Hot and humid, but probably not the scalp searing sun of Central Florida today in Houston. Or maybe it will be. I’ll find out.
Made it home safe. Uneventful travel day, which is the best kind.
Went to be early because today is a school day and it starts early.
Goals for today- unpack, do laundry, do some ebay stuff, do some auction stuff.
And get back to stackin’…
n
Texas is one major power outage away from a serious shift in philosophy in the Governor's mansion before the next regular session of the Legislature, whether it be the incumbent desperately trying to save his job in 2022 or a replacement backing up a moving truck.
Registration to run in the March primary is still open for another two months.
The C-suites have decided to side with the White House since they don't think it will cost them anything even if the mandates are overturned by the court system. The lawsuits can't even start until OSHA publishes the rules and the Executive Orders go into the Federal Register.
I've received the lecture from friends with high dollar jammie-wearing jobs in Corporate America. Until the mandates are vacated, any exec standing firm publicly against the rules risks having their company fined and career ended. They believe both the lost customers and employees are replaceable. Heck, they may even start hiring older white males again, whom they believe will be happy to have the jobs back and willingly accept the jabs.
75F and 89%RH. WAY down from last week.
n
Kids are off to school, wife is WFH today. Her office has a 'if you fly or attend a large gathering, you're WFH for a week, minimum' policy.
That's for everyone, even with a dozen shots.
n
Well, that didn't take long. Acevedo was Houston's Chief, he's a gun grabber and while he did do things with the cops in Houston that I like, gun grabbers are not working in the interest of a Constitutional republic, or the citizens of one.
It may be true that he was just trying to clean house in Miami, and the establishment pushed him out, but his negatives are there too.
n
Was not even gonna comment on this, but oh how far we've come. I'm sure the former icon of Truth Justice and Liberty, and American power is terrifying to our enemies.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-10081005/Superman-comes-BISEXUAL-DC-Comics-reveals-son-Clark-Kent-dating-man.html
n
Miami's Mayor is trying to make the city the next hotspot of the Locust Class, most of whom are anti-gun. At least, they pay lip service to being anti gun until the reality of Dade County sinks in and they either leave or get concealed-carry permits.
The new James Bond flick has an easily removable scene (for China) where the current era's 'Q', Ben Wishaw, is revealed as being gay.
I don't remember it ever being an issue with Desmond Llewelyn, but the possibility was never ruled out. Wishaw is once again on the short list for “Doctor Who” lead.
And, yes, the Interwebs rumors are true about the ending of “No Time To Die”, but the movie feels like it was heavily edited/reshot recently, most notably around the scenes with the black woman who inherited the “007” designation.
(Hardly a spoiler at this point.)
The Chinese translation could easily lose the exchanges about her ’00’ status.
Ya heard it here first….
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10080721/Global-food-prices-hit-highest-level-DECADE-experts-warn-worse.html
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10079935/The-shortage-Shelves-bare-delays-deliveries-pharmacies-without-medication.html
—note the change in the article's focus between the URL and the body content…
–wrt to my trip, merch stocking levels were very low across all the parks. There were 'limit 2' signs for every SKU. A cast member confirmed that was because of both resellers buying and low stocking levels. One very telling example- the store in the Magic Kingdom by the Winnie the Pooh ride used to be full to overflowing with bins of merch, mostly small and medium sized plush dolls. I've got pictures. NOW it's mostly empty floor space. All the bins and most of the stand up displays have been removed. Merch is mostly tshirts, displayed to fill the most space, candy and popcorn, and a few hard toys. The cast member I commented to said it had been months since they had any plush toys and suggested I try the 'main' store near the entrance to the park.
All the stores were short of merch, particularly plush toys. In the past, almost any character was available, usually in multiple sizes and dresses… not now. Toy Story merch was the most commonly available, but not iconic characters. About the only TS plush was of the new girl child that replaced 'Andy'. Princess stuff was in very short supply.
Menus throughout the park were reduced too. Ice cream was available everywhere, and there were many more popcorn stands than usual. In fact popcorn was everywhere. Not many churro carts, a decent number of pretzels though.
Almost everyone in the parks was wearing licensed and theme T shirts. There are a couple of new memes and they were widespread. The preponderance of 'styling' was for retro looks and themes. I believe that when times are tough, people get nostalgic and retro comes back although the Guardians of the Galaxy 70s vibe might be helping that. FAR more merch for classic Star Wars than any of the last 6 movies combined actually on the backs of park goers.
n
Cheapek couldn't get the "Guardians of the Galaxy" ride open on time, but they still had the merchandise in the warehouses.
Cotton doesn't age well, particularly in a warehouse in Florida.
Part of the problem is supply chain, but the The Mouse dumped all the year’s movies out for piracy so the money will have to be made up somewhere.
Universal, ironically, runs a far better Marvel comic shop in their themed area at Islands of Adventure than anything Disney has on property.
Ad from Illinois:
closing the nukes will:
—raise IL electric prices $473 million
—increase carbon emissions 70% (as the dioxide, although not stated)
>> They believe both the lost customers and employees are replaceable.
I've worked in Corporate America long enough to know that that's true, although sometimes more painful than not for those who remain to pick up the slack.
>> Was not even gonna comment on this, but oh how far we've come. I'm sure the former icon of Truth Justice and Liberty, and American power is terrifying to our enemies.
Who's next to come out? Jughead??
When did comic books stop being just comic books that kids bought for a quarter at the neighborhood candy store / soda fountain?
Jughead? Maybe in a story arc on "Riverdale". I don’t keep up.
Tim Burton's "Batman" actually living up to hype probably doomed the traditional comic book industry.
Borg Second Invasion of Earth:
We are Borg.
We will assimilate…
wait..,
Superman is what…
Never mind…
Have a good day.
The 70s and 80s had lots of failed attempts to mainstream comic characters.
I got a kick out of seeing Nicholas Hammond pop up in "Once Upon A Time In Hollywood". TV's Spiderman!
Tarantino remembered too, obviously.
Was not even gonna comment on this, but oh how far we've come. I'm sure the former icon of Truth Justice and Liberty, and American power is terrifying to our enemies.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-10081005/Superman-comes-BISEXUAL-DC-Comics-reveals-son-Clark-Kent-dating-man.html
n
So now they have canceled Lois Lane.
My October Guns And Ammo magazine is 144 pages not counting the cover. My November issue is 136 pages not counting the cover. Bucking the trend !
"Prince Charles reveals his car runs on cheese and wine byproducts"
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/oct/11/prince-charles-car-runs-on-cheese-wine-byproducts
"Charles’s ‘quaint’ solution to decarbonise his Aston Martin using high blend of bioethanol is not scalable, experts say"
Let them eat cheese and wine !
"A record 4.3 million workers quit their jobs in August, led by food and retail industries"
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/12/a-record-4point3-million-workers-quit-their-jobs-in-august-led-by-food-and-retail-industries.html
Not good. I am not sure what that says about our employment situation and where these people expect to get their money and benefits from.
Hat tip to:
https://drudgereport.com/
In July, it was 4 million, led by tech and health care workers, mostly "mid career".
https://hbr.org/2021/09/who-is-driving-the-great-resignation
Thanks to government interference and corporate shenanigans, the trucking industry is losing 100,000 drivers a year.
I'm curious how many people are going Galt, whether they've ever heard of Galt's Gulch or not.
Joe Bucks checks for the advance on the child tax credit continue through the end of the year.
Sadly our monthly number is not enough to buy a PS5 and resell on EBay.
Maybe a PS4, but those are in short supply too.
They are getting into reselling,selling off old collections, or looking for stuff to flip….
Their employment has never been stable and has always resembled the gig economy.
Gig economy. Hah. SUCKERS. just moved the costs from corps to individuals. And the market makers rake off the profit like always.
n
One of the estate auctions closing this week had a bunch of bump stock and trigger mod kits in it. Guy clearly didn't turn his in, and then died. Auctioneer didn't know he was committing a felony… listed the items for sale. They are gone now, so someone must have clued him in over the weekend.
n
My largest competitor, Aspen Technology, is being bought out. "Emerson's software units, AspenTech to merge in $11-B deal"
https://www.hydrocarbonprocessing.com/news/2021/10/emersons-software-units-aspentech-to-merge-in-11-b-deal
The elephants are dancing around the room. I hope that we do not get crushed.
The gig economy doesn't pay benefits so healthcare employment is now increasingly unstable. Cost shifting doesn't work when the only consistent payer is Medicare.
In July, it was 4 million, led by tech and health care workers, mostly "mid career".
https://hbr.org/2021/09/who-is-driving-the-great-resignation
Thanks to government interference and corporate shenanigans, the trucking industry is losing 100,000 drivers a year.
I'm curious how many people are going Galt, whether they've ever heard of Galt's Gulch or not.
https://www.atlassociety.org/post/going-galt
Emerson has a small campus across from Dell here in Round Rock. I'm not sure if they do anything meaningful there or it is a writeoff.
Microsoft is about to do a big push into Austin and Dallas. No writeoff games.
Microsoft already has the ZeniMax facilities in both cities, but the latest hiring goes beyond games.
Police showed up at this Aussie’s door to question him about Facebook posts which showed him at an "illegal" protest and his response is exactly what yours should be if this ever happens to you
Gruden's exit from the Yucs always struck me as weird so the email problems must go back longer than his days on ESPN.
https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/jon-gruden-resigning-as-raiders-coach-after-more-leaked-emails-reveal-homophobic-language-per-report/
As Gomer Pyle liked to say, "Suprise, Suprise, Suprise"
"It looks as though, even with his party in control of everything, Biden can't make good on his promises to the public."
1 sentence that sums up Joe Biden's mounting political problems.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/12/politics/joe-biden-covid-19-economy-infrastructure/index.html
November 2022 can't come soon enough.
As Gomer Pyle liked to say, "Suprise, Suprise, Suprise"
"It looks as though, even with his party in control of everything, Biden can't make good on his promises to the public."
1 sentence that sums up Joe Biden's mounting political problems.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/12/politics/joe-biden-covid-19-economy-infrastructure/index.html
November 2022 can't come soon enough.
I am hoping for a surprise on the Virginia Governor election on Nov 2, 2021.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/11/politics/virginia-governor-race-joe-biden-terry-mcauliffe-glenn-youngkin/index.html
It all depends if the Dem female voters in the DC suburbs still believe "Joe and Kamala" understand.
Lots of stay-at-home mommies and dads who work for the Federal Government or the contractors. McMansion in Fredericksburg and a BMW X5 grocery getter in the garage.
“We picked it out at the factory on our way to Myrtle Beach last summer!”
I strongly suspect the VA election is why my current employer hasn't yet lowered the boom about the vaccination mandate.
Lots of money. My last two jobs have been related to the DC suburbs in some way.
The Dems should consider themselves lucky that the KKKlansman can’t run for reelection this year. That picture is a tough rationalization if you’re trying to paint the Republican as the racist.
How many fake elections will it take to believe they're fake?
From here on out its a version of the Soviet saying. We'll pretend to vote, and they'll pretend to count the votes.
If indeed, is hasn't been that way for years.
n
The DC suburbs have six of the twenty (?) top per-capita income counties in the US, mostly due to Federal largess. The Locust Class has a permanent nesting site in those swamps, and the infestation is spreading.
My next project at the last job would have been working on "FredEx", the extension of the reverisble toll lanes on I95 down as far as Fredericksburg, and another project in our office was pushing similar lanes up I-77 from Charlotte, enabling the Locusts in that city to infest the far SW VA rural counties as far exurbs, “hybrid” work-from-home communities for Bank of America employees, another ward of the Feds.
"A “Babylon 5” reboot is in development at The CW, Variety has learned."
https://variety.com/2021/tv/news/babylon-5-reboot-the-cw-j-michael-straczynski-1235075236/
"Original series creator J. Michael Straczynski is onboard to write the project. He will also executive producer under his Studio JMS banner. Warner Bros. Television, which produced the original series, will produce the reboot."
"The new iteration of the sci-fi series is described as a “from-the-ground-up reboot.”"
I never got into Babylon 5 though.
Reboot is the only way it would work. Most of the principals are dead.
"Babylon 5" was interesting in that Straczynski sold the series by posting a detailed five season story arc outline on early online services and Usenet. This created quite a problem when the producers had to fire Claudia Christian, the actress who portrayed the second in command of the space station, at the end of the fourth season, but the writers kinda-sorta made it work.
The show was initially popular but lost a lot of their audience when Time-Warner merged with Turner and decided to switch distribution from first-run syndication to TNT at a time when cable was still not an automatic at a lot of households.
I watched up until the show was pulled from syndication.
And sustainable fusion is in development, too.
The DC suburbs have six of the twenty (?) top per-capita income counties in the US, mostly due to Federal largess. The Locust Class has a permanent nesting site in those swamps, and the infestation is spreading.
The locust class has congregated in every city in the USA with 50,000 or more people. The larger the city, the more percentage of locusts there are in the city. Most cities over 100,000 are at least 50% locusts.
More locusts are coming in across the southern border and airplanes every day.
The details about the "Babylon 5" "curse".
https://everything2.com/title/The+Babylon+5+Curse
I forgot about Efram Zimbalist Jr. and Walter Koenig being part of the recurring cast. When the show was firing on all cylinders and pulling decent numbers in syndication, it seemed like everyone wanted to be part of the legacy, assuming that it would run in reruns forever similar to “Star Trek”.
Not sampling bias.
There is, however, an term for expecting small subsets of a large population to have the same characteristics as the whole population.
Homogenism.
See also "globohomo".
EDIT: Huh. I just checked it, and that slang seems to have changed in meaning from “globalist/homogenalist” to “global homosexual”, a term which doesn’t make much sense but which appears as the top half dozen search hits.
I don't think I ever watched a single ep of Babylon 5. Watched all of STTNG. I think I've seen all of the original series. I was young, but watched some of it the first time around on our black and white set with my dad… and ate TV dinner off of TV trays while doing it. I remember the peas and the stewed apples in the foil trays being a special treat.
n
Does anyone know when and why frozen fried chicken disappeared from the grocery store? I went looking and can't find any… I used to keep Banquet in the freezer for a quick snack and wanted to put some away.
n
@greg, the restart tiny script you gave me seems to be working. I haven't checked the recordings to see if there was much time that didn't get recorded, but the NVR was running when I got home and has been running since.
Thanks again!
n
I don't think I ever watched a single ep of Babylon 5. Watched all of STTNG. I think I've seen all of the original series. I was young, but watched some of it the first time around on our black and white set with my dad… and ate TV dinner off of TV trays while doing it. I remember the peas and the stewed apples in the foil trays being a special treat.
n
We used to watch ST:TNG, ST:DS9, ST:VOY, and ST:ENT from the dinner table. Been married for 40 years in a couple of months, we have watched a lot of TV. Mostly crap though.
The wife is binging Castle (Nathan Fillion) and ST:VOY right now. I never did get her interested in the Stargate series.
Does anyone know when and why frozen fried chicken disappeared from the grocery store? I went looking and can't find any… I used to keep Banquet in the freezer for a quick snack and wanted to put some away.
n
We are living in scarcity times now. If you see something you want in a store, buy it. And if it is a consumable item, buy four or five. We will probably be living in scarcity times for the rest of our lives.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/30/business/supply-chain-shortages.html
It ain’t just TP and PT. It is computer chips, labor, fuels, food, building products, etc.
Here in south Texas around Houston, it is also land. I passed on buying a 1.2 acre lot for $190K two years ago. Now the equivalent of that lot is selling for $385K. I could have afforded the $190K lot (barely), I cannot afford the $385K lot.
https://www.har.com/homedetail/1222-port-gibson-ct-richmond-tx-77469/2401466
@lynn, I noticed the chicken wasn't in the store before covid though. I thought at the time that I was just looking in the wrong place but I've come to the decision that it was just not there.
I could have bought two lots in the Heights for $120K total, including the 4 unit rental on one of them. That was shortly after moving here in 2003. I had the money, and it was down the street from our house. I dithered too long. Now there are two giant houses on the lots each selling for over $650K…
When we looked at Houston County Lake, there were several "lake view" properties for $15K and $20K, land only. EVERY available lot in the subdivision sold in the following week.
Stuff is slowly coming on the market and some of it is even dropping from the crazy high speculative price the seller threw out…in our neighborhood, and on the lakes my wife still monitors.
n
So the thing about Biddn getting a shot on a stage set of the White House wasn't fake or an Onion thing?
And what is up with the Kamel NASA vid?
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/its-all-fake-kamala-harris-used-child-actors-who-had-audition-weird-nasa-promo
n
"Anti-gunners Launch Campaign to Intimidate U.S. Supreme Court as Second Amendment Case Looms"
https://www.nraila.org/articles/20211011/anti-gunners-launch-campaign-to-intimidate-us-supreme-court-as-second-amendment-case-looms
"Now, however, the Second Amendment is back before a U.S. Supreme Court that features the strongest majority of originalists in modern times. An originalist is simply a judge who believes that constitutional provisions should be interpreted according to the way they were understood by the public at the time of their adoption (as opposed to proponents of a living constitution, who basically believe the U.S. Constitution has no fixed meaning and should always yield to what the elite consider the necessities of progress and “good” policy)."
"This does not bode well for the respondents in the current Supreme Court case, who are stuck with arguing that the right to “bear arms” somehow allows for state and local officials to impose a “special need” for exercising the right that effectively screens out most of the law-abiding population."
Lynn; "Babylon 5" was THE BEST science fiction TV series ever. Best science, best fiction, best story. Just about every episode was part of the "story arc", so you couldn't afford to miss one. Unlike any of the Star Trek shows, where things rarely changed.
I'm sorry that J. Michael Straczynski is "rebooting" the show, as "Babylon 5" was 99% perfect as is. But even though I haven't watched TV _AT ALL_ in the last 5 years, I'll watch it.
I would rather Straczynski reboot the follow-on show, "Crusade", which had a great premise but was terminated halfway through the first season.
Web developers with no brains. I've been struggling with a company I want to order from. They're the only ones where I can find the product I want. This product is sitting in my shopping cart.
We moved two years ago. I wanted to change our address. I can change the *delivery* address online, but not the *billing* address. That can only be changed by their customer service. One web-form, one phone call, and three emails later: they have *finally* changed the billing address.
So here I am at work. I log into the site, and: the shopping cart is empty. Apparently they store it in a cookie on the local machine, instead of in their database under the customer account. Think, for a moment, about what that means: If you were logged in on two different machines, you would have two different shopping carts. The data you see depends on where you are sitting.
Brainless web developers. Too much code, produced too fast, by too many underqualified developers.
/rant
@brad:
While I tend to agree, there's a downside to your proposal – what if the vendor is hacked and your purchase history is leaked on the dark web? Or even your browsing history on that site? Are you happy for all this to be leaked to all and sundry? I'm not.
I worry about my Amazon history under similar circumstances, since I know Big River store everything. How else can they keep recommending things I've just looked at, as well as things I've bought? Pro tip: if I've just bought something, I'm not likely to buy it again any time soon.
G.
@rick:
Not happy about choice of colours for visited vs, unvisited links. Blue is, conventionally, unvisited, red visited. Green vs. blue is not a normal thing.
And I've just noticed:spell check defaults to American ("colours" above). Is there any way to use browser locale instead?
G.