Unemployment means watching a lot of Youtube. So I have some more for you.
Philly and Keely: no doubt some of you cynical bastards will find them annoying, but I ADORE this couple. Keely’s laugh alone is worth it. Positive vibes and fun energy as this northern Irish duo travel in an ancient Class C motorhome around the western U.S. (plus other locations). Trigger warning: they are vegans.
Hanaya: North Korean defector experiences all the U.S. has to offer. Some AI voiceovers, but that is tolerable given the content.
Jet Lag: The Game: I watched all their videos in a few days. Three guys plus guests play Amazing Race-style games around the world.
Jay Legere: Canadian guy near Yellowknife does construction and improvements to various off-grid properties. He learns as he goes.
Sean the Sheepman: severely Scottish young guy herds sheep with his Border Collies and does general farm work
Shaun: another Scottish dude (not nearly as Scottish as Sheepman) travels around the U.S.

2 minutes in and dude is already annoying.
some of you cynical bastards will find them annoying
Guilty as charged, m’lud.
I also have an affinity for foreign visitors reporting on their visits to the US. Keeps things in perspective.
One of you got me watching Growler Jams. Not a lot of new content, but it is really cool to see how things work on the flight deck of an aircraft carrier. As if I’m not geeking out about it enough. https://www.youtube.com/@GrowlerJams
I used to – but they kept saying the same things over and over again.
Visit something other than a Park or a WalMart.
You mean like a Buc-ees?
The still image on the video shows two people whose fases I already want to introduce to a baseball bat.
faces.
I spel gud.
My wife’s relatives came as boat people, every day was a new adventure. My MIL loved football and wrestling, though she didn’t understand the game or English.
Within days the older kids were throwing a football around.
My MIL (and other family members) made the wise choice to visit Minnesoda for Christmas. We had maybe two hours of sun during the two and a half weeks they were here.
Us natives didn’t think it was all that cold, but the Japanese and Koreans thought it was super freezing.
The highlight of the trip (for me) was when I took them out ice fishing. We drove out on the lake with the whole crew and I started setting up. When I cut the first hole and water came up, my MIL was amazed at how close to the surface the water was. Then my wife pointed out to her the lack of trees and the nearby shore line.
At that point it clicked with my MIL that WE HAD DRIVEN OUT ON A FROZEN LAKE IN A CAR!!! She demanded that we pack up immediately and leave. My packing up took too long for her tastes and she headed for shore and told me to pick her up. Everyone had a good day and my MIL still thinks I’m a nut.
* My MIL’s other favorite activity was going to the super market and Walmart to look at fat people. She could not get over how fat us American were (are).
To be fair, Jimbo, you *are* a nut.
Ted S:
I aspire to become a nut. Someday with enough therapy and studying I hope to achieve that lofty status.
“My MIL’s other favorite activity was going to the super market and Walmart to look at fat people. She could not get over how fat us American were (are).”
The first time my wife came to the US we went to a Walmart near Sacramento. I took off to pick up the things I needed and when I returned I found her in the clothing section holding up some very large item of clothing with a real puzzled look on her face.
I love Growler Jams. I think he’s moved to an instructor role or something land based.
Just scanned through Shaun at the Alamo. Pretty good.
I generally enjoy the Brits/Europeans who give impressions of the US but there is a catch: they mostly dont go to the places I think of as uniquely American or do the things I think of as uniquely American. They usually do things here that are largely American versions of Euroweenie stuff.
I did like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SR2xkaH5uSI
bonus points for putting the kid in a John Deere hoodie
The Jolly boys are a fun watch. I like their enthusiasm.
“I have never been to a grocery store that has a horizon”
Yeah, they are entertaining.
One of my favorites in the genre was 2 Canadians and an Aussie deciding they were going to fly to Alabama on a whim to see if they could find someone to take them noodling. The noodling was the least interesting part of the video. They wound up at Sayre Speedway at one point and had an amazing experience.
speaking of annoying, there’s Bimbos’ Garage (April’s Garage- find it yourself). Annoying bimbo birdbrain Hoovie, now with an annoying bimbo blonde (wife?) consort.
I got suckered into watching part of one recently.
That sounds the opposite of watchable.
YouTube offered up Adam Corolla at Home Depot. No ragging on their generally poor lumber quality surprisingly.
Looks like the entirety of The Adam Carolla Project is on Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLw_DMos6uM6f1tf1Q2IwrUrNRyd2aCt_V
I enjoyed that, years ago.
Quite a bit has changed in the last 20 years (no more wife, falling out with Ray, etc.)
Wasn’t Jimmy Kimmel his original sidekick?
He and Kimmel were partners – originally at KROQ and then ‘The Man Show’.
They did some great things on The Man Show.
I don’t think I’ve ever been in Home Depot one time and found what I needed and checked out with reasonable ease. Things aren’t where the signs say they are, and the first person I ask doesn’t know because “it’s not my regular department” so they have to radio the manager, then the manager scrolls through a smartphone and says “well I dunno, the system says that it’s right here…” and scrolls some more. Even if I find what I’m looking for, there’s always trouble checking out because it’s missing a barcode, has the wrong barcode, the barcode has a smudge on it, typing in that 11-digit number is too much work, etc…
It’s the opposite at Lowe’s. I can quickly find what I need and get checked out quick. The staff generally resolves any confusion very quickly.
This could all be due to the specific management at these two locations, though.
I think it’s your two locations, as I’ve found the stores indistinguishable in terms of experience.
I’d go the opposite of you. The Lowe’s always seems to be a major pain in the ass. Home Depot seems to be slightly better.
Of course the correct answer is Menards. That is where I normally do my shopping when I decide to use my my mechanically declined skillz to build something.
Home Depot used to be better, but Lowe’s got the Klein contract, so no decent tools at HD, plus Lowe’s is closer to the house. Other than that, neither are great when you own an older home, as nothing fits and everything has to be modified to work.
I despise HD and like Lowes.
Menards has terrible customer service – they won’t even open a location within driving distance.
Yea, it also comes down to the fact that Lowe’s is the only big box home store IN town – Menards and Home Depot are both in the next towns south and north respectively. That’s a pain in the ass when most of my home improvement jobs involve going back to the store at least once because something doesn’t fit in my oddball 1920s house or I just fucked something up.
I figured I might as well get the Lowe’s credit card too since I’m spending so much damn money there, so I’m getting 5% off all purchases.
UCS:
Just yesterday I was in Menards and they had a bargain bin full of gloves for $3.99 a pair. All sorts. You would have loved it.
I actually think Menards cust svc is pretty good. Seems like they have a fair amount of guys working there who actually know what they are talking about. (To be fair, even the teenager who is getting a D in his high school shop class knows more about building stuff than I do).
Jimbo – You missed the joke.
Lowes is way closer to me but I avoid it like the plague because of how difficult it is to get in/out of.
Our city decided to develop a perfectly good gravel pit and turn it into a shopping district. The city planners decided that a really cool way to do things would be to have mega blocks of shops. Each mega block would have all the stores on the edge of the block and the interior would be one big parking lot. Of course being city planners they also decided that each of these mega blocks would have very limited entrances and exits to/from the parking lot. I think it is supposed to “calm” traffic.
Usually there are more entrances than exits. There isn’t a wait to get in, but getting out always requires you to wait for at least two cycles of the traffic light the controls the exit from the mega block.
Lowes shares a mega block with a Costco, REI and Dicks Sports so it is always a zoo. Driving a few extra miles to Menards always ends up being a shorter trip than navigating the Lowes mega block.
* The only mega block I ever go into on a regular basis is the one with a Total Wine. And I only go there on week days.
Klein’s quality has gone to shit and they’re offshoring more and more of their traditional handtools.
Most of the Klein stuff I use is still good: pliers, cutters, crimpers, etc. and the climbers are as well made as any competitors. But, yeah, too much is overseas now, and that goes for a lot of the biggies like Snap-on and Proto too.
Craftsman is as good as dead.
I mourn.
I agree.
I would have pegged you for a FleetFarm kind guy. Somebody has to help that kid realize his political dreams.
Jimbo, do you remember Knox? They had a few stores around the TC, long gone now, I think.
I went to the one on Snelling Ave, just south of the fairgrounds, to buy a toilet. There was a woman working there, she asked if I had all the connectors, hoses, etc. I said no. She started filling up my basket, “You’re gonna need this, 2 of these, etc ,etc. I got the toilet installed and had nothing left over, nothing extra.
Had I not been married I’d have proposed to her on my next trip to the store.
PONick, I go to Fleet even if I don’t need anything. There’s always some candy I need, Halloween is always coming and who knows, they may run out.
They had reloading supplies that I always needed, can’t have too much, just in case. A lot of variety, the missus bought kitchen stuff there.
Moj, craftsman. Everytime I break a socket or a ratchet I cry a little.
I’ve started buying SnapOn and it makes me cry as the prices are four to five times what the craftsman stuff was at only a little bit higher quality.
I try to buy all the extra craftsman sockets I can find at the local pawn shop, you can tell the 90s (American made) ones by the color of the chrome and how deep the embossing is.
The local Home Depot is four miles from the lumber mill.
It has premium lumber compared to the junk the local I dependent stores sell, at higher cost than Home Depot.
No airplane channels? Or were those already covered?
Let me help you with that
I find her also to be annoying (do you see a pattern developing?) but she’s no dummy. Confession- I have not actually watched this build series. Not yet, anyway.
I’ve listed several aviation-related channels in my past articles
I’ve only bee watching one Aviation-related channel personally.
UCS:
I hope it’s about the history and changes of the Aviation cocktail over the decades.
Such a channel would rapidly run out of content.
Your avgeek store items made me laugh.
UCS:
Well, there’s plenty of history around other cocktails as well.
Aviation Gin
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayD-4nMnB44
But that would make it an alcohol-related channel, not an Aviation-related one.
KK, did I ever mention @LouB747 to you?
If not, he’s an ex-747 cargo pilot and current Gulfstream charter pilot who’s hobby is amateur herping. He chases snakes all over the world, sometimes in the company of his family or other field herping enthusiasts. He also does straight aviation content from time to time. Very fun channel.
I’ve watched Lou B many times – he does some great stuff at Narita!
Herping all over the world
Lots of whore houses?
Sean the Sheepman is great.
Has he shown up in Montana yet? I bet he and the local cowpokes would have some interesting talks about the merits of sheep fucking.
What’s the difference between Mick Jagger and a Scottish farmer?
…
Mick Jagger says, “Hey, you, get off of my cloud,” and a Scottish farmer says, “Hey, McCloud, get off of my ewe!”
Some Adam Carola(sp?)thing popped up recently having to do with Paul Newman’s carr collection, I think. Haven’t watched it. I believe he did a movie about Newman and racing.
Yep, he owns a pile of Newman’s old cars.
The doc is “Winning: The Racing Life of Paul Newman” and it’s great – I enjoyed it before I even started watching auto racing.
And it’s on Tubi!
https://tubitv.com/movies/621987/winning-the-racing-life-of-paul-newman
He also did “The 24 Hour War” about Le Mans, which I also enjoyed very much (Pre-dates “Ford v. Ferrari”).
Some of the cars in the collection are on exhibit.
Menards has terrible customer service – they won’t even open a location within driving distance.
I think the closest Menard’s is in Rapid City. I stopped there once when I was passing through. The store must be 10 acres under roof.
Menace
A Public Religion Research Institute poll conducted earlier this year shows a majority of Americans see Trump, who has repeatedly talked about the possibility of staying in office beyond constitutional term limits and whose Administration has shown a disdain for judicial oversight, as a “dangerous dictator whose power should be limited before he destroys American democracy.”
Makes me wonder what the other choices were.
I assume Trump actually said this. Was it his normal spew out whatever crosses. my frontal lobe? Or was it, a considered possibility? Or was it just more laser dots & cats?
Laser dots and cats. While they work themselves into a frenzy Vance is being prepped.
We don’t typically elect VP’s as the successors. After 8 years, people tend to want change in this country.
We don’t normally elect VP’s, but these aren’t normal times. The D’s have set them selves back a generation, are hated and have no bench. Vance isn’t a shoo in, but his chances are above average.
All of what y’all say is true but I remind everyone that A LOT can happen before the mid-terms and the world can change completely before 2028. I am just looking at what I see before me right now.
Trumps 8 years were split by a Biden administration. I recently attended a family reunion and one of my Dem cousins was trying to distance the Dems from Biden. And Biden was supposed to be center left. I think the Rs have a decent chance if they reschedule the devil’s lettuce and try and resist the urge to hang the 10 commandments everywhere by 2028. Of course, they won’t.
The D’s are dead. They let the leftist radicals take over the party. Their levels of idiocy and insanity are off the charts. Trump is finding it ridiculously easy to troll them. When you specialize in poisoning everything…guess what happens. No one ever told them dealers never use their own product?
They really are the evil clown party. Anyone see the outtakes from thier convention? It was just ‘insult Trump’ like middle schoolers. It made me think of that college commie convention from a few years back where they couldnt even get through the introductory speech without over an hours worth of “Point of order! I need special accommodations just for me!”.
People already have anti-Trump fatigue. In general the country is heading in the right direction, just like people voted for. The only hope of the left is the natural pendulum swing in the mid-terms. That’s no longer a guarantee. But if they do regain control of something, I expect them to step on yet another rake as they use all their power to stand in the way of what 80% of people want.
I saw somebody pointing out that Trump has now managed to troll the Dems into burning American flags.
I doubt the no-VP rule will really apply this time at full strength, seeing as Trump’s two terms aren’t consecutive.
Even if you don’t know what push polling is, you should be able to recognize it here.
We polled 5000 random Rachel Maddow fans and discovered that they overwhelmingly view Trump as a dictator, and toddler drag shows as fine art.
Thanks for leaving me a review on etsy, RJ!!! 🙏
You are welcome! May you have many more sales!
I like the Irish couple, they are less annoying than my mother and her husband who did the same thing for years.
But they kept saying it was hot out, so, for an Irisher, that must be, what, 65* americanheit?
Well, they are driving around the desert SW without AC, so I give them kudos
KK, you might like https://www.youtube.com/@GettinOffGrid/videos
A young guy, just out of the military, searching for something to do. He buys a piece of land in Alaska and learns as he goes. I like his cat.
Also young guys, just out of the military, buy land in Alaska
https://www.youtube.com/@Deadmen./videos
I admire our own Animal for moving up there. It was a dream of mine once, now I’m too old and feeble. I’ll enjoy vicariously.
I must be one of the few, but I go to Alaska a couple of times a year on business and it is nice to visit but I prefer living in the Inland Northwest.
I would move there in a NY minute if it weren’t so far from my dad.
A little chloroform, some duct tape, and your dad can move to Alaska with you!
Good news, everyone! The singer and the football player got engaged!
Is there nothing that Trump cannot fix?
Yep, the economy.
I’m with you Fourscore. While things aren’t getting worse, happy days are not here again. Gas prices have settled into a pattern here, going from 3.49 down to 2.89 over the course of a few weeks, then overnight they shoot back up to 3.49. Better than the peak under Biden, but I wouldn’t call that “good”.
The BS artists are out today, promoting the tariffs as a new Trump miracle. Apparently some didn’t get the word
https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/us-debt-set-surge-120-gdp-federal-deficits-spiral-over-next-decade-under-new-projections
I just bought a threaded G26 barrel for $20.
Ribeyes were $8.99/lb over the weekend.
TOK, the Whiting plant is down again so its price jacking time.
Tom Luongo had a rant the other day about how oil is more price volatile than bitcoin.
@invisible finger, that is a good excuse, but I’m getting suspicious of seeing a good excuse every 2 weeks like clockwork.
Stop it!
It is not possible for me to care less about Taylor Swift, and I’ve already gotten four different news stories pushed into my feed about it.
We could have a “Is Taylor Swift attractive?” broohaha.
She is attractive in a superficial physical way. That usually has the shelf life of an avocado. I dont know a single thing about her personally. Brains and personality count…cuz when the looks go that is what you are left with.
She writes her own lyrics! Really deep stuff like “You Belong With Me.”
They ran out of other people to give herpies too?
X seems to think I need to see more cat and racoon clips.
https://x.com/CatsandDogsmem/status/1959995650227180002
Speaking of critters…..do we have any biologists around?
I am used to seeing red cardinals…solid deep red head to tail. When the nile virus showed up the cardinals disappeared altogether for a couple of years. They came back but in low numbers. Then they disappeared again for at least one year. Now they are back in large numbers but they are not solid red. They have lots of brown muting their red color. Their diet largely determines their color so i wonder if that is the reason for the color change or some gene associated with resistance to the nile virus.
I normally let any volunteer poke salad fully grow as the cardinals LOVE the berries on them and the leaf cutter bees find them 1st choice for nest making. During the time the cardinals were not here there was no one to poop seeds so the poke salad has been reduced to two plants.
Also, since I started feeding the birds, squirrels, rabits etc…the blue jays have been busy NOT eating my green anoles so the lizard population is way up…and thus the bug population down.
There is no point to any of this, I just find it interesting. Now that I am retired I have time to notice stuff like this.
I had west Nile back in 2011.
1:10 do not recommend.
Females have browner feathers.
*shrug*
The brightness of the red and yellow in birds is usually reinforced by Carotenoids in their diet, usually be eating bugs, shows overall health for female mate choice.
And yeah. Females are usually much more drab.
“Poke Salad Annie” – Tony Joe White
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCSsVvlj6YA
My wife has taken an interest in bird watching, and she has a cool app that identifies birds by sound. So I’m noticing birds too. We have a few resident cardinals, the males are still bright red here.
We also have an Eastern Kingbird who lives in our oak tree. On the app you can play a bird’s call, and when we do he gets pretty curious and comes in close.
Oh, who was it that said they were feeding raccoons…like a flock of furry chickens?
I told Mrs. about that. She laughed.
“What a sucker. Dont they know the coons get together and pick out the cutest one then rough him up a bit. They groom him then hide in the bushes and snicker while he limps up to the house looking lonely, hungry and bedraggled? He knocks on the door and when you open it he gives you the big, doe eyed pleading while holdiing his arms out. Soooooo cute! Sooooo pitiful. Poor little thing!
I cant believe they fell for that.”
I think the Merlin’s ate the Cardinals in my back yard. I had a pair I haven’t seen in a few weeks.
Is X wrong?
Ancient?!
It’s an 84-86ish.
That’s nearly new.
Mine’s a 2012 and it’s ancient – most of my neighbors have modern conveniences like automatic levelers and tanks that you can dump without having to crawl underneath to pull a valve. If I ever make decent money again, I’m upgrading to a 5th wheel with a residential fridge and washer/dryer.
For certain values of ‘decent’
I bought an 85 Southwind a few years for the motor and transmission, only 35,000 miles on it and it would do 75mph.
$1000
Most of the motor homes I see are older and being pulled by a beat up pickup truck.
Headed to Freeatle?
Poor life choices.
https://x.com/EricLDaugh/status/1960361733274439842
There we go. That’s the end game.
There’s really no way for them to win is there? They can keep defending criminals which of course is bad, but doing this, Trump can (and will) say this is proof he was right.
If it works, great. That flies in the face of Mamommy’s plans or whatever his name is, the dude running for mayor of New York.
The doc is “Winning: The Racing Life of Paul Newman” and it’s great – I enjoyed it before I even started watching auto racing.
Slumbrew- I have seen it, and thought it was great. I couldn’t remember for certain if Carola did it. I used to see Newman at Lime Rock, running around in cutoff blue jean shorts with his spindly little legs. He was an excellent driver.