Very very abbreviated this week, life has been insane. 14 hour days are actually kind of invigorating until the third of them when your adrenal glands just give up. Also Lily does not appreciate them.
This is a very lucky week for Cancer, but that’s generally bad for humans. Tuesday is nice, but not exceptionally so. The rest of the week is boring.
I have a variety of opinions on Tom Castro, but he definitely had the best footage of this event.
Gemini: 5 of Wands reversed – losing at a game, or an anticipated event is cancelled.
Cancer: 8 of Swords reversed – This is one of those rare occasions where ignoring a problem actually helps.
Leo: Ace of Swords – Conquest, taking what you want, achievement by your own efforts rather than others.
Virgo: 10 of Swords – Pain. Failure. Abandonment.
Libra: 5 of Swords – like Ace of Swords above, but with more humiliating other people.
Scorpio: Wheel of Fortune – Luck is being a Lady.
Sagittarius: 9 of Swords reversed – Imprisonment, suspicion, doubt, reasonable fear, shame. Reasonable fear is the worst.
Capricorn: 10 of Coins – Gain, riches; family matters, archives, extraction, the abode of a family.
Aquarius: 3 of Cups – Party!
Pisces: The Emperor reversed – Benevolence, compassion, credit, confusion to enemies, obstruction, immaturity.
Aries: 2 of Cups – Agreements solemnized, promises made, contracts signed, marriages, etc.
Taurus: The Star – Loss, theft, privation, abandonment, hope, bright prospects.
“Cancer: 8 of Swords reversed – This is one of those rare occasions where ignoring a problem actually helps.“
Procrastination always pays off.
However, I shaved my balls for this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2Squ5XU4z8
But do I have to act like a lady to get lucky? 🤔
Laverne, Lenny, and Squiggy feel pretty:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiwaI_DXCDw
(Heh, homemade drum.)
Sagittarius: 9 of Swords reversed – Imprisonment, suspicion, doubt, reasonable fear, shame. Reasonable fear is the worst.
Something something just because you’re paranoid…
– “Gain, riches; family matters, archives, extraction, the abode of a family.”
I’m accepting a job offer in the morning and will be handing in a resignation letter this week.
The cards check out.
Good luck on all accounts, even if you’re not a lady.
Thanks 4×20! Last I checked I’m not a lady, but I do feel lucky.
The China Show had a great deep dive on the U of Michigan CCP espionage cases ongoing – and a lot of other good material as well. (Harvard, etc).
https://www.youtube.com/live/mArH0usIb0s?si=ZtwoINq9EK39-lLH&t=1909
The beaver story: I hate to break it to you but the government has zero interest in people doing their jobs.
Beavers in the Czech Republic finished a dam project stalled for 7 years in 2 days.
https://mymodernmet.com/beavers-build-dam-czech-republic/
time lapse of beaver building a dam:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcJvv0vDAWs
Pet beavers kept indoors will build dams on the floor.
beaver builds indoor dam out of xmas debris
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ImdlZtOU80
Aww, the tail! the flippers! the chittering!
You want beaver shit in your house?
Because thats how you get beaver shit in your house.
As kids we would tear out a small beaver dam. As soon as the water would begin to flow we would see small branches drifting towards the spill. Critters were busy sending down building material
Innovation
A capless gas tank uses a self-sealing system that eliminates the need for a traditional gas cap. When you insert the fuel nozzle, a flap opens automatically to allow fuel in—no unscrewing, no lid to lose. Filling one is simple: Just insert the nozzle and pump. Some models, like those from Ford and Honda, may require a special funnel when using a portable gas can, but that’s typically included with the car.
I was blissfully unaware of such a thing ten minutes ago. I’m sure these will stand the test of time.
What could possibly make this seem like a necessary feature? California vapor rules?
The siphoners’ lobby?
My Jeep is like that. Never been an issue. Kinda neat, actually.
Our 18′ Cherokee has that, too.
Which is good because Jugsy will routinely lose a screw-off cap if its not chained to the vehicle somehow. And even then she’s been known to drive down the road, cap dangling.
If I don’t tighten up the cap I get a check engine light on. I couldn’t understand why. Read the manual, says tighten cap, disconnect negative side of the battery to reset stuff.
Yep, saved me a couple hundred, probably. Read the manual, when all else fails.
Been a thing for quite a while now, Haven’t really heard of any issues with them.
Nothing to see here
A TikTok clip from the descriptively named creator I’m Just A Finance Guy (@imtheautofinanceguy) shows how outrageous financing deals can get these days, especially for those with bad credit scores. The video, which has been watched more than 290,000 times, zooms-in on the paperwork of a Truth in Lending Disclosure for a 2024 Jeep Wrangler that might just be the most expensive base model in recent memory.
The financing terms feel more like a cautionary tale than a dealership win:
Loan amount: $74,599
Finance charge (interest): $56,931.56
APR: 17.69 percent
Term: 84 months (that’s 7 years)
Monthly payment: $1,565.84
Odometer reading: 860 miles
The paperwork shows a total repayment of $131,530.56, or the cost of a house in small-town Ohio, all for a Jeep with less than 1,000 miles on the odometer.
Wait, what? A Jeep Wrangler costs 75000 bucks?!
17:69%
*falls out of chair*
That’s more than I paid for my house a decade ago (in a medium suburb in Ohio).
And then there’s the matter of the loan amount itself. A base model 2024 Jeep Wrangler typically starts around $35,000. Higher trims like the Rubicon can edge toward the $55,000 range with options.
So, How Do We Get to Nearly $75,000?
There are a few possibilities. The dealer may have loaded the vehicle with costly add-ons like extended warranties, off-road packages, or appearance upgrades that look good on paper and pad profit margins. It’s also possible the buyer traded in a previous vehicle with negative equity, rolling the unpaid balance into the new loan. And in many cases, high-interest loans like this are pitched to buyers who are told it’s their “only option,” a favorite tactic of high-risk financing outfits.
Oh, okay, then.
So they added a bunch of extra shit and didn’t do their research on what finance options are available?
According to the CFPB, Americans now carry over $1.6 trillion in auto loan debt, and loan terms of 72 to 84 months are increasingly common, even though they often leave buyers “underwater” on their loans for most of the repayment period.
Financial advisors generally recommend: Keeping loan terms under 60 months, avoiding APRs over 6–7 percent unless necessary, and never financing add-ons or extended warranties unless you’ve calculated the long-term cost. There’s no indication on the term sheet of who the dealer or financier was for the proposed loan, but commenters on the clip were ready to grab their pitchforks and torches in outrage.
“This should be illegal. Someone tag the repo man!” one of them wrote.
Predatory lenders. Unscrupulous dealers. That’s why cars cost so much.
I remember stumbling across some car show (long ago) where they were talking about car prices and financing, and this guy said, “Look. If you can’t swing the payments on a three year loan, YOU CAN’T AFFORD THE CAR.”
That’s just crazy.
That’s fine. President AOC will take care of this by banning cars, cancelling auto loan debt, and using the proceeds to build trains.
17:69%
*falls out of chair*
Just put it on your American Express card.
Does Amex allow revolving balances now? It used to be a charge card, not a credit card.
They sure do and for quite some time too.
Depends on the card. The standard charge card does not, but they do also offer credit cards (such as the Blue).
Ive had a gold card since 2011, and I think I can opt for a balance if I want.
I just pay it off every month.
Well, the Big Fun garage sale was not as good as expected. I stopped in Saturday, waited in line for an hour (chatting with people in line) to see just a bit of stuff I had any interest in. The girlfriend didn’t want to stop by today (due to the pictures, and the rain today), but we hit up the first summer Beachland flea (rockabilly/punk venue doing a flea market, and they have a vintage shop in the basement). Managed to find a bit there, and went through the nostalgia corridor with the girlfriend.
I could spend way too much time and money wandering around flea markets, junk shops, thrift stores, or any such business. There’s a gigantic one in Columbus that had a bunch of antique woodwork tools; I bought a bit brace that I still use a lot. And if they have vintage books or 78rpm records, I’m really in trouble.
We’ve been at the Strawberry Festival, which has gotten much bigger than when I was a kid. Yesterday was so crowded that every square foot was either taken up with lines for food, or jetstreams of people moving in one direction, and you just had to find an opening and jump in if you wanted to move. There was much more breathing room today, probably due to more people being in church or at the car show. Got some bomb-ass “bayou trash” from a Cajun/Creole food stand. Excellent stuff.
I’ve gotten much better about making sure that I will have a use for something before buying it. Otherwise I quickly run out of storage space (I’ve been going through the glassware over the past couple of years to make space). The county fairgrounds are just a couple minutes from my house, and they do flea markets there every month I think.
If you want some 78 records, HMU yo.
I have 3 giant books of them leftover from an old console that Im no longer in possession of.
Turned on the Michigan NAPCAR race just in time to see the new Ram Trucks ad: “The Hemi’s back, and we’re going back to NASCAR. Fuck you, Joe Biden.”
Also meant to reply to a few other posts the last few days. My new Volvo XC40 has been pretty good on the whole. I think I’d enjoy driving it a lot more back stateside though for obvious reasons. Not my first choice, but given that I can’t get the standard feature RAV4 from 2012 any more (low mileage at least)…it’s acceptable. Definitely miss my V6 though. It does have a little screen and a lot of junk on it, but so far I haven’t even gotten around to setting up my phone bluetooth to my car – just use my map/spotify directly on my phone.
Two of these things is not like the others.
KCPD: Had a vocab/comprehension test, 96%. Had a data entry test, 94% because I misunderstood the instructions. 🤬🤬🤬
“Two of these things is not like the others.”
Great minds, you and me. Two horses in harness.
One of the Gustave Lytton Doctor Who episodes is on!
Peri was a terrible companion. Tbf though, #6 was a terrible classic Doctor.
Peri could really fill out the uniform.
Terrible, but not the worst. And those 80’s bodysuits.
I had one of those 5 quart jugs of oil for the next oil change on Tracker Testarossa™.
Somehow, it spilled. Gonna be a greasy trip to the (440).
Allons-y !
These euphemisms are positively slippery.
“like Ace of Swords above, but with more humiliating other people.”
So in her gassy hole instead of her grassy knoll?
“Taurus: The Star – Loss, theft, privation, abandonment, hope, bright prospects.” <–Uh. One of those things does not belong.
Yet only the latter seems to be likely. It's been six weeks since my VIP, 8hr neuro-eval by voca rehab. While I'm interested in My Dude's leads if he has any, I highly doubt any of that has traction, and that's just fine, really. I'm most curious about what the doc says about.. uh. Whatever specifics they were lookin' at.
I *did* get some money in the bank the other day, the $ previously taken from me by the feds. I'll happily have my money back, thank ya.
Most baffling reason why Soc Sec isn't railed upon, other than who writes the laws: Wanna inject some money into the economy? How about giving people an immediate, 11.2% 'raise,' visible and felt for *every paycheck.* <– Immediate, strong selling point for nearly everyone. Except those who may be negatively affected, and those are the ones who accumulate votes and blather about 'theoretical' things they could do legislatively.
So, not baffling. Enraging. Would buy back the yute vote if anyone cared about those non-donors.
Cancel SocSec now, completely fuck the economy and the working people when the people who don’t pay SocSec now, don’t save a fucking nickel, have zero to retire on, and whine and cry until they get a massive handout.
What I could get behind is an offset deal – for every dollar you invest in a retirement account, your SocSec taxes go down by a dollar.
Ronald Reagan says Hi.
As I recall, when he suggested that the Dems had a screaming shit-fit. Put those retirement dollars out of their reach? Unthinkable.
It seems those wishing to live at the expense of others and/or punish their success will always be a majority of voters.
Even so, the general quality of life is way better than it used to be. It helps to remember that.
“Conquest, taking what you want, achievement by your own efforts rather than others.”
Not sure I like the part about my own efforts. I didn’t lie, cheat, steal, scheme, and manipulate my way to the C Suite to not profit from the efforts of others.
https://pjmedia.com/victoria-taft/2025/06/08/whos-paying-for-the-violent-la-protests-against-immigration-enforcement-aw-you-guessed-n4940580
Send every last one to CECOT.
Why Trump hasn’t started a RICO investigation into this shit is beyond me.
It’s all one incestuous circle-jerk, that’s for sure.
My guess is that they haven’t been as cautious as they might have been (because they assumed no one would ever have the balls to look into it) and a few forensic accountants and financial intel analysts could have it untangled in a couple of weeks. I would assume it’d trace back to the usual suspects; Soros-affiliated NGOs being funded by Big Philanthropy (Tides Foundation, Gates Foundation, etc.) and Viewers Like You.
Expose the paper trail and throw the book at them. Little Alex Soros would be a fine piece of ass to the big boys in Federal lockup.
Nice. Keep it up, commies.