I’ve sensed that you people have become complacent, so here you go.
Ta-da!!! Weekend Open Forum
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156 responses to “Ta-da!!! Weekend Open Forum”
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Who knew that the gay thing has even polluted the world of rodents?
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Good morning Couch rodents.
mharper42
Do you get my point that since there was no new digging over almost all the distance between front curb and the back corner of my house — this means they MUST HAVE put the yellow hose inside the old metal pipe?? Otherwise how would they get the new pipe underground?It’s quite possible that a boring machine was used to install the new tubing across that distance, negating the need to dig a trench.
Take it from me, boring machines are notorious for chewing through water lines.
I’m highly skeptical that the new tubing was threaded through the old pipe.
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It’s the weekend!
Mornin’ Gang -
Loitering Munitions In Ukraine And Beyond
Loitering Munitions Explained
Loitering munitions are in a category of their own. It is misleading to simply bin them with drones. They are more akin to a smart missile than an aircraft. In fact, U.S. manufacturer AeroVironment calls its Switchblade systems “loitering missiles.” Like a missile, these systems are consumable. Loitering munitions are one-time-use weapons designed to find a target and crash into it, giving it its “kamikaze” nickname. Once airborne, loitering munitions can hunt for a target by a human-driven process from a control station, autonomous flight with authority to strike designated targets, or a combination of these methods. Although there are options for recovering some models that do not engage a target, the munition is generally assumed expended once launched. This is essential to understanding their potential role in the Ukraine conflict, as the loitering munitions the United States is providing are likely to be expended quickly.
Soldiers are not reliant on airfields or large open areas to employ these weapons. Thus, like the handheld Javelin anti-armor systems having great success in Ukraine, the man-portable nature of most loitering munitions allows small units to discreetly deploy the weapon across the battlefield. The munition’s launch style varies by type, including a mounted or ground-based catapult system, a modified mortar tube, and a vertical multi-rotor lift. Once airborne, the system is designed to “loiter,” thus the name, for an extended time. The loiter time varies between models. Those being used in Ukraine can stay airborne from 30 to 60 minutes, while some Israeli systems can loiter for nine hours.
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I’m 99.9% certain that they aren’t putting the new pipe inside the old pipe.
I remember back in the 90’s when the cable company was installing fiber optics in the Clear Lake Area. They used an out of state contractor with those boring machine and I have no idea how many water lines they cut. Everyday driving home I’d see one or more places where they were repairing the water lines. Eventually they made it to our neighborhood and if I saw a break I knew I’d not have water at the house. I’m sure they must have whacked a few gas lines but I never noticed any heroic efforts to repair those. I’m pretty sure they spent as much time repairing water lines as they did burying cable.
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The Latest Aid Package to Ukraine Is a Major Escalation of Support
April 20, 2022U.S. aid packages to Ukraine have become routine—four in the last three months—but the recently announced $800 million package is different. It expands support by including major crew-operated weapons and, for the first time, major U.S. weapons. The latter requires Ukrainians to be trained by U.S. troops. The package acknowledges the provision of Soviet-era weapons and, by what it does not include, implies that supplies of Javelins and Stingers may be getting low. The inclusion of items that will take weeks to deliver indicates that the United States now expects a long war. Finally, the U.S. record of providing about $52 million a day of military support means that the next aid package will be announced in late April and may involve another escalation.
Let’s start with the biggest change: the provision of major U.S. weapons. Until now, the United States has provided self-contained munitions like Javelins and Stingers. This package includes two major crew-operated weapons: 18 howitzers and 200 M113 armored personnel carriers (APCs).
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5 Super Dave
Verizon fiber contractors hit my water lines 29 times in four weeks on HWY105 between Washington and Brenham in 2014.
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#2
mharper42
You might want to look around the neighborhood and see if you see one of these working in the area.Ditch Witch Directional Boring Machine
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I agree with the boring machines. They require a put at each end, to send and receive the “torpedo” that burrow through the dirt, but otherwise are unseen as they create a passage in the dirt.
Some are send and go, requiring some skill in the placement at the sending out to make sure it doesn’t erupt in the middle of the street or turn down or sideways, ending up in an unexpected area. Hubby was very good at that. Even then, if they hit an obstruction, they can still be sent off course.
The kind down in the picture in #8 is a directional boring machine. More expensive, and it requires someone to monitor its progress. There are plates on the torpedo that can be manipulated to turn the machine to avoid obstacles IF THE OBSTACLES ARE KNOWN.
If your backyard wasn’t flagged or marked, they were guessing at your water line location.
Get pictures of the damage, the truck, and the crew if possible. Note the date of the damage and any details NOW.
When a crew broke a fitting on MIL’s meter, it leaked underground into her ditch for days before the leak was found. The city still wanted her to pay for the lost water. WE ARE TALKING THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS. even though we had the broken fitting, they refused to acknowledge that their crew caused the damage. They settled for not charging her the sewage rate, cutting the bill in half. MIL set up a payment plan of$25 a month. She still owed on it when she died.
Then they tried to make Handsome Son pay her bill, until we presented them with a legal reference that what they were doing was illegal and they could be sued.
Get the info and contact the city now to let them know of the damage caused by the crew. Your bill should be adjusted. Since they are your only source for water, they have you over a barrel and can charge you for the lost water.
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Morning gang. Looks like we’ve got some early birds out today, so that’s nice to see. We’ve just got more wind to look forward to best as I can tell. Maybe a chance of rain tomorrow or Monday, but those chances seldom pan out for us out here. I’ll be checking on the plants after it gets a little more light out there. Now it’s off for coffee and a big dose of knowledge. Have a great one.
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mharper’s discussion of the incident indicated that the damage was known, the water was turned off, and the repair made immediately. She probably won’t notice any change in the water bill.
However, documenting the incident is a good idea, just in case the repair subsequently fails.
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Happy Satiddy Yall!
I’m monitoring 3x shipper owned 40′ high cube containers going to Wando terminal in Charleston for export.
Ya think that terminal is busy this mornin?
(link to the gate cam)
https://scspa.com/solutions-center/wando-welch-inbound-camera/
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mharper’s discussion of the incident indicated that the damage was known, the water was turned off, and the repair made immediately. She probably won’t notice any change in the water bill.
I wouldn’t count on it. Having dealt with this before, I highly suggest that she document the incident and call the city water department now, to have her concerns on record before any time passes and deniability becomes easier for the city. “What, that crew was there a month ago! What makes you think you didn’t damage your water line yourself?”
Because…any entity that would try to stick an heir with his grandmother’s water bill, knowing the law, would not surprise me to hit Mharper with the cost of their mistake.
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I am not required to be obedient to things I believe are evil. I am required, however, to pray for the Pope. I do. I pray for his spiritual salvation and for his holy intentions. I will not pray for his modernistic destruction of the Faith.
Love “Return to Tradition”.
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Big Mike is bringing his transit over this morning to see how many loads of dirt we’ll need for my new pole-barn. The slope drops off pretty good at the first terrace and it can be deceiving just how low the ground level is past the yard. We’ll also measure and flag the area. SO! I guess I’ll go put on some pants,… 😀 …Just kidding.
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Utility Line Locating Contractors do not flag residential water lines on the customer’s side of the meter. There is no dependable technology to locate underground water lines, short of digging to find them. Ground penetrating radar only works in certain soil types.
Tracer wires are usually installed along with water mains but rarely are they done in the residential landscape. Although I have heard of some irrigators doing it. Sometimes.
Tracer wires are rare in rural water systems.
Although that is changing. -
The only way to be sure that you don’t have a measurable water leak is to turn off everything in the house and yard, go out to the meter and see if it is turning.
Everyone should do it. Often.
No, I don’t do it either.
And I’ve never known anyone who does. -
Utility Line Locating Contractors do not flag residential water lines on the customer’s side of the meter. There is no dependable technology to locate underground water lines, short of digging to find them.
Hubby has a line locating machine. He’s been known to clip onto the water line (if it’s galvanized) and trace it out.
But most water lines are pvc now, so that doesn’t work so much any more. Unless there’s a tracer line on it.
When we had a new cable line buried in our yard, I went out there and put a tracer line down with it so they would be buried together.
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#18
Bet I could find your cable with a shovel, I’m kinda special like that.
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This is sad; NHRA set to close out Houston Raceway Park in style with Spring Nationals.
GJT mentioned that the Baytown track was closing, a while back.The NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series is set to make its final appearance at Houston Raceway Park, closing out a long and illustrious history at the legendary track on April 22-24 with the 35th annual NHRA SpringNationals.
The final NHRA national event in Houston is also the fifth race of the 2022 season, and it promises to be one to remember. Already approaching sell-out status for the historic weekend, fans are eager to be part of the final race at a facility that has produced countless memories for more than three decades and has annually been one of the largest sporting events in Southeast Texas.
“It looks like our final NHRA race will be one for the record books,” Houston Raceway Park General Manager Seth Angel said. “We’ve already sold out of all the full-event packages for both the Nitro Club and the Top Eliminator Club and single-day passes for both of those areas are becoming pretty scarce. Tickets in the remainder of the grandstands are selling quickly, so we’re recommending any interested fans jump on HoustonRaceway.com as soon as possible to get their tickets. We don’t want anyone to miss out.”
Renowned for its sea-level location and storied reputation as one of the fastest tracks on the NHRA circuit, Houston Raceway Park hosted its first national event in 1988 and has been home to several memorable moments and record-breaking performances over the years, including the first four-second pass in NHRA history from Top Fuel’s Eddie Hill, John Force’s 100th win, and many more.
I was there when Eddie Hill set a new, (4.936-second E.T.) in the quarter mile.
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Just remember………….
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SD
One of the local stations ran a feature about a lady racer competing there this weekend.They said it’s a sellout all weekend.
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Tedtam
Here’s a Campus Reform article with more details on the culture wars at TAMU.
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There was another bill DeSantis signed that didn’t get the attention the Reedy Creek District revocation bill did.
Before the leaked footage exposing the “not-at-all-secret gay agenda” in children’s programming and the push to provide corporate funds for gender reassignment procedures for children, The Walt Disney Company’s “Reimagine Tomorrow” initiative was already under fire for promoting critical race theory and other “woke” ideologies in their training and treatment of . Such ideologies could potentially conflict with the new legislation.
The new legislation also appears to fly in the face of Disney’s new corporate values. The new law fights against the idea that “an individual, by virtue of his or her race, color, sex, or national origin, should be discriminated against or receive adverse treatment to achieve diversity, equity, or inclusion.”
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Shannon
The only way to be sure that you don’t have a measurable water leak is to turn off everything in the house and yard, go out to the meter and see if it is turning.
Everyone should do it. Often.
No, I don’t do it either.
And I’ve never known anyone who does.Granny Cracker Box, just like clockwork, got up every Saturday morning and did just that, She was so cute standing out at the water meter in her night gown smoking a nickel cigar studying the meter.
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About the Union Pacific screw job on the American people from yesterday’s thread:
These are the major shareholders in UP.
There is some real monkey business going on and We The People are about to take it even harder in the shorts.
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Whut Happened?! Did Shannon trip over the power cord?
Earlier I got; Problem loading page. The connection has timed out. & Server not found. The connection has timed out. I gave up after 15 minutes though. -
I ran over the cord with the lawn mower.
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Attention !
Our ISP, Bluehost, has been having problems today. We don’t know whether it is a scheduled maintenance issue or some other cause. When the entire system goes down, there are inevitable hiccups along the way.
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I blame the gay rodent.
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BLUEHOST IS UPDATING SERVERS.
EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED AND DENIALS OF SERVICE.
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“A university that turns itself into an asylum from controversy has ceased to be a university; it has just become an asylum.”
-Judge Stanley Marcus, Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals
A free speech advocacy group sues the UCF administration over their unconstitutional policies and the school claims they don’t have standing. Appeals court thoroughly and eloquently disagrees. From the Institute for Justice newsletter:
Eleventh Circuit: Not only does the nonprofit group Speech First have standing to challenge the University of Central Florida’s discriminatory-harassment and bias-related-incidents policies, it’s entitled to a preliminary injunction on the former (and the district court should consider a PI for the latter on remand). Concurrence: “A university that turns itself into an asylum from controversy has ceased to be a university; it has just become an asylum.”
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There. Now you know.
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#8
Yep, there is one of those things on my driveway today. Why? Well, they couldn’t get into 80-y.o. neighbor’s back yard so they are doing his boring from my driveway. Not a freaking word did they come and talk to me or him first. Just drove that thing up my driveway and started poking around at the base of his 8′ high brick wall that separates our properties. (He had that put up because he didn’t like the people that David & I bought this house from in 1995.)
I took some pix of the busted up cement chunks around the muddy hole.
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Back with you out here in centex. I thought maybe the wind had blown the power generating windmill over or something. And for the record, I do periodically check my water meter to see if the little wheel is turning. One drop leaking out somewhere and that wheel will be moving. Lawn is still brown and bone dry from winter and has never greened up at all this spring due to lack of water. It’s useless to try to use the sprinkler system when the wind is blowing like it has been for the past 7 weeks, night and day. Rain is the only solution.
I recharged the hummer feeders today, added water to the animal troughs outside, refilled the bird feeder with black oil sunflower seeds, watered all the plants, and looked for ant beds to treat. I just don’t like getting a lot of wind to blow stuff in my eyes and make me sneeze for about a week. So I’m still sort of laying low even though the OAT is very pleasant right now.
OK, that’s about all for now. More later.
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#9, #11
Thanks for the warnings, TT & Shannon. The broken water line repair was made yesterday, and my main complaint was that they did not WARN me of mud in the lines until I had gotten it all cleared away. I just went outside again and looked at the ground from the site of the break, all the way slightly downslope to the water meter near the front curb. All was dry. But they did a very crappy job of smoothing out the yard where they had to dig down to repair the water leak. No grass survives over a 6′ x 6′ area, but plenty of tree roots sticking up from the dirt. I don’t have any plants near that corner of the house, so I expect those roots came from trees in the east-side neighbor’s yard. (Not the 80 y.o. — he’s on the other side of Chez Harp, where they just busted up my driveway to drill under his brick wall.)
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I don’t have to worry about my broken driveway being repaired. A neighbor had her driveway destroyed a couple weeks ago and they fixed it.
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Jut think if I had been out of the house (like working all day) — and didn’t even know these diggers had been at my house. Then get home, ready to fix supper, and find that the kitchen faucet and indeed all the water lines were spewing mud.
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The way the local utility company here is redoing the natgas system is they’re laying in new gas mains in all the streets. Then they come back with a boring machine to each house that sleeves over the old line with a larger diameter tubing. They have to come into each residence or commercial building to do the final hookup because all the gas meters up here are in basements or, in the case of new construction without a basement, in the garage.
Bottom line is they have torn up even newly paved streets and created roads like washboards everywhere. Their patching will get washed out in the first snowstorm next fall. The only good thing is people (all the older homes) will now be able to install standby generators if they want. The available gas volume was too small for the older homes in this area previously.
I spoke to a utility company foreman who told me the new residential supply tubing wasn’t actually larger than the old lines, but it is safer and stronger allowing them to increase the PSI from 4-5 lbs. to 7-8 lbs. I was a little surprised to find that out.
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My gas meter is at the back of the house, but I think I heard, when this project was first announced. that after the meter is working, they will come in and restart your water heater. They are putting in new meters, so I guess that means they will remove the old one. But who knows, maybe they won’t remove the old one.
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I had started to eat lunch, but heard a horrendous noise outside, sounded like they decided to drill through that brick wall after all. Went out to see and the noise was on the other side of the brick wall, so I can’t see what they are doing now. That back yard is almost all “paved”, several places for fish tanks and a swimming pool that takes up the rest of the space. Something is being drilled through.
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40 mharper
But who knows, maybe they won’t remove the old one.
Oh, you can bet they will. My local utility, PSE&G, did a study some years back and found the standard gas meters they use and you see across the country always tend to favor the homeowner instead of the supplier as they get older. They had not realized how much money they were losing and replaced every meter for every customer – probably cost them millions.
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Proposed math instruction sample thrown out by DeSantis.
From Ace of Spades HQ.
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Sarge, Super Dave, et al,
Anybody here ever been to the National WW2 Museum in New Orleans?
The museum focuses on the contribution made by the United States to Allied victory in World War II. Founded in 2000, it was later designated by the U.S. Congress as America’s official National WWII Museum in 2003.[2] The museum is a Smithsonian Institution affiliated museum,[3] as part of the Smithsonian Institution’s outreach program.[4] The mission statement of the museum emphasizes the American experience in World War II.[5]
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Good afternoon, Hamsters
Windy, light overcast, 83, and 62% humidity here on the banks of the Brazos at Richmond. which leaves us awaiting the cool front due on Monday to bring things back to normal for April. Front is supposed to bring rain with it, but we are not holding our breath on that one. Sprinkler still comes on every other day. The dry pastures are not as green as the yards are now. Almost all of the trees are sporting full leaf canopies, other than some straggling pecans that are only partway out now. Remains to be seen if any of those are sick rather than just slow.
A cardinal pair have been around near the house for several days, and we think they are looking for a nesting place. It might be the same pair that have set up a home for the last two years. Or maybe one of the kids born here is returning to nest. Have not yet found it, just hear chirping voices nearby.
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Good afternoon, Hamsters
Windy, light overcast, 83, and 62% humidity here on the banks of the Brazos at Richmond. Which leaves us awaiting the cool front due on Monday to bring things back to normal for April. Front is supposed to bring rain with it, but we are not holding our breath on that one. Sprinkler still comes on every other day. The dry pastures are not as green as the yards are now. Almost all of the trees are sporting full leaf canopies, other than some straggling pecans that are only partway out now. Remains to be seen if any of those are sick rather than just slow.
A cardinal pair has been around near the house for several days, and we think they are looking for a nesting place. It might be the same pair that have set up a home for the last two years. Or maybe one of the kids born here is returning to nest. Have not yet found it, just hear chirping voices nearby.
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Anybody here ever been to the National WW2 Museum in New Orleans?
Nope but it is on my list. I hear it is great and a buddy of mine really loved the Higgins LSTs. One of the best museums I’ve been to the NAS Pensacola Aviation Museum and of course the Nimitz. FWIW; it took me three trips to pretty much take in all of the Nimitz. Well not really, to read and interact with all the exhibits would take a week.
I support the Nimitz and the WASP Museums along with the Tuskegee Airmen. (Not been there yet?!) -
#47 Super Dave
We also support the Admiral Nimitz Museum in Fredericksburg. There is always something new every time we go there. Will be there a couple of days next week.
It’s a good get-away town for a couple of days.
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Granddaughter’s undefeated softball team (9 yrs old) played the only other undefeated team today for their final regular season game and won 3-0! Oldest son is coach. Both teams came to play and it was fun to watch. Defense and pitching was intense for both sides, pitching was the difference. Great job Dolphins!
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Well we have a Carpet Bagger trying to win Shelby’s Senate seat. We have many BTW.
Mike Durant -
Shannon and Adee, if you’ve not been to Vicksburg National Military Park you really need to go. When you see the battlefield and the advantage that the Confederates had, you had to feel sorry for the Yankees but they prevailed after serious losses. Of course taking back the Mississippi was a major turning point in the war. I’ve been twice and plan to take the wife soon.
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GJT
Sounds great.One of my fond memories is playing chauffeur to Fay and her mother following Fay’s two nephews excel throughout little league. These boys were cousins by two of Fay’s sisters.
After that, they both had success football and baseball. As seniors, they were on the last Bellville High team to make the state final. Watched them play at Disch Falk.
One of them ended up punting for Sam, setting a few records.
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Have I mentioned lately that the wind is blowing out here?
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#52
Its a lot of fun if you have a young in to root for, if not, not so much lol. It’s very rewarding watching them progress year to year.
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Fay’s mother was a woman who loved her sports. She was in 7th heaven watching her grandsons play. Especially baseball.
She rarely missed any game played by her four daughters.
Evelyn was a German woman of some stature. Five foot 11.5” in her prime according to Fay.
A woman of grace, humor, and talent. Sang and played piano in a couple of bands in this region.
Gave it all up to have a few daughters. 🙂
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Later in life Evelyn and her two best friends would spend a morning phone call recapping the previous evening’s Astros radio broadcast.
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I just realized my sailing ship avatar has disappeared.
Bummer. I darn sure don’t have that photo anymore.
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ElGordo
Local weather guy says the winds should abate somewhat by Wednesday.
I don’t recall getting an Annoying Wind forecast here.
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#57 Shannon
I see a boat of some kind…
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Sarge, Super Dave, et al,
Anybody here ever been to the National WW2 Museum in New Orleans?
Like Dave, its on my list—on the back burner—partly due to hesitation about going to downtown Nawlins, and partly because my good friend Martin KA Morgan is no longer the Research Historian there, having left to pursue a career in History media, so the chances of the back room tour have diminished considerably. He worked there early in the museum’s history, back when it was called the D Day Museum and Steven Ambrose was on the Board and in conversations with him I know the collection is excellent and the interpretive focus is spot on.
Marty has had a couple of semi-successful series on some of the lesser known History channels, and has advised video game developers for WW2 games. He’s happy, but I rather think his talents would be better served at the museum. Here’s his YouTube channel.
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I have returned from my wildflower road trip that I took with a friend from my previous parish. I drove to Buc-ees in Waller, then I asked her “right or left?”
We did that quite often. There were no plans, no trip planning, just a “Which way now?” at every intersection. We passed through farmland and small towns, including the bustling metropolis of Racoon Bend. We stopped in Hempstead at a plant/herb business, where we purchased various plants and had a leisurely lunch at the attached diner, where we enjoyed incredibly fresh salads and a very delicious chicken popper salad. Most meat salads are 80% mayonnaise; not this one. Seeded and roasted jalapeno, chicken, and other fresh ingredients made it delicious. My friend ordered a second salad to take home for dinner, she enjoyed it so much. Fortunately, I thought ahead and had a cooler in the car for just such a purpose.
We finished with a trip to see her son and his fiancee in Willis, then came on home. I sprayed some poison ivy in the back yard and I think I need to put batteries in the sprayer since it quit working. It’s dinner time.
The bluebonnets were on their way out, with only patches of blue instead of fields of brilliant blue, but the Indian paintbrushes, Indian blankets, coreopsis, primrose, and poppies were out in force. I found a beautiful pale purple salvia that I liked very much, along with some berries. There were some deep purple flowers (cornflowers?) mixed in.
It was nice to spend the day with a friend and just enjoy this beautiful state that I consider such a blessing.
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The C&C was late coming out today, so I’m just now able to post it….
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Coffee & Covid ☙ Saturday, April 23, 2022 ☙ UNFLATTERING EMOJIS
Happy Saturday, C&C! It’s a quick update today, because now I’m off to Jacksonville, having just spent an hour in the hotel lobby in Tallahassee chatting with Dr. McCullough about wide ranging topics including faith, family, Covid, his lawsuit, my lawsuit, Fauci, fitness, and — of course — jab science. With coffee. The good doctor has a brilliant mind and is one of the best public speakers you could ask for, possibly the most effective champion for drug safety of our generation. He’s done more to push back against mandates than any single other health professional, at great personal cost.If I ever agree to another four-day speaking tour, somebody please stop me. I’m starting to feel like I’m trapped in a Johnny Cash song … “I’ve been everywhere, man, I’ve been everywhere…”
Jacksonville, here I come. Get ready.
/snip
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*COVID NEWS AND COMMENTARY*Bloomberg reported yesterday that, in spite of poison pills, DOJ “investigations” and SEC threats, scrappy entrepreneur Elon Musk is still in the fight to buy Twitter, having made some solid progress this week. The financial mag’s article is headlined, “Musk Swayed Wall Street by Pitching His Vision for Twitter.”
According to the article, last weekend Musk’s financial team put on a Powerpoint for some of the biggest banks on Wall Street, like Morgan Stanley, explaining how Twitter’s business could be run better, and how the struggling social media company’s revenues could be improved. Details of Musk’s plan aren’t public, but we have some hints, including a tweet about his plans to authenticate Twitter users and, hilariously, stop paying Twitter’s fatcat board members.
Most of the banks who saw the presentation over Easter weekend signed commitment letters by Wednesday, after pulling several all-nighters analyzing the newly-disclosed information about Musk’s plans.
Even more entertaining news surfaced yesterday in the roiling waters of the Twitter acquisition financial tsunami. According to a short series of leaked text messages, Bill Gates had reached out to Musk and the two had a brief disagreement of sorts. Here’s what the text messages that we know about said, and I am not making this up:GATES: Just landed.
MUSK: Cool. Do you still have a half billion-dollar short position against Tesla?
GATES: Sorry to say I haven’t closed it out. I would like to discuss philanthropy possibilities.
MUSK: Sorry, but I cannot take your philanthropy on climate change seriously when you have a massive short position against Tesla, the company doing the most to solve climate change.
Boom! Get stuffed, Gates, you hypocrite! And just to make sure Gates got the message, Musk then tweeted an unflattering pot-bellied, man-boobed picture of the tech billionaire, comparing him to Apple’s new “pregnant man” emoji.
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1517707521343082496?s=20&t=JgsT3gbBREXabd0Hh9FTdAin case u need to lose a boner fast
April 23rd 2022
Hahaha! For those of you who don’t follow the nuances, a “short position” is a public bet that a company will perform badly or even fail. Large outstanding short positions tend to depress a stock’s price just by existing, because they send signals to the market that people “in the know” must know something bad. Musk is rightly annoyed that Gates is betting so big and so publicly that Tesla will fail. Gates, for his part, is a pretty cheeky little bugger, pestering Musk for money for his ludicrous climate change plans while simultaneously betting against Musk’s electric car venture.
I vote we all use Apple’s loopy new emoji for “Bill Gates.” What do you think?
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The Wall Street Journal ran an interesting article earlier this month headlined, “Vaccine Makers Pfizer, Moderna Hire New CFOs.” It’s curious timing that both Covid vaccine makers replaced their CFO’s at the same time, although it’s not easy to explain why apart from pure coincidence. The twitteratti speculated that the CFO’s must be ditching a sinking ship of jabs, but there isn’t any hard evidence for that beyond the timing. The Journal’s article explained how both companies are looking for new ways to invest all the covid cash they’ve skillfully siphoned out of taxpayers, like by buying up a bunch of smaller pharma companies, implying that the firms are seeking new CFO’s with experience in large-scale acquisitions.
I find it hard to imagine how Pfizer and Moderna getting bigger could be good for anybody, but that’s just me. Of course, I’m just a lawyer, not a scientist. Personally, I’d rather they just fill up some olympic-sized swimming pools with what used to be our cash and paddle around in them like Scrooge McDuck or something.***************
The Times of Israel reported yesterday that “After Two Years, Israel Scrapping Indoor Mask Mandate From Saturday Night.” The mideastern democracy will end its long-standing mask mandate as of May 1st. Israelis probably won’t know what to do, having worn the damnable things for over two years now.The Times obliquely referenced the recent US decision striking down the CDC’s airplane mandate, suggesting that it might have had something to do with the change of policy in Israel. Maybe. Masking will still be mandatory in nearly-universally-jabbed Israel “at places with high contagion potential,” including hospitals, senior living facilities and airplanes. And, Israel is also still running “quarantine centers.”
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Good news! You don’t need to worry anymore, because the CDC has formed a new, super-expensive permanent bureaucracy to help “predict” covid’s every move from here on out, forever and ever, amen. The Washington Post reported the story in an article headlined, “New CDC Team: A Weather Service to Forecast What’s Next in Pandemic.”
“We think of ourselves like the National Weather Service, but for infectious diseases,” said Caitlin Rivers, an epidemiologist and freshly-promoted associate director of the CDC’s crack new highly-motivated squad of expert operatives.
According to the CDC, ONE HUNDRED new scientists will analyze technical data and recommend policy options to decision-makers about how the virus is behaving and who is most at risk — in “user-friendly terms.” They want to dumb it down for us, because we’re too stupid to understand all the hard technical details and bureaucratic mumbo-jumbo.
I guess the problem all along has been our failure to understand whatever nonsense Fauci was spouting, and that there just weren’t enough people in the government working on covid, so OF COURSE we need a PERMANENT giant new bureaucracy to cement covid into the federal government forever. Just in time for the end of the pandemic, too. Brilliant! Science.
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The New York Post reported late last week that some Massachusetts parents are fighting back, in an article headlined “Ludlow Public Schools Secretly Promoted Our Kids’ Gender Transition, Parents Allege.”In the lawsuit, the parents said they asked their children’s middle school staff NOT to have any private conversations with their kids about gender issues. But the superintendent, the principal, the guidance counselor and two teachers ignored their request, even calling BOTH their daughter AND their son by bizarre pronouns and new names without the parents’ permission or even knowledge. In fact, school staff tried to hide what they were doing from the parents.
According the claims in the complaint, the parent’s 11-year old daughter sent what looks like a scripted email to school staff filled with gender jargon saying, “I am genderqueer. … My new name will be R**** … If you deadname me or use any pronouns I am uncomfortable with I will politely tell you … A list of pronouns you can use are: she/her he/him they/them fae/faerae/aer ve/ver xe/xem ze/zir. … Please only use the ones I have listed and not the other ones. I do not like them,” B.F. wrote, the parents said in court papers.
The other child, a 12-year-old boy, asked teachers and counselors to address him by a female name, “S.” and concealed those conversations from the parents.
I’m wondering, what are the odds of having TWO trans kids coming out at the same time? Seems unlikely to be organic. And that’s what these parents seem to think, too.
When asked by reporters, the children’s father explained “The term groomer is being used a lot today. Imagine what goes through any parent’s mind when you have some other adult talking to your kid about sexuality — and saying we’re going to hide this conversation from your parents.”
Indeed. What goes through this parent’s mind is, “grooming.” -
A five acre field of primrose can be pretty impressive.
Mom called them buttercups.
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63
The Elon Musk-Bill Gates exchange is the funniest thing I’ve seen in a long time.
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I used to call them buttercups, too, until I started reading some gardening/foraging books recently. Primrose is the proper name for them.
Here’s an image of one variety of a “real” buttercup flower.
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Now I remember that when the power went off to the couch what I was trying to post. It’s the WIP. Better late than never, and it’s worth looking at. https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2022/04/the-week-in-pictures-maskless-edition.php
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Looked like the gas line people screwed up 80-y.o.’s water line, also. There was a horrible sludge of mud that ran off his property and down my driveway.
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About to get bedtime out here. Winds have decreased to about 20 this evening. Waiting for rain tomorrow. You all have a good evening. Nite nite.
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mharper42
Make sure you run a full cycle through your washing machine before you put any real laundry in it.
Maybe twice.
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#66 TT
Now that looks like the buttercups I remember, although I’m thinking pink was more common than yellow in the roadside wild flowers.
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My #68
I forgot to mention that the gas line troops cleaned up that mud slick on my driveway. One of their trucks had a huge tank of water and they had hoses for cleanup.
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#70
Thanks, TP. This ain’t my first water-line rodeo.
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Furious ? Really ? Did they have a Drag Queen contest in front of the Exxon (Humble Oil) building ? Was there an angry tranny parade ?
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Well the four people who were offended were furious. Very furious. Rawr!!!
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Looks like the flock of hoser gulls here on this blog crashed at 1 minute after 11pm.
Drink more vintage Cabernet, take more geritol, vitamin d3 and coq10 you hosers.:)
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Hey unckola.
AySay unckolayay. -
Yo Brother Squawk.
Zilla mini marathon starting at 2 pm today on Comet tv. -
Whut time is it? Lil’ Dawg got me up at 4 AM and I couldn’t get back to sleep, I think she’s been talking to Max, lately she’s been getting up between 2:30 and 5. She used to sleep through the night.
Mornin’ Gang -
#74 Texpat, Now that is some great news only if a few more big corporations would follow suit and not cave to the
GayLGBTQPQRS Mafia maybe we could get some sanity back into our lives. -
My posts seem to be going to the ether this morning.
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I hate to be so brutally open this morning, but I hear Senator Hatch assumed room temperature. The consummate politician and turncoat. Most people really probably consider him to be an upstanding citizen, but all I can say is good riddance. People like him make us a worse country, not a better one. Not as bad as McSwine, but bad enough.
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#80 – I think some of these large public companies are seeing what happened to Disney and deciding to keep their nose out of pop culture matters.
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Buy your Amazon products soon, because I hear they are adding a 5% surcharge to cover inflation, and if that works, look for them to continue to do it over and over again.
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Yesterday when I removed the charger cord from my iPhone something happened to the charger port now it won’t plug back in. I tried to do a little surgery to it but no luck. Right now im havjng to use this little Samsung Galaxy tablet thing i had laying around I hate it. I need to go find a cordless charger to see if it will hopefully take a charge, are they available on the phone accessory racks in most stores are is it a Best Buy/Target etc type of thing ?
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Saw a post with a pic of a Dutch Baby over yonder, in my sheltered life I’d never seen nor heard of one. Now I must have one. Appears we have the needed ingredients on hand, hmmm…
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Charger ports inside the phones are my bete noir. I’ve had two of ’em break, and the repair guys said that was a very common problem.
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The Ozark Tribune Dec 6, 1904. Back when the Southern Star had some competition. Imagine having more than one newspaper in a One-Horse town. BUTT there wasn’t TV Cable or even radio back then. They were getting phones though. FWIW; there were about 2,000 folks in Podunk in 1904 also it was/is the county seat.
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So this thing is working again?
I finally gave up. -
Never had an iPhone charging port fail.
It’s probably because of the cases I use.
They’re waterproof and has a little door over the port. So the port is always covered except when charging. I can’t imagine what kind of dirt and gunk would end up in there without it. -
85 GJT
We have three of these and are very pleased with the way they have performed.
Rleron Wireless Portable Charger 25,000 mAh
You can charge a phone wirelessly with this unit and plug in an iPad and laptop to charge at the same time. Wireless charging seems to go very quickly on my iPhone.
LINK REPAIRED !
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#91
Perfect, thanks!
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My wife was working/playing in her office this morning. She walked out just as I was taking the Dutch Bake Pancake out of the oven. She just stood there giving me that Steve Harvey WTH look. It was delicious, and beautiful!
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RE: #90 phone cases
Shannon got me started using the Lifeproof Le Fre phone cases. It’s the first case I ever used that actually sealed out the fine dust and moisture. I can take out my phone and use it caught in a rainstorm and no water gets inside. They aren’t cheap, but I went through several bad, cheap brands before I ordered Lifeproof. They are worth the money.
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I didn’t know that! The last scene of “Castaways” was filmed @ TX 48 FM 1268, NE of Pampa and SE of Miami. SO now you know.
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Before this iPhone the last one I had for many years and never had a problem. I don’t know what happened to this one, I plugged it in when we were going to granddaughter’s ballgame, unplugged it and nothing seemed abnormal but when I tried to plug it in last night it would not go in.
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Good kinda overcast morning, Hamsters
Rain promised for Monday now, but we know how fast those weather maps can change. A blink of an eye is not much of an exaggeration. Light breeze has continued from overnight, but it still is strong enough to pull more dead leaves off our trees. The few that remain that is. The pecans have finally started producing their canopies, not fast of course, just steadily from day to day. Downside, if you can call it that, is the trees in full leaf block some view of neighboring homes in the subdivision.
In our small subdivision everybody looks out for neighbors, and some folks farther down our road have asked about the widow’s home across the street from us as they have not seen much activity there other than gardeners and repair trucks. We tell them what we know about her, which now is not much. We have missed talking to the son-in-law lately when he is there working on more cleaning out and keeping the yards and pasture mowed. When he sets the trash can out for Wednesday pickup we put it back in front of her garage after pickup so the home does not look to be abandoned.
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Ouch !
That’s taking a huge toll on the fortunes of the billionaire father-son duo behind the Phoenix-based company.
Ernie Garcia II and Ernie Garcia III have lost more than $11 billion combined so far this year, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Together they have voting control of about four-fifths of Carvana, whose shares had tumbled 60% this year through Wednesday before the company reported a first quarter loss of $506 million. The stock fell another 7% at 1:04 p.m. in New York.
The younger Garcia, Carvana’s chief executive officer, has now lost 60% of his net worth, or about $4.1 billion, since the start of 2022. That’s a sharper drop than any other U.S. billionaire tracked by Bloomberg’s index, exceeding the 46% decline of Netflix Inc.’s Reed Hastings.
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#95
Dang, Hollywood always taking dramatic license with these true stories! 😀
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Ninety-nine+1
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A judge in Maricopa County, Arizona, has thrown out a lawsuit which challenged the rights of U.S. Reps. Andy Biggs and Paul Gosar to run for reelection because of their participation in rallies leading up to the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol.
The suit, brought by a voting rights group, also named state Rep. Mark Finchem. According to AZ Central, the suit alleged the three Arizona Republicans participated in an “insurrection”. It had further claimed that their alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential results made them ineligible for reelection.
This lawfare project is one of the latest schemes by Clinton Mafia consigliere Mark Elias. He’s trying this in any number of states with Republican congressmen. Marjorie Taylor Greene is on trial now on the same BS scheme to deprive Americans of their right to representation and the crushing of free speech. If there is any justice in this world, John Durham will find some way to indict this anti-American Asshat.
Frankly, I think this Greene woman is a borderline lunatic, but clearly more sane than Waters, Sheila Jackson Lee or any member of The Squad. If the Democrats think they are entitled to a busload of corrupt, unethical sh*tweasels in Congress, we can have a couple of our own.
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Finally even Pokahauntus says something that I can agree with. https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2022/04/24/warren-mccarthy-is-a-liar-and-a-traitor/ She left out that part about him being a weasel too.
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#93 Tim
Pix or it never happened. Heck, I don’t know what it is, anyway.
Morning, chickadees.
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I just finished the WIP and I think they were some of the best yet. I picked out several favorites but there were just too many. AND if I didn’t know better, I’d say the last picture was of the stunning Anne Margret shooting a Colt 45. 😉
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#103
See Felicia’s post over yonder, mine turned out about the same. I’d never heard of it either.
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My #104, it was a tough choice but I’m going with the Bigfoot Couple Sc,….well…..you know. 😉
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I should have known although I did suspect.
Many Democratic politicians and pundits have long pushed for censorship as vital to freedom. However, if such freedom-is-tyranny claims seem Orwellian, they are nothing compared to the push to disqualify dozens of candidates from appearing on ballots.
Judge Amy Totenberg* ruled that critics could potentially strip Greene from the ballot due to her public comments before and after the Jan. 6, 2021, riot in Congress. Totenberg ruled that Greene’s critics could bring a challenge under the Constitution’s 14th Amendment, known as the “Disqualification Clause.” This is the same clause cited by some liberal members of Congress and legal experts as a way to bar dozens of Republicans, including former President Trump, from office for allegedly engaging in insurrection against the United States or giving aid and comfort to its enemies.
Judge Amy Totenberg is the little sister of NPR’s Nina Totenberg, serial defamer and slanderer of Justice Clarence Thomas, among a multitude of her ethical and moral crimes.
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It’s deliciousness in a skillet is what it is.
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Super Dave says:
APRIL 24, 2022 AT 9:58 AMI didn’t know that! The last scene of “Castaways” was filmed @ TX 48 FM 1268, NE of Pampa and SE of Miami. SO now you know.
Actually, that intersection is at the beginning and the end of Hanks’ movie
(its Cast Away, not Castaways, thus Tim’s semi-snark in #99 above. I got it Tim, if nobody else did)
I saw an interview with Hanks during the promotional tour for the movie and he made the point that the movie begins and ends at a crossroads, a metaphor for the outcome of the story for the main character.
I’ve got an intention to go there someday, as well as the Giant set, which is in the same geographical area near Marfa.
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The Chron gets more nasty regarding anything conservatives /and or moderates/ have to say or do, and that indicates those who run the paper are becoming progressively (like that word?) paranoid about the upcoming November election results. Nasty oozes from articles they create themselves or take from other media not just on the opinion (editorial) pages where it belongs but also throughout local, state, and national articles that fit their views. No wonder their subscription numbers are not growing very much if at all. The smaller size of the daily Chron and the smaller print in articles to cram more stuff into fewer pages seem to be to save money on newsprint.
Undoubtedly much of this results from being a branch of the New York Times group and the many new reporters on staff since that change took place. It takes time to get used to new writers’ names on articles, and it seems to be quite often that some do not stay around very long.
The Chron seems to be self-destructing.
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post in da bucket
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The Wuhan Institute of Virology had an agreement with the University of Texas Medical Branch’s Galveston National Laboratory to collaborate on scientific research, with the Chinese lab entitled to ask the Texas lab to “destroy” any “secret files.”
The revelation provides further details about how the Chinese government lab, which at least one U.S. intelligence agency regards as the most likely origin of the coronavirus pandemic, maintained relationships with U.S. government-funded institutions as it conducted its coronavirus research.
U.S. Right to Know obtained and published the late 2017 memorandum of understanding this week.
“All cooperation and exchanges documents, data, details, and materials shall be treated as confidential information by the parties,” the agreement said. “The confidentiality obligation shall be applicable throughout the duration of this MoU and after it has been terminated. The party is entitled to ask the other to destroy and/or return the secret files, materials, and equipment without any backups.”
It was signed by UTMB “coordinator” James LeDuc and WIV “coordinator” Zhiming Yuan.
The unethical and illegal aspects of this agreement aside, let me ask this: Who thought it was a good idea to operate a deadly bio-containment lab on Galveston Island with its history of devastating, destructive hurricanes ?
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When folks are unclear on the concept.
So I’m looking at this video and can’t decide whether this truck belongs to Squawk or Super Dave’s relatives. However, even though this was taken in Georgia, the orange/yellowish license plate most likely belongs to a truck from New York, Kansas or even maybe Alaska.
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112 Adee
No one wants to read them anymore and no one wants to waste ad budgets there. The cost of newsprint has always been a huge cost of printing a newspaper.
November 2021
It’s like tasering an elderly person whos already on a pacemaker, says a British newspaper boss of the newsprint market, where prices have risen by over 50% in a matter of months. The cost of paper that feeds into presses around the world is rising to record highs, pushing up expenses for newspapers from Mumbai to Sydney. When times were good, before ads shifted online, newspapers had a supportive partnership with paper mills. As ads departed and circulations fell, relations became more transactional. They are now at the shouting stage.
Paper mills had the worst of it for years as newspapers reduced pagination, went wholly digital or shut for good. The papers were able to hammer down the cost of newsprint from firms fighting for business as demand declined. Price-taking paper mills suffered in silence. Many hesitated to shut massive machines costing hundreds of millions of dollars.
That hesitance has disappeared; mills are taking out newsprint capacity and diversifying. Norske Skog, a Norwegian pulp and paper firm, said in June it would close its 66-year-old Tasman Mill in New Zealand, for example.
They’re shifting their newsprint production to cardboard and packaging for Amazon, Alibaba and others.
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I scored good at PetSmart! Got 264 cans of Friskies Shreds, enough main-meal wet chow for 4 1/2 months. I did leave some partial cases of Shreds, and there was still plenty of other forms of wet Friskies (pate, etc) that my cats don’t like. Also got some specialty small meals for Millie the 19-y.o. including her #1 favorite. She came right in and told me she was hungry as soon as I got things put away, and she licked her small bowl of Swirled Tuna Pate clean. I am PUMPED!
Note all of Millie’s specialty foods are watered down a bit and then warmed, to get it to the state she thinks is perfect. As long as I STARTED with one of her favorites. It being Sunday, she got a weekly weigh-in first thing this morning, and her weight has held up well during this frustrating time of it being more difficult to keep her fed when I couldn’t get her favorites.
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Me, I could do w/o the HouChron if I could just buy/subscribe to its Sunday sudoku, which I could receive by email and then print it. Heck, I print it anyway, in order to enlarge it, which makes it more enjoyable to work on.
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#115
He’s probably set up to haul at least three boats. When we last went down 69 (59) to Corpus I lost count and how many vehicles (not new) hauling other vehicles with a tow bar, just one after another and another. Obviously headed to below the border. I had never noticed that before.
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Cast Away, not Castaways
OK I stand corrected and I didn’t really remember the name of the movie that I saw but that is what the feller that posted about the intersection said it was. FWIW; The Cast Away/Castaways movie I saw had Hanks, who worked at FedX, crash in the Pacific and wind up stranded on an island for umpteen years. I’ve never seen or head of the one in your linky….I give up.
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My #120 FWIW; I had a hell of a time trying to find that intersection but after I found it on Google Maps it’s appropriately marked!
With that, I’m getting my Jalapeno Deviled Eggs that I made yesterday and heading over to sister’s house for supper. I find it hard to believe that I usually take Deviled Eggs to my sister since she is a much better cook than me. But she does love them….Later Gang. 😉 -
#115 Texpat, not my family we’re not that rich! 😉 I’m guessing Pennsylvania, they have license plates that color since I-95 runs through Savannah and Yankees run that road all the time.
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OK I stand corrected and I didn’t really remember the name of the movie that I saw but that is what the feller that posted about the intersection said it was. FWIW; The Cast Away/Castaways movie I saw had Hanks, who worked at FedX, crash in the Pacific and wind up stranded on an island for umpteen years. I’ve never seen or head of the one in your linky….I give up.
If your early teen libido was like mine, you saw every Haley Mills movie you could…..
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#118 – just look here, pick the level of difficulty you want, print it out, and run with it. No fees. https://sudoku.com/
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We so miss the old Houston Post, but perhaps its owners were only a bit premature when they closed shop and eventually let the Chron buy its publishing facilities. Actually, I would assume they are happy they got out when they did despite leaving the Chron as the only large-print voice in town. The ads on Wednesdays and Sundays are several pages more than the many smaller number during the rest of the week. So are the Obituary pages that are now a whole section of the Sunday paper, and the obits on the rest of the week editions appear to be shrunk to fit wherever there is room to squeeze them in. Would presume income from printing the obits is helping keep the Chron going.
And on top of all the foregoing problems the Chron has, their home delivery service is a mess out here around Richmone/Rosenberg. Getting the daily paper a whole 7 days a week has become irregular to say the least. More often we’re lucky to get it only 4 or 5 days, and some of that is makeup for having missed the prior day’s edition that’s delivered with the current day’s edition. Or not. The only explanation along with a “we’re sorry we’re having trouble with that route” is that we’ll try to have the missing paper delivered with the current one. Sometimes we’ve had no paper for 3 days but still get our Fort Bend Herald by mail three times a week instead of 6 before all this mess started. And the Chron prints the Herald which is mentioned in the wee small print at the foot of a page. 🙂
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If your early teen libido was like mine, you saw every Haley Mills movie you could…..
OK you got me there, I was in love with Haley Mills and I thought that I saw all of her Disney movies. Wait! Think about Disney in the 60’s and now….. ~SPITS~
Damn, walking out the door now! 😀 -
Wait! Think about Disney in the 60’s and now….. ~SPITS~
Right with ya there, especially since there is no Haley Mills equivalent today—-
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The forecast rain for today has been removed as if it never existed; the rain chances for tonight reduced from 90% to 20%; for tomorrow 90% to 40%. About what we’ve grown to expect out here. Every week, the next chance of rain is Monday next week. People need to realize that it’s just not going to rain again until a harrycaine comes in about Corpus Christi and makes it way up here before bending back to the north east.
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Huh, I saw quite a few Haley Mills movies in my youthful years, but I had no idea that the guys were drooling over her.
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I think naptime is sneaking up on me, better go see if JoJo has saved my place.
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What a great TV weekend.
I got to watch
And then there was
Oh and Lon Chaney
and just to top off the 50s monster greatness
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Actually I am finishing up Godzilla and Monster Zero (King Ghidora) right now.
One might say I have been enjoying a real…..
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We went out to a favorite restaurant for late lunch about 1:30 and as usual had wonderful food there and nice folks running it that makes dining there so pleasant. As usual, half of mine came home in a box and is sleeping in the fridge until tomorrow for lunch. Spouse managed to eat all of his lunch, really a brunch, as the folks there have Saturday and Sunday brunch from 9 until 2.
In stark opposite to the terribly hard time most restaurants had during the worst, long time of Covid madness, it was great to see the rebound these good folks have made. All of the 5 local restaurants we patronized throughout the panic time to help our neighbors running them are still in business and are making good recoveries. We often see people we know by sight but not by name who were also doing their best to help out. We usually nod and smile at them when we see them at one of the places that survived; we all had a small part in helping out and staying cheerful when things were dreadfully grim. I think most of us were retired folks of various ages. 🙂
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OH NO THERE GOES TOKYO!!!
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#134 Squawk
It is so easy to get pulled into movies like these horror shows, silly though they are. These days such things can provide some laughter that helps disperse for a time some serious and not at all funny things to be concerned about. Many we really can’t do much about.
Except vote in every election local, state, or national that we are eligible for, really study the issues and candidates to seriously prepare to cast our vote. Lazy people who don’t bother studying things can really mess things up, then they wail about the election results that they helped create.
A pox on them. -
#124
Thanks for the pointer, EG, but I don’t think I’d like that style of sudoku. What I want to do is fill in the obvious cells, then for the others, I want to pencil in all the possibilities. Having a lot of info in front of me makes it easier for me to spot things I can eliminate.
I gave your puzzle source a spin, but putting in a possible number just shows that it is possible. It doesn’t help me eliminate other possibilities.
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#136 – I’ve started writing the possible numbers in the margins, then as I use them up, blotting them out on the side. Of course, the completed puzzle looks like it’s framed with ink blots and squiggly lines, but I figure no one is going to come along behind me and check them.
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Ms Adee
Truth be known I have loved the old campy monster movies for years. It is my escapism from the harshness of the world, mindless entertainment. Usually the language is unoffensive, they are not ramped up full of sex, usually their political message is easily ignored and the old 40s 50s stuff leaves the gore to the imagination. For me they are just fun.
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Well I’m Baack! I know y’all missed me. I had a really nice visit with my sister reminiscing about old times and then a fine supper. Mercy, I’m a pretty good cook but my sister blows me away. And she does it with simple southern food so ifin’ you find yourself in south Alabama you need to look her up. I can tell you how to find her as long as I’m invited. 😉
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Lil’ Dawg was real excited to see me so I’ll have to feed her now, I’ve already fed useless cat and put her away. Later if I have time.
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117 mharper42
I scored good at PetSmart! Got 264 cans of Friskies Shreds, enough main-meal wet chow for 4 1/2 months.
I know your doppelganger.
Me in Petsmart with only one cash register open getting behind a catlady with 264 cans of cat food. The cashier decides to count the cans one by one. Catlady customer can’t seem to find her coupons after fiddling around in her huge purse for 10 minutes. They finally decide to finalize the transaction after the catlady customer and catlady cashier have talked for another 10 minutes about all their wonderful hairshedding feline critters. But, oh no, the catlady customer lady has to dig through her giant purse find a zipper bag, open it to find her large wallet, then unsnap and unzip other compartments to finally find a credit card. Oops ! It’s expired so back to the wallet to find another card and…ah hah…finally it works. Now we have another ordeal of trying to stack and fit everything into the shopping cart while the cardboard cases come apart and bags are ripping. An assistant manager arrives, finally gets her loaded up, out the door and into the parking lot hoping she doesn’t get run over while pushing the cart though the lot while reading the 3-1/2 foot long paper receipt tape to check whether she got cheated out of 93 cents somewhere.
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I’ve had a busy afternoon. Father’s homily ran a little long today, and on the way home I stopped off to get some meat for the pit, since Hubby wanted to test run the barbecue pit before May 7th. I found a coupla roasts on sale, so two ribs, two roasts, and a few odds and ends gave me a grocery bill of $117 and change.
Wowza.
So, got home and seasoned the ribs. Since Handsome and wife decided not to join us for dinner, I’ll be freezing some leftovers. Anyway, got the meat seasoned and in the frig, then headed back to the shop for two more buckets of dirt from the pile. Unloaded them at home, then raked and gathered some organize material from the yard for the plantings to come. I had three totes I needed to get planted and off the back porch; first, because planting windows for my seeds, and second – ya’ll may need a place to sit in a few weeks and I need to get crap off the back porch. The porch is serving as my potting shed at the moment.
After collecting the branches and leaves and debris, pulling up some green stuff from the yard, I put together the three totes and three pots. I’m ashamed to say that I killed my okra. They don’t like transplanting, and I kept stepping on the struggling little plants. So, I put new seeds into pots this time, so I won’t stomp on them.
I got seeds into the totes and pots, then I needed to find homes for the plants I bought on my spontaneous road trip yesterday. The barely there chocolate mint was going into a pot near my door. This was a pot of failed-to-germinate seeds, and I had put a milk crate over it to keep the squirrels from digging into it. I had my mint in hand as I lifted the crate, and I was puzzled by the hole at the side of the pot. I didn’t think I had left a hole there….but it wasn’t squirrel damage so I just went ahead with digging a hole for the mint.
And a toad dang near jumped into my face. Yes, I screamed like a girl. Then I laughed, and finished potting up my new acquisitions. Everything has a home now.
By this time, the ribs were on the pit and I was headed into the kitchen. I put some beef fat on low flame to melt it so I could strain and jar it for canning, then jumped into the shower. After that, I started a load of wash and began cutting up the roasts for canning. I was short a jar (must have four jars in the canner to run a cycle), and I had some ground beef, so I cooked up some meatballs in a skillet (just needed to cook the outside so they’d can properly) and made up a jar of ground beef. Wipe the rims, put on the lids, load the canner, and flame on!
Then, it was time for me to make the salad for dinner. Hubby brought the ribs in and put them in the oven, since the kitchen was a mess by now. I went outside and harvested stuff for a salad, made said salad, and we had dinner.
After four hours in the yard, then another hour on my feet in the kitchen, it was nice to sit down.
Dinner’s over, and I’m going to wash dishes. Hubby would do them, but I’ve made such a mess there I wouldn’t feel right leaving it for him.
After dishes, the canning should be done or almost so, then I may work on my Latin for a bit.
Busy, busy day, but I like the fact that I’ve gotten so much done.
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#141 Texpat
😛 😛
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Grilled some jalapeño poppers for appetizer so I wouldn’t get hounded for supper time, threw a couple corn on the cobs I grabbed at the Mexican meat market across the way buttered and wrapped in their own husks, put the baked taters in the oven then put the chicken breasts I’d been marinating all day on the coals and that was supper. Fine eatin right there.
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I don’t know why the corn on the cob is so good from the Mexican meat market but they always cook really well and are sweet.
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Self heal is one of the herbs I picked up yesterday.
The lady said it has beautiful blooms. I figgered it was medicinal.
It’s in the mint family, so good thing it’s in a pot. Unless I really like it, then I may find a place in the ground for it under some trees.
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#141 Texpat I feel your pain! And ain’t it the truth! But it’s not only “Cat Ladies” it’s the old ladies in the grocery store line that watches 173 items roll along the conveyor belt and then AFTER the total comes up she digs through her purse that is huge and finds her “Check Book”. Then she slowly writes out the check and records it on the stub BEFORE tearing it off and handing it to the cashier…SIGH….
FWIW; I love my Debit Card but before they were invented I had the check made out and signed before the last item went through and then I’d put in the amount.
You Can’t Fix Stupid! Stupid is bad but selflessness is much worse. -
#144 GJT I’m liking that!
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Back with you just before bedtime. #147 – I too seem to always find the check lady who take forever filling everything out and signing it all just perfect, and then the cashier zips it through the reader which takes a nanosecond and hands it right back to her.
I broke out another of my frozen home made keto meat loafs tonight, and that was plenty tasty. I’m still having some snack withdrawals after tightening up a little bit on the diet front. I’d still like to sneak a bite or two of something, but the scales would tell on me. I hope that you all have a great evening, and more tomorrow. Still waiting on that non-existent rain out there to show up here.
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You can come out from behind the couch Tedtam, they ain’t talking about you. 😛
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S’posed to rain all day tomorrow and tomorrow night here, so they say. I hope so, though we haven’t been under a burn ban I haven’t been comfortable burning anything especially with the wind. My spring clean up has my burn pile overrun and I just keep adding to it.
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#137 EG
So do YOU print these sudokus then work them on paper? I was commenting about its behavior if you put a number in a square on the screen…
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Just saw this over yonder, for a jar that wasn’t bubbling after canning.
If it’s sealed then it’s a closed system. If it’s a closed system, then it’s running at a slight vacuum. If it’s running at a vacuum, the boiling point inside the closed system drops. All the closed systems running at a vacuum are still boiling.
It’s always amazed me, the bubbling that goes after I remove my jars. They bubble much longer than I ever thought they would.
I’ve never had a “bubbler” not seal, and I’ve never had a “non-bubbler” seal. That’s been my experience anyway.
Turned out the “dead” jar wasn’t sealed, confirmed by the “tap test”. A sealed jar has a tinny sound to it when the the lid is tapped. An unsealed jar sounds hollow.
So her dead jar goes into the frig and the contents eaten within the next few days.
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I’ll find out in five minutes if all of my jars are bubblers. They are in cool down now, but I can’t lift the lid just yet.
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#141 TP
I hope you know that is not me you described. Wasn’t my cashier either. Most of my cases were unopened, i.e. cellophane over the top, so she could get one barcode then X48 and done with that case. I had one set of miscellaneous cans that I knew my cats would like, but there was no full case of those flavors, so she did have to scan each can in that one case.
I did have to flip out my PetSmart card to get the special price based on buying more than 24 cans — Heck Yeah, quite a bit more than 24 cans! And I pay with Discover card for all shopping. I’d say today’s trip was one of the fastest checkouts I’ve had at that store, since I usually buy more variety of things you can get at a pet store.
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Loved all the tales in tonight’s posts. Spouse and I were watching lectures on the civilizations in South America from the earliest known times. Thanks to modern dating techniques the estimates of times BC and AD were as accurate as we can know now. Definitely not mostly the Inca and other “recent” civilizations, as we haven’t gotten to them yet. Fascinating info on how people adapted to the varying weather and living conditions that shape different areas of SA. And of course what Spain and Portugal did or didn’t do in their conquests of that continent.
G’night all and pleasant dreams.
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