Hambone v3.0

Tuesday Open Comments

https://youtu.be/hKmGUIM1uAI

Located alongside the Tennessee River, Muscle Shoals, Alabama has helped create some of the most important and resonant songs of all time. Overcoming crushing poverty and staggering tragedies, Rick Hall brought black and white together to create music for the generations. He is responsible for creating the “Muscle Shoals sound” and The Swampers, the house band at FAME Studios that eventually left to start its own successful studio known as Muscle Shoals Sound. Gregg Allman and others bear witness to Muscle Shoals’ magnetism, mystery and why it remains influential today.

I discovered this last night and stayed up way too late watching the whole thing.  I don’t regret a minute of it.  What an incredible story about a magic place.

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Texpat

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98 responses to “Tuesday Open Comments”

  1. Shannon Avatar
    Shannon

    Interesting site:

    About the Collection – The Backstory
    If you have seen Cameron Crowe’s movie “Almost Famous” then you already know the story.

    In every major city in America in the late 1960’s or early 1970’s there was at least one teenager who made a regional name for himself by photographing rock concerts. In Houston, Texas, there were two such teenagers who overlap.

  2. Shannon Avatar
    Shannon

    …..Which lead to this site:

    Love Street Light Circus Feel Good Machine opened on June 3rd 1967. The bands included the Red Crayola, the Starvation Army Band and Fever Tree. The audiences sat at tables or in the Zonk-Out, a series of cushions with back rests that were comfortable like beds. Despite being open barely three years it hosted a who’s who of Texas psych: the Red Krayola, Erickson’s Thirteenth Floor Elevators, Johnny Winter, Bubble Puppy, Shiva’s Headband, Fever Tree, Gibbons’s pre-ZZ Top band Moving Sidewalks and American Blues, featuring his future bandmates Dusty Hill and Frank Beard. Appropriately enough, it was also the site of ZZ Top’s first shows on July 4 and 5, 1969.

    http://www.scarletdukes.com/st/tmhou_venues2.html

  3. Shannon Avatar
    Shannon

    Lord knows I had forgotten one-hit-wonders Bubble Puppy.

  4. Shannon Avatar
    Shannon

    3

    Notice the ad for the Dome Shadows:

    Beer Bust – Admission Includes All You Can Drink Free

  5. Super Dave Avatar
    Super Dave

    Shannon is up and about early.
    Mornin’ Gang

  6. Hamous Avatar
    Hamous

    I watched that documentary several years ago, I think on PBS, but it could have been on a cable channel.

  7. Super Dave Avatar
    Super Dave

    #6 Hamous I saw it on PBS back when they still had good shows, at least 15 years ago. It has been discussed here before and I think posted by Texpat. I’ve been back in Alabama since May of 2019 and I still haven’t made it up there. I put it on my bucket list but just haven’t taken the time to go visit.

  8. Hamous Avatar
    Hamous

    Heh. April 21, 2014 to be exact. But as we know, no one reads posts here 😉 SD rediscovered it about a year later. But it’s been long enough that it’s time to watch it again. Something to look forward to tonight.

  9. Super Dave Avatar
    Super Dave

    SIL is coming for Christmas and he and my grand nephew are planning on ambushing Wood Ducks down at the pond so nephew is down there scouting the place out. He just reported two pairs so far but he’s going to bring decoys when they go hunting.

  10. El Gordo Avatar
    El Gordo

    Morning gang. A brisk 29 degrees out there this morning, and light frost on the punkin – heavier on my windshield. Supposed to warm up nicely today before it’s over though. Most of my little rose cutting are putting on new growth, but it’s going to be a month or so before I even try to check for roots,. I’ve seen several You Tubers try to root rose cuttings, and at least half of them fail or grow minimal root systems even when putting new growth on top. I figure I’ve got plenty of time before I can put anything outside anyway, so what’s the rush. And now that the days are getting longer they will get more light to help them along too.

    You all have a nice day and stay out of trouble in those shopping malls. It’s about time for the crazies to come out and start panic buying. More later.

  11. Super Dave Avatar
    Super Dave

    What we have here is a “Floor” Jack.
    Change my mind. 😀

  12. Tedtam Avatar
    Tedtam

    Coffee & Covid ☙ Tuesday, December 21, 2021 ☙ BIDEN’S BIG ANNOUNCEMENT
    Happy Tuesday, C&C family! Today’s holiday-decorated roundup includes: BioNTech’s CEO admits that boosters don’t stop transmission either; USA Today predicts Biden’s Big Announcement and it might actually work; CNN’s tv doc says — on air — that cloth masks fail; Jim Kramer’s triple jabs fail; the WSJ says lockdowns fail; the Times says science failed to give people hope; doctor Fauci says masks are here to stay on airplanes; airline CEO’s say masks aren’t needed on airplanes; and a triple-jabbed staffer on Air Force One has an awkward injection failure.
    /snip
    **************************
    *COVID NEWS AND COMMENTARY*

    EuroNews ran an article yesterday headlined, “Omicron: 3 vaccine doses are not enough to stop the new COVID variant, warns BioNTech CEO.” Oh. Now you tell us. After jamming boosters down our throats into our ankles.

    BioNTech is the company that co-produced the Pfizer Vaccine. According to the article, BioNTech’s CEO Ugur Sahin — a vaccine scientist — said that “We must be aware that even triple-vaccinated are likely to transmit the disease…It is obvious we are far from 95 per cent effectiveness that we obtained against the initial virus.”

    So … “even triple-vaccinated are likely to transmit” the virus. There you have it. “Likely.” Not “rarely.”

    That didn’t take long, did it? In one year we went from 95% effectiveness in preventing transmission to even triple-injected are LIKELY to transmit the virus.

    The new answer to this development is that the vaccines were “never supposed to stop transmission, just serious disease and death.” Oh, please. These people are like the folks who think Elvis is still alive. So, before some nitwit makes that claim in the comments, you need look no further than Pfizer and the FDA’s statement attached to the approval of its “approved” vaccine:

    “The vaccine has been known as the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine, and will now be marketed as Comirnaty (koe-mir’-na-tee), for the prevention of COVID-19 disease in individuals 16 years of age and older.”

    See? It was approved “for the prevention” of Covid. Prevention. Not lessening of symptoms. The entire reason for its approval is gone now, and Comirnaty never even made it to market.

    But don’t worry! BioNTech’s CEO says that they’ll have a new, improved injection by March and THIS TIME it will work. They PROMISE. Just give them another chance. A few more spike proteins, and it will all be over.

    But you know me. I have questions. We now know the original shots’ efficacy fades over a few months. Even if the new shot works and prevents Omicron infections — we’ll see — won’t that just clear the field for Delta to come back? I mean, the protection from Delta would have waned by that point, right?

    Science! You know the rest.

    *****************

    USA Today reported that Biden’s Big Announcement today is expected to be the purchase of a half-billion at-home rapid tests and the deployment of 1,000 fully-injected military medical staff to overburdened hospitals to fight surging blue-state infections and the new, highly-transmissible Omicron variant.

    If USA Today is right, this actually signals a major policy change. The Administration has been wary of at-home tests because they aren’t recorded and reported by local health departments. So, if they start giving people at-home tests, it will lower reported Covid “cases.” Ta-da! Presto! It worked!

    In other words, distribution of at-home tests is the first thing they are doing that will ACTUALLY reduce cases. People will use the at-home cases and not go wait in line someplace. Reported cases will fall. I mean, it won’t make INFECTIONS go away, but it will make it LOOK LIKE infections are dropping, and that’s just as good, right?

    ******************

    CNN’s obnoxious TV doc Leanna Wen, who never saw a mandate she didn’t want to marry and have a family with, said this on the air yesterday: “Don’t wear a cloth mask. Cloth masks are little more than facial decorations. There’s no place for them in light of Omicron.”

    Hold on, hold on. Wait a second. Cloth masks don’t work? They’re no more than facial decorations? Against Omicron? Is she saying face masks USED to work? Like, with Delta? But now they don’t anymore? There’s something physically different about Omicron that defeats the masks? Wen is a reliable promoter of the narrative. So this must be a trial balloon for a KN95 requirement or something.

    Anyway, I can’t wait to hear how they explain this one. They can’t just admit that cloth masks didn’t work all this time for prior variants. So … Science is truly awesome.

    ************************

    I saw a meme on twitter yesterday: “You don’t believe the science. You believe the television.”

    ***************

    The splenetic, triple-vaccinated host of CNBC’s Mad Money, Jim Kramer, has tested positive. Another case of injection failure. But even more interesting was how he said he got it:

    ”I know exactly how I got it. I was at an event where you had to have PCR [tests]. You had to be tested that day. I got it from someone who had to be tested that day,” he said. “And the problem is that it just works so fast.”

    So this is interesting. Kramer — and the other recent injection failure cases — are not just evidence that the injections don’t work. They are also evidence that TESTS don’t work. If you can be negative in the morning but infecting everyone by lunch time, then what’s the point of the test? I guess you could say at least it catches SOME cases. But if the tests leak enough to cause all these injection failures lately, they are obviously NOT stopping the spread.

    How about we stop testing? I’m just asking. You could treat the sick people and give vaccines to anybody who wants them. Like FLU. I know it’s a radical idea and the whole Covid testing industry will have to stop making wooden wheels and stuff but just tell me you’ll think about it.

    One way we could do this is give everybody at-home test kits. Oh, wait.

    ******************

    Just in time for Joe Biden’s big announcement, the Wall Street Journal ran an op-ed yesterday titled “The Fickle ‘Science’ of Lockdowns.” The sub-head reads: “Experts foresaw before Covid that the strategy would fail. The authorities embraced it anyway.”

    It was well-known before March 2020 — when everyone went insane — that population-level quarantines DON’T WORK:

    “Before March 2020, the mainstream scientific community, including the World Health Organization, strongly opposed lockdowns and similar measures against infectious disease.”

    The op-ed cites John Barry, who wrote what is currently considered the definitive guide to 1918’s Spanish Flu. In his 2009 book, Barry noted that even in 1918 scientists were experimenting with comparative studies of lockdowns, and were finding them ineffective:

    “Historical data clearly demonstrate that quarantine does not work unless it is absolutely rigid and complete,” he wrote in 2009, summarizing the results of a study of influenza outbreaks on U.S. Army bases during World War I. Of 120 training camps that experienced outbreaks, 99 imposed on-base quarantines and 21 didn’t. Case rates between the two categories of camps showed “no statistical difference.” “If a military camp cannot be successfully quarantined in wartime,” Mr. Barry concluded, “it is highly unlikely a civilian community can be quarantined during peacetime.”

    Well, but they probably didn’t do it HARD enough.

    ********************

    The experts are baffled again. Science has failed to give people hope. I know, I know, that’s not news. The experts cannot fathom — not for the life of them — WHY people are having so much trouble adjusting to the new normal. Fox News ran an article yesterday un-ironically titled, “COVID-19 pandemic paradox: People feel powerless despite unprecedented scientific progress.”

    Well my goodness, it’s a paradox. And despite all that scientific progress. Somehow science didn’t replace faith after all. People are just refusing to put their trust in science. For some reason.

    According to the article, the CDC says some anxiety disorders can actually cause Covid, and are now tied for first place as predictors of death if a person is hospitalized for the virus. It’s not just that. Suicide attempts are way up. For example, the CDC also noted a 50% increase in emergency room visits for attempted suicide among teenaged girls — just through March, 2021. Almost a year ago. It’s got to be higher now.

    “Having mood disorders, including depression, and schizophrenia spectrum disorders can make you more likely to get severely ill from COVID-19,” the CDC said. Isn’t that interesting. Too bad we don’t have a well-funded government health agency that could study the connection.

    Fox, citing a similarly-themed New York Times article, said people’s resilience is “slowly fading” as Covid “continues to ping-pong the world from schools opening to promptly closing, travel restrictions lifted only to be reinstated, the constant threat of lockdowns, the significant loss of human life, and the false hopes that the end of the pandemic is in sight.”

    False hope.

    That predicament mostly applies to people who’ve believed the Narrative. Now that the Narrative has sunk, they are adrift in a tiny lifeboat on an angry sea of uncertainty. And that’s not a good place for an anxious person to be.

    The Times described it this way: we continue on a seemingly endless rollercoaster ride of unpredictability in an “epidemic” of loneliness. I’m not sure about “rollercoaster,” which is a fun theme park attraction, but it sure is lonely in a lifeboat during a bad-news storm with no shore in sight.

    But if you never believed the Narrative in the first place, you aren’t disappointed now, and you haven’t lost your only source of hope of ever getting back to normal. So. Just saying.

    ****************

    On Sunday, ABC News This Week asked Doctor Fauci if he thinks we’ll ever get to a point where masks are no longer required on airplanes. “I don’t think so,” the beagle-puppy-torturer said. “I think when you’re dealing with a closed space, even though the filtration is good, you want to go that extra step.”

    No thank you! Why don’t YOU go that extra step next time you’re in flight, Tony? You know which extra step I’m talking about. One more step right out of the airplane.

    Anyway, it seems like I’m not the only one that thinks airplane masking is a dumb failure.

    ******************

    CNN reported that the CEOs of American and Southwest Airlines both tried to argue for REMOVING masks from air travel in a congressional hearing last week. Gary Kelly — Southwest’s CEO — said, “I think the case is very strong that masks don’t add much, if anything, in the air cabin environment. It is very safe and very high quality compared to any other indoor setting.”

    “I concur,” said Doug Parker, CEO of American Airlines. “An aircraft is the safest place you can be. It’s true of all of our aircraft — they all have the same HEPA filters and air flow.”

    Parker and Kelly have another thing in common: they have both said they plan to retire soon. After the hearing, American Airlines distanced itself from Parker’s comment, saying in a statement that while it agrees that in-air filtration is excellent, masks are still an important tool for controlling the pandemic.

    Well, not according to CNN’s TV-doctor Leanna Wen. Cloth masks failed. They’re just facial decorations. It’s so hard keeping up with the shifting narrative, isn’t it?

    ******************

    NPR reports that a triple-jabbed “mid-level staffer” who spent half an hour in close contact with Joe Biden on Air Force One Friday had an embarrassing injection failure, developing symptoms on Sunday, and then testing positive yesterday. Biden — also triple-injected — tested negative yesterday. He gets his next test tomorrow — right after his Big Announcement.

  13. Tedtam Avatar
    Tedtam

    #11

    That was painful.

    I’m a woman who doesn’t work on cars, and even I know better than that.

  14. Texpat Avatar
    Texpat

    The Muscle Shoals documentary was released in 2013 making it 9 years old.  I regret not watching it back in 2014 when Hamous linked to it.

    I researched and wrote an article for Lone Star Times about Muscle Shoals I was proud of and received a lot of compliments.  But even after the research I did, this documentary has so many things in it I never knew.  Very well done.

  15. Shannon Avatar
    Shannon

    Texpat
    The reason I headed off down that rabbit trail in 1,2,3,4 was because for some bizarre reason, out of the blue, I remembered a place called Of Our Own. I never went there but I’m thinking you did. I’ve found no information on it – yet.
    Where was it located and who did you see there?

    Also, from my #2, I never heard of The Living Eye in Spring Branch. Did you ever go there?

  16. Texpat Avatar
    Texpat

    12 Tedtam

    So this is interesting. Kramer — and the other recent injection failure cases — are not just evidence that the injections don’t work. They are also evidence that TESTS don’t work. If you can be negative in the morning but infecting everyone by lunch time, then what’s the point of the test? I guess you could say at least it catches SOME cases. But if the tests leak enough to cause all these injection failures lately, they are obviously NOT stopping the spread.

    How about we stop testing? I’m just asking. You could treat the sick people and give vaccines to anybody who wants them. Like FLU. I know it’s a radical idea and the whole Covid testing industry will have to stop making wooden wheels and stuff but just tell me you’ll think about it.

    One way we could do this is give everybody at-home test kits. Oh, wait.

    I believe the whole testing methodology is wrong, but plays right into the hands of tyrants who can manipulate it any way they want.  We shouldn’t be using PCR testing in the first place.

  17. Texpat Avatar
    Texpat

    15 Shannon

    “Of Our Own” rings a bell, but I can’t recall any details.  I went to the Living Eye once or twice, but I didn’t like the place.

    In your #2, I was surprised they left out Jubilee Hall which was right across the street from The Family Hand.  It was a large, wooden, octagonal German-style dance hall.  The others I would have included were The Cellar on Market Square and the old folk club, Sand Mountain, on West Alabama.

  18. Tedtam Avatar
    Tedtam

    Just saw this, with pictures of the camps:

    Prayers requested against authoritarianism. Australia forcibly transports Covid “close contacts” to camps, where movement restrictions are severely enforced with yellow lines and offers of Valium. Lots of propaganda denying it. Not invoking the 1940s yet, as people eventually get out, but this precedent can only lead to bad things. The situation already escalated past the original stated intent of the camps.

    And there’s this video article. Unherd.

    I’ve always wanted to visit Australia. Not so much anymore.

  19. Katfish Avatar
    Katfish

    #14 – TP – I know I’ve enjoyed that documentary at east a half dozen times!

    Not sure IF Greg Allman’s story of how Duane became addicted to playing slide is included in the /Muscle Shoals vid – it’s well worth looking up!

  20. Bonecrusher Avatar
    Bonecrusher

    HEADLINE: SCIENCE & TECHImplantable Microchip Stores Your COVID Vaccination Status

    Count me as a HARD NO! on getting chipped.

  21. Texpat Avatar
    Texpat

    19 Katfish

    The glass bottle of Coricidin story is in there.  Gregg said he still had the bottle in the film.

  22. Katfish Avatar
    Katfish

    #21 – THAT’s the ONE!

    whatta GREAT story IMHO!

  23. Hamous Avatar
    Hamous

    Nanzi was heckled with LGB cheer while speaking at some event yesterday. Best comment I read:

    Heckling Nancy does no good. You have to throw a bucket of water on her to melt her.

  24. Super Dave Avatar
    Super Dave

    Heckling Nancy does no good. You have to throw a bucket of water on her to melt her.

    BAWHAHAHAHA!!!! 😀

  25. Sarge Avatar
    Sarge

    Texpat says:
    DECEMBER 21, 2021 AT 10:11
    19 Katfish

    The glass bottle of Coricidin story is in there. Gregg said he still had the bottle in the film.

    I remember a night in 1973 (which is surprising because much of 1973 is foggy in my memory) driving around to every drug and grocery store in Lawton trying to find a bottle of Coricidin so he could play One Way Out the right way.

  26. Hamous Avatar
    Hamous

    Here’s one I’ve never heard before – a plane/paraglider collision in Fulshear.

  27. Super Dave Avatar
    Super Dave

    #26 I saw that but not much information. A Cessna 208 ran into a paraglider and one person is dead.

  28. Hamous Avatar
    Hamous

    I saw the plane crash site on 11. No chance anyone survived that but there’s some indication of a parachuter out of the plane.

  29. wagonburner Avatar
    wagonburner

    Boo Ben Konop

  30. Super Dave Avatar
    Super Dave

    No chance anyone survived that but there’s some indication of a parachuter out of the plane paraglider near the crash site.

    Insert dreaded acronym here.

    That said; I’ve not seen much information on this.

  31. Hamous Avatar
    Hamous

    They indicated someone was seen parachuting out of the plane. And there were three separate sites under investigation.

  32. Super Dave Avatar
    Super Dave

    #31 Several news posts I’ve seen only mention the C 208 so maybe someone the parachuted out of the plane and there never was a paraglider? A 208 makes a great plane for parachuting it’s a flying truck with a turbine engine. On the first report said the Fed’s said the pilot was the only one on the plane.

  33. mharper42 Avatar
    mharper42

    Too late to say Mornin’, y’all, but at least I can say Better late than never!

  34. TexMo Avatar
    TexMo

    DSL keeps cutting out. Been on with tech service for 30 min now. Yee-haw! Better make that Yawn!

  35. TexMo Avatar
    TexMo

    I honestly think this lady is eating lunch while I am on hold.

  36. TexMo Avatar
    TexMo

    I do have a person speaking proper English so that is a plus. I’ve called outside normal business hours recently and I have gotten some folks down in Panama. Those people are still way better than the Indians in Bangalore.

  37. TexMo Avatar
    TexMo

    Big Transportation has it in for your fossil fuel burning car AND your “eco friendly” Tesla.

    Houston’s new bus lanes will allow bikes, but advocates urge caution

    The new lanes will replace the often-ignored Diamond Lanes installed in 2005. Those lanes were exclusive to buses only during peak hours, while the new red bus-only lanes will be enforced 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

  38. wagonburner Avatar
    wagonburner

    Big Bus is out to get us.

  39. Bonecrusher Avatar
    Bonecrusher

    Bidet is on the One-eyed Brain drainer and as usual, he is lying constantly.

    Question: Is it a lie if he has no idea what he is saying?

  40. Hamous Avatar
    Hamous

    Man, the local news stations are all over the place on what happened. One says the plane belonged to the sportsmans club and one says it was small UPS plane going to Victoria and the pilot died. One says witnesses saw smoke and someone parachute out. No one says anything about where the supposed paraglider is.

  41. TexMo Avatar
    TexMo

    Stoopid tech service rep left me on hold. I finally hung up and called back. Turns out the previous tech had opened a ticket for a technician to come out tomorrow with a new modem.

    Elon Musk’s Starlink is still unavailable in my area. Xfinity still has a 1.2 TB data cap. I am not interested in data caps even if I can get close to 10X my current speed for the same price.

  42. TexMo Avatar
    TexMo

    … and AT&T is currently only downloading at 5 Mbs. I feel like Shannon before his recent upgrade.

  43. El Gordo Avatar
    El Gordo

    OK, here’s most likely the airplane involved, belonging to something called Martinaire or MRA685. Below you can see the flight plan and the actual radar returns. https://flightaware.com/live/flight/MRA685/history/20211221/1230Z/KIAH/KVCT Now I’m off to see what Martinaire is, and then we will go try to get some ATC radio traffic.

    Martainaire – https://www.martinaire.com/

  44. Tedtam Avatar
    Tedtam

    Hubby talked me into making an appointment with the chiropractor.

    Good call.

    As he was helping me sit up after jerking me around, he noticed my scapular, which had escaped from under my shirt. He asked about it, so I showed him my Miraculous medal in the front, and told him I had a St. Benedict medal in the back. (My scapular is not like most, which are two pieces of fabric connected by two pieces of string. Mine is a more sturdy design, and has pockets.) He asked about St. Benedict, and I told him that St. Benedict was a very strong saint, and while alive was well known for casting out demons.

    His response? “We need to send him to Washington!” The began quite a conversation. While not Catholic (he didn’t know my scapular), he is very Christian. He knows about what is going on at the Vatican, and in Washington, and he calls the whole thing demonic. “It has to be,” he said, “There’s no other good explanation for *all* of what’s going on!” He said it has to be a God thing that will end all this evil, or maybe the Second Coming itself. He and I agreed that prayer and being spiritually ready is the best way to prep.

  45. Tedtam Avatar
    Tedtam

    I’m muchly enjoying Joe Pags instead of Hannity today. He is so much easier to listen to, and I don’t have to hear about: martial arts, how SH is “the first” or “the only” to report on [insert topic here], how much he pays in taxes, how he’s going to move from NY…someday, repetitive tropes…What did I miss?

  46. Shannon Avatar
    Shannon

    I was just glad to realize your scapulas weren’t two-piece.

  47. Shannon Avatar
    Shannon

    Some hospitals across the country appear to be automatically granting monoclonal antibody treatments to patients of certain races while simultaneously denying them to patients of other races.

    Take the MacArthur Medical Center in Irving, Texas.

    Its website states that “Latin X or Black” patients automatically qualify for monoclonal antibody treatments. Others, such as those who are white, must instead qualify via other means — e.g., by being obese, by having heart disease, by being 65 or older, etc.

    https://www.bizpacreview.com/2021/11/14/texas-hhs-monoclonal-antibody-criteria-denies-treatment-to-healthy-covid-positive-white-people-under-65-1162935/

  48. wagonburner Avatar
    wagonburner

    your scapulas weren’t two-piece

    Good point. She has been known to be a bit of a hussy before.

  49. Tedtam Avatar
    Tedtam

    /eye roll

  50. wagonburner Avatar
    wagonburner

    47 shannon
    A colleague got the Death Flu a month or two ago. She checked the “morbidly obese” box even though she’s not. Nobody even blinked.

    As for me, I’m an oppressed minority, plus I’ll check one or more boxes, so I should be good to go.

  51. TexMo Avatar
    TexMo

    If I check the box for Jack Booted Thug, does that move me to the front of the monoclonal antibodies line?

  52. Katfish Avatar
    Katfish

    #42 – – Even though I despise Comcrap aka Comcast/Xfinity……..

    325 mbps down  /  12ish mbps UP

  53. Dr phil Good Avatar
    Dr phil Good

    I heard the half dead Wooden Dummy raised the threat level of the moronic variant from just plain cow manure to
    great big globs of greasy grimy bullsH@t logs,
    marinated all day long,
    turdy dirty birdie feet
    and him without a spoon.

  54. Bonecrusher Avatar
    Bonecrusher

    This guy works hard for his stuff.

  55. Adee Avatar
    Adee

    Good late afternoon Hamsters,

    Our project for today was to pay the property taxes on our house at the Fort Bend County Tax Assessor’s office in Richmond.  The mistake we made was arriving there the first time around noon to find two rows of vehicle drivers waiting to use the drive-up window instead of going inside.  After waiting at the tag end of one line for about 30 minutes and not seeing much movement at the head of the line(s), I went inside to check on that situation.  Not great, as the lobby was reconfigured for “Social Distancing” with chairs the holy 6-ft apart even out into the entry hall.  And lot of folks were standing because the holy seating arrangement was full.  That was not going to work either after I asked a gentleman coming out how long he had been in there.  He said about an hour and twenty minutes.

    So back to the car I went and suggested to spouse that we go to lunch as planned and then come back in hopes it would not be such a zoo.  Off to dine at the Olive Garden in the Rosenberg shopping center; that was busy but not crazy busy with parking spaces open near the restaurant.  The lunch was wonderful as usual, and we got back to the Tax Assessor’s Office shortly before 2 to find no double lines and only six vehicles ahead of us at the drive-up window.  Guess we had arrived earlier with the lunch crowd being most of the zoo.

    A sign along the drive to the window asked everyone to please have the complete information needed on your check payment as requested by the info sent with the tax notice form.  Lots of folks in the earlier double lines must not have seen that sign….  Our single line moved through efficiently, and the clerk taking the payments was cheerful and pleasant, and sent us off with a “Merry Christmas” wish.

    So it was back home around 3 with that accomplished and the receipt filed in the tax folder for 2021.  Now onward to enjoy Christmas.

  56. Tedtam Avatar
    Tedtam

    Yeah, I gotta start writing a buncha those checks to the county soon.

  57. El Gordo Avatar
    El Gordo

    I’m in process of conducting a sort of Internet of Things audit at my house the past few days. Santa came and brought me a new TV a week or so ago because the older one is on the way to giving up the ghost, and as I’ve mentioned, it’s one of those smart azzed TV’s. It has basicaslly removed the need for a Roku or Fire Stick, but that has precipitated other changes. My also old home theater system works sort of like a component stereo system. All the input devices, Roku, Fire Stick, DVD Blue Ray player all attach to the receiver, and you select which device you want the tuner to send up to the TV to watch. At the same time, it peels the sound off and directs it out to the speaker system all over the room. Sounds more complicated than it is, but it works just fine. Well, with the SA TV, all the input devices for video and sound come directly into the TV, so the trick is to direct the sound from the TV to the tuner device – the opposite of the way it has been set up. Turns out that requires the use of some electronic wizardry known as ARC, and both the TV and the tuner must be equipped with the proper ARC receptacles. Surprisingly, my old tuner did in fact have such wizardry built in but not clearly marked on the tuner itself – instead I made this discovery by plowing through the internet, locating the now obsolete manuals for the now obsolete tuner and making the proper connections – that only took a couple or three days. I happened to also have an old but still functional Optical Digital Cable which I tried, and it works but not nearly as well as the ARC design. And then of course, you have to know the secret sequence of which of several hundred buttons on the tuner remote to properly direct the sound signals. But let’s cut to the chase – it ‘s now working as designed and to my satisfaction I might add.

    The TV that the new one replaces decided to move into the master bedroom, which up until now has been without a TV. Some shrink or something one time told me that the bedroom was only for 2 things, sleeping and that other thing – not for watching TV. But again I digress. Also in the bedroom is one of my Kindle devices which I use to listen to all night radio sort of like white noise to cover the outside noises and the creaks and groans of this house – it’s also served by the internet. A little signal extender sits back there to supply limited internet service to the back bedrooms of the house. Guests can sue their computers or their phones back there without the signal dropping, but getting TV with a Fire Stick is another matter. So I’m still in the concept stage of figuring out the most efficient (cheapest) way to get improved internet signal back there. So in a nutshell, this is what triggered my conclusion that it is time for a complete audit of all my internet devices, my incoming internet speed, my router capabilities, and so forth. Turns out that I also utilize Blue Tooth quite a bit more than I realized, that virtually all my internet devices are bluetooth equipped, and that bluetooth itself shares the same frequency as one of the already overloaded wifi bands. But for example, by the time I got through with the new TV, it, plus the tuner, has 5 input devices all sucking on the internet signal, and of those 5 devices, 3 of them also are bluetooth users. The Maggie is also bluetooth equipped, and I have another computer set-up in that room which has the works – internet and bluetooth among them. Then there is my laptop which travels with me but which I bring inside and update periodically which has it all. In the back, both the Kindle and the old TV are bluetooth and internet dependent, and I use a set of bluetooth powered/equipped bookcase speakers to improve their sound output – same speakers for both devices, but can only use one device at a time. Similar situation in the kitchen/office – full array of computer devices, a TV, a Kindle, and another set of bookcase speakers. Believe it or not, my computer speakers are the old fashioned plug in kind so as to not interfere with the Kindle/TV shared bluetooth speakers. And let’s not forget the new SA phone which also uses internet and bluetooth. I’m sure there is other stuff out there I’ve forgotten, and when I had 3 visitors over T’giving, they each brought at least 1 computer and 1 phone with their associated demands on the system. Oh yes, let’s not forget about the wireless laser printer and the wireless ink jet printer, scanner, faxer, copier and whatever else it does. And then there is the security cam system, but it’s hard wired to the router rather than wireless.

    So anyway, I’ve been fortunate enough to enjoy fiber optic service for a few years, and when I switched over, I went for the minimum 4 Mbps which was the same speed that was top of the line with the copper phone line I previously had. My router is a Chinese knockoff that I got a couple of years ago when my system was blown up by a lightening strike which took out the phone company’s outside box on my house, and the inside guts of the connection they provide. In addition, my router was smoked as was the hard wired DVR which handles the security system – I don’t know why it didn’t go ahead and snuff out the cameras which it was at it. fortunately, the only things that blew up were the hard wired components and not the wireless stuff. So anyway, I’m looking at an upgrade to my router as well as increasing my incoming service speed.

    So logically, one could get a very high speed incoming speed and match it up with an underperforming router, ultimately paying for a lot of speed that never makes it to the end user. And of course, no need to put a high dollar router on an el cheapo incoming signal. So somewhere, there should be some correlation between the incoming speed from the ISP and the proper router performance to optimize that level of service in some sort of a balanced fashion. I mean this not not an office building or even that large a house. I can find all sorts of information about signal extenders, mesh systems for uniform coverage throughout a given area, and stated speeds for each of the two frequency bands being utilized. Wired is still a lot faster than wireless. The signal degrades over distances, is blocked by windows, walls, piping, wiring, etc. All the usual stuff. But where in the world do you go to figure out the optimum router speeds to optimize the incoming signal. I’ll tell you where not to go so far – the ISP tech support people, and the internet. Your best friend who knows everything about it is not a reliable source either.

    So there you have it – my dilemma for the week. Logically, after the usual sources have failed miserably, I though – why not bring it to the couch. The couch knows everything. So what’s the magic formula to match up a router with an incoming internet signal to optimize both. There might be a free, slightly used, Chinese knock off, white, like new, well working router with 4 antennas in it for someone with the correct answer.

    Was I longer than the C&C today?

    So I have concluded that

    And t

    PS: I don’t know where those tag lines came from. Just insert them at the appropriate place if you actually decide to read this.

  58. El Gordo Avatar
    El Gordo

    I may have failed to mention that the drain in my bathroom lavatory decided to break off just above the P-trap connection this morning, so in addition to all my other executive duties, I also replaced that with a new drain pipe. That 20 minute job only took me 3 1/2 hours – the reason I was able to do it so fast is that the only thing I had to go out and purchase was plumber’s putty. I actually had a new drain pipe on hand for some reason.

  59. Katfish Avatar
    Katfish

    #55 – MsAdee – Ft Bend County doesn’t accept online payments?

  60. Hamous Avatar
    Hamous

    57. Holy cow. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you write that much. I thought we were getting a “coffee & covid” twofer today.

  61. TexMo Avatar
    TexMo

    Gordo, I do not have a magic correlation for ISP speed vs modem speed. I would think ideally you would want them to match up. I found out today that my modem is supposedly good up to 400 Mbps though the fastest speed I can get is a tad over 100 Mbps.

    If you think your internet provider will offer gigabit speeds in the near future you could try to future proof your purchase and get a modem/router that can handle those higher speeds.

  62. Shannon Avatar
    Shannon

    Wagonburner, et. al.,

    Just saw a news story on KHOU that the current formulations of Monoclonal Antibodies have no effect on the new Omicron strain of COVID and Hermann Memorial has suspended giving the antibodies.

    I assume other entities will follow.

  63. TexMo Avatar
    TexMo

    I totally missed this story when it happened four months ago. A probably drunk former Sugar Land police officer shot his next door neighbor in the stomach after walking across his driveway. The family hired Wayne Dolcefino to investigate.

    Lots of funny stuff in the body cam footage like turning them off or covering them up. The Pakistani community calls this a hate crime, but it sounds more like the guy had one too many which impaired his judgment. More disturbing to me is that SLPD seems a little too close to this and it now gives the impression of corruption.

  64. Shannon Avatar
    Shannon

    By the way, Spec’s finally got in a limited shipment of Pennsylvania Dutch Egg Nog. I got their last bottle in Brenham. And it was a big 1.75 liter.

    Oh well. Drink up!!

  65. TexMo Avatar
    TexMo

    current formulations of Monoclonal Antibodies have no effect on the new Omicron strain of COVID and Hermann Memorial has suspended giving the antibodies.

    How convenient! The Dems really do want a Winter of Death.

  66. TexMo Avatar
    TexMo

    I haven’t had any egg nog all season. I’d better hurry up and get some. I am the only one in the house that likes the stuff.

  67. Katfish Avatar
    Katfish

    #61 – If you think your internet provider will offer gigabit speeds in the near future you could try to future proof your purchase and get a modem/router that can handle those higher speeds.

    trust me – modernizing a modem is ONLY part of what it takes to garner GIG speed – one needs current day NEW equipment from the wall to the PC

  68. Hamous Avatar
    Hamous

    Maybe you don’t need mommaclonyauntibobbies with omigod veryaunt because it’s no worse than the common cold.

  69. Shannon Avatar
    Shannon

    57 ELG

    Well, now I know what that ARC input on my TV is for.

    Sort of.

    When I plugged in the Firestick I just used the other Input, cause I didn’t know what the ARC one was for.

    I don’t suppose there are any Dumb TV’s anymore, which will just cause problems when I upgrade, obviously.

  70. El Gordo Avatar
    El Gordo

    Fundamentally, the ARC input is also an output. It can be used to connect theater systems, sound bars, stereo systems, stuff like that to send the audio out to the speaker system. Otherwise, it can still be used like a regular HDMI port.

    #61, 67 – I’m not going to the 6 system. I simply cannot justify it, and I’m not a gamer. Same with the mesh setup. I’m not spending more on my router than I paid for my TV.

    I’m in process of breaking the code to some extent here. The router is responsible for managing all the equipment on your in house network, regardless of the speed being sent by your ISP. So the determination of what router you might need is dependent upon the number of devices you are working on your network at any given time. Now I’ve sort of got the concept, but I still don’t have the numbers or rules of thumb. But I’ve got to think with as many devices as I am fooling with around here I could probably use a beefed up router with a MIMO antenna system. My little dinky range extender in the back is treated by the router as just one more device to be serviced – all the devices hooked up to the extender network behind it are treated as one device by the router. So saying that, the little dinky range extender does not have the capacity to handle the requirements of a TV plus other devices. I’ll have to find another solution for the back area if I want to watch TV back there, but the extender does do an adequate job for taking care of guests computers and phones and the like.

  71. Adee Avatar
    Adee

    #59 Katfish,

    Yes, Fort Bend County does accept online payments.

    It’s just that I prefer to go there in person and have the receipt in hand right then rather than wait for pay by mail or online to get a receipt.  Said receipt goes immediately into the property tax folder for easy reference come income tax time. We are over 65 and so have school taxes frozen, the biggest bite of all.  So the only taxes that vary from year to year are the county drainage district and the county itself.  We have a Richmond mailing address but are in the county not the city so there is no city tax.

     

    The county is getting so big so fast that the crowd should not have been a surprise at all.

  72. Katfish Avatar
    Katfish

    #71- MsAdee surely YOUR choice dear!

    I get a receipt the instant I hit “print”…………..

  73. Tedtam Avatar
    Tedtam

    I promised the chiropractor that I’d ice my back this evening. I had a coupla jars of soup left over from dinner the other night, and I needed to either can ’em or freeze ’em. I had some ground beef in the freezer, so I got it out, defrosted it, and cooked it so I could fill three jars with beef. So I have 3 quarts of beef, 2 quarts of soup, and one pint of soup in process.

    I did all that with a cold pack stuffed in the back of my shorts. I swapped it out for a cold pack and am sitting down watching Tucker and trying not think I have a poopy diaper on.

  74. Tedtam Avatar
    Tedtam

    Is Elon Musk an African-American? Really?

  75. Shannon Avatar
    Shannon

    So a couple of weeks ago I bought a few pounds of HEB Bacon Ends & Pieces. I don’t remember the price but it was substantially less than sliced bacon.

    I cubed it all up and flat-packed it in several 1quart freezer bags.

    Sure is nice to grab a handful and throw into green beens or just about anything else.

    We don’t buy regular bacon anymore. No place in my budget for it.

    WHICH REALLY SUCKS.

  76. Tedtam Avatar
    Tedtam

    Ah, Canadian mother, South African father, and raised in Pretoria, SA.

    So, right country, but pale skin. Got it.I guess he qualifies as African.

    hahahahahahaaaaaa

    That must drive liberals nuts.

  77. Texpat Avatar
    Texpat

    74 Tedtam

    Elon was born in South Africa.  What’s the question again ?

  78. Tedtam Avatar
    Tedtam

    I used to work with a pale skinned, blue-eyed, blonde woman who checked off “Hispanic” on her EEO forms. Her family has lived in Mexico for 400 years, so….

  79. Texpat Avatar
    Texpat

    Worrying about the price of bacon is not a budget item for me, thank God.

    One less thing on my large list of things to worry about in this world.

  80. Shannon Avatar
    Shannon

    Kinky.

  81. Tedtam Avatar
    Tedtam

    #77

    He was referred to as an “African American,” as in “Elizabeth Warren was criticizing the world’s most successful African American”.

  82. Texpat Avatar
    Texpat

    81 Tedtam

    “Elizabeth Warren was criticizing the world’s most successful African American”.

    I like that a lot.  Nice touch.

  83. Texpat Avatar
    Texpat

    78 Tedtam

    There are a lot more European and Middle Eastern mixed-race residents of Mexico and Latin America than the typical American has a clue about.  Many have been there for generations, not only in Central America, South America, but also in the Caribbean Islands.  Argentina and Chile are a whole other story.

  84. Tedtam Avatar
    Tedtam

    Oh, I know…but it’s gotta drive the libs crazy. They think all Mexicans are indigenous natives who speak only Spanish and cannot live without the help of their Democrat overlords.

  85. Shannon Avatar
    Shannon

    Going down to the Appraisal District Office between Christmas and New Years is something of a tradition. No drive-thru here. But never had any more than one person ahead of me in line. I enjoy saying hi to my friends who work there.

    But then, the population of Austin County is only 30,000.

    95th largest county in Texas – out of 254. Pretty amazing stat.

  86. Tedtam Avatar
    Tedtam

    Pressure is building in my canner, and I have a new cold poopy diaper thingie on my back.

    Maybe I’ll pull out my Latin book. Canning will required my attention for at least the next 1.5 hours. More like 2.

  87. Super Dave Avatar
    Super Dave

    Who knew that Barney Fife used to race twin engine go carts?…He better watch out though, those “twin” anti-aircraft guns might take out an eye. 😈

  88. Super Dave Avatar
    Super Dave

    Mercy! A 1960 Chevrolet Impala with 348 V8 engine (original engine) with Tri Power. 4 speed manual transmission. Power steering / Manual brakes. Nice Roman Red paint with factory style Ciadella interior.It can be yours for $70K. 😉

  89. Shannon Avatar
    Shannon

    There are 159 counties in Texas with less than 30,000 residents?

    Yep. Including San Saba County with 6331.

  90. Shannon Avatar
    Shannon

    It’s a good thing that pressure isn’t building in her cold poopy diaper thingy.

  91. Katfish Avatar
    Katfish

    #88 – DAYUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMIT!!

  92. Hamous Avatar
    Hamous

    The new Brandon plan: A test kit in every medicine cabinet and three jabs in every arm.

  93. Shannon Avatar
    Shannon

    I forgot to mention that a fully-restored-looking, late 60’s, red, Chevy Impala convertible was hanging around town this evening.

  94. Shannon Avatar
    Shannon

    The new top on that Impala convertible was pretty new. It was whiter than Elon Musk.

  95. Hamous Avatar
    Hamous

    My neighbor a few houses down has a sweet 66 Galaxie much like this.

  96. Tedtam Avatar
    Tedtam

    I see there’s a movement to put Elon Musk in charge of the Fed.

    Actually, he’s a better choice than most folks suggested for that spot.

  97. El Gordo Avatar
    El Gordo

    Bedtime for Bozo out here in the country. You all have a good evening, and we’ll get another shot at it again tomorrow I hope. Meanwhile, nite, nite.

  98. mharper42 Avatar
    mharper42

    It’s a good thing I went out with camera last night after dark and got pix of the 7 winning yards in our annual Christmas Decoration judging. Not sure when the theft happened, but our Best Theme winner reported today that the largest element of his yard design was stolen. It was a Mickey Mouse Christmas theme, and there was a huge Mickey head in the center of the yard that was a component of some sort of projector.

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