brands and had good service again. That first set was, to be fair, excellent, but I abused them. Still fair, the abuse was not in violation of any terms of the warranty, as there was no speed rating. Good luck getting away with that today.

    If you want to avoid heat damage and possible blowouts, stay within ratings. Don’t forget that the nominal speed rating is derated based on ambient temperature, load, and air pressure. That means an H rating of 130 mph can become something like 100, maybe less.

  69. lynn says:

    “Smoke Bitten (A Mercy Thompson Novel)” by Patricia Briggs
    https://www.amazon.com/Smoke-Bitten-Mercy-Thompson-Novel/dp/0440001579/?tag=ttgnet-20

    Book number twelve of a thirteen book urban fantasy series that is spilling over into the romance category. There are many other books and short stories by the author in the same universe. I read the well printed and well bound MMPB published by Ace in 2021. I will purchase and read any future books in the series.

    The fae and Underhill are having a disagreement. And Underhill has created a door on Adam and Mercy’s property. A door to hell and Underhill is letting the prisoners and pets of the fae loose. And some of those prisoners and pets bite.

    My rating: 4.4 out of 5 stars (I could be talked into 5 stars)
    Amazon rating: 4.8 out of 5 stars (5,681 reviews)

  70. drwilliams says:

    @SteveF

    Congress has 535 members. I can name about half a dozen who shouldn’t be horsewhipped, but we’ll horsewhip them all and apologize to a few later.

    FIFY

    and finally have their hearts cut out while still beating, and sold for catmeat.

    FIFY

    2
    1
  71. drwilliams says:

    @Nick

    ” No more free Wacos. ”

    Just need a good graphic. Large for teeshirt, small for bumper sticker.

  72. SteveF says:

    Just need a good graphic.

    A gallows with four dangling bodies should do it.

  73. drwilliams says:

    @JimB

    Good summary on tires.

    Michelins were well-known to be crap in the early 1970’s. In the late 70’s Firestone had the 500 recall, replacing them with the equally ill-fated 721. Not a good decade for auto tire design, except the Goodyear F32 snow tire.

    I had the Olds until 1986. Highlight was dropping the driveshaft in the parking lot at work, taking it to have the CV joints replaced while we ate lunch, then reinstalling it to drive home that night.

  74. Nightraker says:

    I had the Olds until 1986

    The family ’71 Olds 455 was the first car I was able to borrow as a new licensee. Nimitz class rolling living room. Got my first speeding ticket in it, too. 😉

    Purchased a ’75 Jeep CJ-5 Renegade as my first car, first new car and first stick shift built to order. Dad remarked at the seemingly exorbitant $5400 during the inflationary 70’s. The Olds had been ~$3600.

  75. Greg Norton says:

    Buc-ee’s is going to have a ground breaking ceremony on June 15th. About 45 miles from me in Crossville on I-40. The route I take to my son’s house. But-ee’s will have 120 pumps so it will be a large installation. 

    They recently built another store in Alabama on I-20, and the first location opened in Florida with the Governor in attendance to cut the ribbon.

    The locations are very carefully selected, but my impression of Tennessee was that the state was well covered with Cracker Barrel … and big fireworks stands.

  76. Bob+Sprowl says:

    Re USAA insurance

    I changed from USAA to State Farm and saved $600 per year on my cars.  Same address, slightly better coverage.  When I move my homeowners insurance I will save another $300 per year (waiting for the completion of my shop which is awaiting delivery of the red iron bldg.)

     

  77. Nick Flandrey says:

    I’m pretty happy with mine so far, we’ll see if there is a huge increase after these claims.

    n

  78. Alan says:

    The last two years I lived in Florida, my rates were above $4000 annually with Citizens, the state’s carrier of last resort. When we left in 2010, the quote for the renewal was $5000.

    @Greg; what flood zone were you in? We were one block away from Zone X (least likely to flood) so our premiums were a little less.
    And always reassuring (not) to see these signs: https://www.tampabay.wateratlas.usf.edu/news/details/14471/

  79. Alan says:

    Congress has 535 members. I can name about half a dozen who shouldn’t be horsewhipped.

    @SteveF; Six? Really? In good conscience??

  80. lynn says:

    Buc-ee’s is going to have a ground breaking ceremony on June 15th. About 45 miles from me in Crossville on I-40. The route I take to my son’s house. But-ee’s will have 120 pumps so it will be a large installation.

    Our Buc-ees, about a mile away from the house, only has 25 gas pumps and a car wash which I usually hit once a month.
    https://www.google.com/maps/place/1243+Crabb+River+Rd,+Richmond,+TX+77469/@29.5523651,-95.6966301,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x8640e237c691cd43:0x33641bf9d21a1e5d!8m2!3d29.5523651!4d-95.6966301

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