Captain’s Log. It is now day 6 of the government shutdown, no working order. My wife is still in the house, even after Elon Musk made her work in a cube downtown instead of the den. Reruns of Rizolli and Isles echo across my tile floors. Its femdom slop but at least it isn’t Crossing Jordan.
Yesterday she got bored and tried to clean the rust off the drain to our guest bathroom sink. She gave up, and bought a new drain. This is a pedestal style sink, so I have about 3” between the wall and the pedestal to install the new drain. It troubled me she spent the money on a brushed stainless steel model to replace the plastic one but hey I thought the problem was rust. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. I completed the task between meetings at work but I’m now a day behind on my auditing tasks. It was then I realized I didn’t have any plumber’s putty to seal off the fixture so it was going to leak. I had to take the drain apart, seal it off, and put that shit back together again. This is what I get for saving money on Mexican workers by being Mexican, myself.
¡Enlaces!
Literally, nobody is making the argument you are not a person.
Illegal crossings at the lowest point since the 70’s.
Sanctions placed on Chinese fentanyl manufacturing companies Mexican drop shippers.
If he’s smart enough to align with the globalist empire, he’s smart enough to stroke the Orange Man’s ego.
I assume everyone involved Is lying.
Foreigner seems appropriate today. Enjoy your Martes!
It’s the First-knock life for us….
It is a start… I want a net outflow, personally. Even if that means that gasp… sob… some of them lack the papers to be legal residents. But for now we have to put up with ID Cards Against Humanity cosplay, I suppose.
But while Kimberly says her parents are safe for now, she worries that could change at any moment. She says life feels “unreal” and “like a nightmare” since US President Donald Trump began cracking down on illegal immigration, executing mass deportations since taking office in January – reigniting her lifelong fear of losing her parents.
Embrace your fear. Wallow in it. Gulp it down and blow bubbles.
You’re soaking in it!
Does CNN even listen to themselves? By this logic, is there anyone whatsoever in the world who does not deserve to be treated to my hospitality and the contents of my wallet?
I don’t remember seeing weepers like this when Obama was deporting millions. I wonder what changed.
Rhy, the Obama deported millions thing was always propaganda. He changed how he counted deportations. It was bureaucratic fuckery that was reversed when Trump took over in 2016.
I get the point you want to make. The Dems used to at least talk tough on immigration because they weren’t so untethered to reality and knew it was unpopular, but it was under him that the left started gloating about demographic destiny meaning they’d never lose another election. Letting in as many third-worlders as they could across the border was always their goal.
The whole world deserves your pockets. /United States of America, signed all politicians
Does CNN even listen to themselves?
This bullshit isn’t meant for the ears of the Elect. True, they will revel in their imaginary moral superiority, but the message is really for the weak-minded. The problem is CNN vastly overestimates how many of those there really are.
Plane tickets to Mexico aren’t that expensive. You’ll still be able to visit your folks.
Where’s your empathy?!?
Where shitbirds can’t touch it.
Right there in the dictionary, between “Eat Shit” and “Fuck off”.
Empathy was yesterday. Today you’re wasting my time.
That’s probably a good policy for most reporting, foreign and domestic. I really should have picked a field like politician or journalist where nothing you say really matters and no one holds you to account. Much simpler than needing logic and facts to back up your contentions.
*stares in lawyer*
Forget us?
Brazilian Vice-President Geraldo Alckmin described the call as “better than expected”, and said he was optimistic about talks between the two countries.
“Better than expected”. I’ve used that euphemism before.
Since their Supreme Court justice seems to actually be running the country, I’m not sure how much it really matters.
There should always be a place for industrious hardworking people here. Maybe CNN should lay off the emotive fearmongering and focus on that.
Yes. And there should be a reasonably streamlined legal system for them to utilize for entry.
And those who don’t, jump the line and sneak in should be booted out with prejudice. Regardless of how long it takes for us to realize they’re here. It is only fair to those who do properly enter the country, after all.
There are no ” industrious hardworking people” at CNN.
They can see the writing on the wall.
Plumbing is one of the things I’ll do up to a point — sinks and garbage disposals being the most trivial, toilet tank work next… then toilets themselves (the floor junctions always worry me). I won’t try to solder copper fixtures… too paranoid.
Similar to brake work on cars. I understand the concepts… I (mostly) have the tools… and I really need to change at least the front pads on my car… but man, I’m so paranoid of “If I do this wrong and don’t realize it” consequences… I’m probably going to resort to seeing if the dealership will work with the pads I bought. I’m the same way with any non-trivial plumbing work… I probably can do it, and I understand the concepts… but water leaks can really royally mess things up and I don’t want to incur the damage.
Glad your wife found you to be putty in her
drainhands, MS.You don’t need to mess with the hydraulics to change the pads. Loosen caliper, remove pads, spread piston(s), insert new pads, tighten caliper bolts to proper torque, drink beer.
Rust / salt belt warning. But don’t disagree.
Most cars since the 80’s with rear disc brakes require the piston to be rotated when you’re compressing it into the bore. Check the piston for a couple of indentations to see. Most parts stores sell a little cube with different sizes and shapes of studs for this job. Cranking down with a giant C-clamp will get the piston into the bore but it will never come out again and you’ll need a new caliper. Try not to crack open the hydraulic system because due to ABS you won’t be able to completely bleed them if you get any air in and you’ll end up with, at best, a squishy brake pedal.
You can bleed them if you have dealer software or a two way OBDC device that has ABS bleed routines. This is not a code reader. This is needed because you need to open the ABS valves in the controller to get all the air out.
I changed out the tank seat screws on my toilet on Sunday… then re-changed them out last night when I figured out that I had two of the three stacked gaskets out of order.
The rubber gaskets were 25 years old.
Turning the water on and off on the tank valve resulted in the old valve starting to leak, so now I have to change that out this evening.
And my laundry room has a wet ceiling.
Disc brake pads are usually simple. The hardest part is pushing the piston back into the caliper (there are tools to make that easy). You may also need “thin” wrenches to hold the floating part of the caliper bolt.
Remove Wheel, Remove 2 caliper bolts. Push pads back a bit before removing caliper (definitely for Ford F-series trucks, there are rivets on the pads that will catch on the piston if you don’t have some wiggle room)
completely push the piston in (watch for brake fluid to spill out of reservoir if you overfilled it). Replace pads with new clips and copper lube. Reassemble, make sure the floating caliper bolts are free. Push the brake a few times to re-seat the pads, drive.
The Brembo pad system is even easier, you use a punch to remove the 2 pins, slide the pads out, push back the pistons, insert the 2 new pads and tap the pins back in.
Replace or reuse the brake sensors depending on their wear and the application.
If my then 17 year old son, a solid YT video and some tenacity and ingenuity can do it…
As mentioned — I understand the how. I do need a c-clamp (I have a torque wrench somewhere.. though it may be at the other house…). I’ve watched the videos… I’m just really, really paranoid of “Brakes not working going down a hill into a curve because I’m a fuck-up”, honestly. Allow me my foibles.
I’ve replaced soft brake lines, flared and bent hard brake lines, put on replacement calipers (The wrong ones that wouldn’t bleed correctly) etc. If there are no hydraulic leaks the brakes will work. Even if there is a hydraulic problem the modern systems separate out the front and rear brake systems so there is not a single point of failure. I drove the truck home after having to replace one of the rear lines without bleeding it since I couldn’t get the bleeder open. The front brakes worked fine, and after soaking the bleeder in P-Blaster, I was able to bleed the rear.
C-Clamps do work, but something like this makes it simple:
https://www.amazon.com/Fbest-Ratchet-Caliper-Spreader-Separator/dp/B07PW997YJ
The Brembo pad system is even easier, you use a punch to remove the 2 pins, slide the pads out, push back the pistons, insert the 2 new pads and tap the pins back in.
Yep, right up until those pins seize up and the mechanic breaks them trying to work them out. (2008 Chevy Cobalt SS) Two days without a car.
Incidentally, the piston on rear calipers on the Cobalt won’t push back in unless you rotate while compressing. Take a significant amount of effort and cussing to make that happen, with the limited amount of room you have to work.
https://a.co/d/98gqX8y
These generally work.
I had the rear caliper on a range rover sport burn up the pad, and grind metal. When I took it off to change the pads/rotors it wouldn’t compress on the car, it wouldn’t compress when removed from the brake lines. Thermal overheating locked the piston, and the original problem was caused by the soft lines collapsing into one way valves. Same thing happened with the F350, it was eating brake calipers until I replaced the 3 flex hoses.
“Now when I see what’s going on with ICE, it’s exactly as I imagined it as a kid,” Kimberly said, referring to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement. “My biggest worry was that my parents would feel like everything they did for us was in vain, when really it wasn’t because my sisters and I got to get a great education.”
Flout the laws for decades, your kids get a “great education” at U.S. taxpayer expense.
Y’know… there’s more than one way to treat you like a human being. You can go home now on your own dime, or we do it the other way.
I was half expecting this.
Was not disappointed.
bilingual and well educated . . . . nobody back home will hire that
Human beings are accountable for their actions. Animals are not. Holding someone accountable is treating them as human.
Speaking of everybody lying, that Chicago ICE shooting thing seems to be a complete muddle of contradictory and incomplete tales.
Steph Curry’s entitled wife is whining publicly about how she had “career goals” and how he doesn’t get it. Yes, being the wife of a wealthy athlete who doesn’t even have to raise her own damn kids is tough. She could have been a CEO girl boss in another life, I’m sure.
Before marrying money, Ayesha had moved to Hollywood to be an actress with no real success. After marrying his money, despite having no training or actual qualifications she has been put on TV shows, opened restaurants, and started businesses. Oh, and she’s written books!
But if it wasn’t for those goods weighing her down, she’d be running a fortune 500 company while winning Oscars.
I’ve thought about this sometimes. A lot of people have convinced themselves that if they hadn’t gotten married and had kids, or if they had just made that one decision differently, they’d be sitting on their beachfront mansion sipping pina coladas. Yes, you can get far in life making good choices. But those people at the top are there due to luck (not most of us), connections (not most of us), or some extraordinary talent (also not most of us). Or some crazy combination of all three (definitely not most of us).
One bad decision anywhere along the way will put you under. The truly successful are good at avoiding those bad decisions.
If you are where you are because of “that one decision”, then buck up, because you’d have probably just fucked up the next one.
The thing is, she is in a mansion with complete freedom to do what she wants for the most part. She has made it and she gets to launch a bunch of business ventures BECAUSE she fucked herself into money.
And she has the audacity to act like she is the SAHM being oppressed by being tethered to a stove all day.
That’s why I don’t buy a lottery ticket, I might win.
While one might question my expectations I have been lucky to have accidentally made some decisions that turned out well.
Lucky enough to have had loving parents that taught me how to work was a good start.
Yeah? I remember when bitcoins were 0.09c each and I thought about buying 1000 bucks worth.
If only I had….
But I didnt.
That’s how I feel about Apple stock, Suthenboy — late ’80s / early ’90s when I was working retail and it was below a buck a share I think… could have racked up quite an account.
Coulda, shoulda, woulda… didn’t. Fortunately, I’m fairly content with my life really — so it doesn’t bug me that I didn’t.
Yum. Big Booty Latina Links. I need a BBL desperately… to clean my kitchen. Good Lord I’m messy. Ima read links instead of cleaning.
Big Black Licorice?
BBL’s are gross and fuck Kim Kardashian for starting that trend…among many other rotten things she’s brought into the wider culture.
Stop touching yourself and go touch grass.
And who is going to First, bacon-magic? You?
I don’t think so.
You need me at this keyboard.
I have a couple of projects (which include plumbing) I have been putting off for far too long, because I don’t want to get tar-baby-ed into a massive ordeal. As soon as you touch anything the battle of the next weakest link is on.
Shocking. Open borders scum cherry pick extreme cases to paper over mountains of third world trash.
I hear the View is saying put on…*checks notes* brown face to confuse ICE during Super Bowl.
Looks like funny is back on the menu boys!
Funny, but not ha-ha, more like does this milk smell right?
Specifically it was Jabba the Whoopi who said it.
Her boy Ted approves.
Ted Danson says “that didn’t work out so well for me”.
Does this mean my offensive Mexican sombrero costume is a go for this Halloween?
YES.
Especially if you simulate dime store Obama’s look.
I cannot make sense of anything that has “Super Bowl” and “Brown” so close together.
Your next mayor, New York.
What a prince.
Just speaking to his constituents…
I’m looking at it that way these days. He’s not speaking to us, and he’s not trying to convince anyone. Him, AOC, anyone on MSNBC, they are all just feeding the cult that listen to them. The flock needs to be kept in line lest they drift away.
Well he does seem to want to front the Revolution….
What you just did,
Somone noticed
Or even someone
The future mayor, formerly known as “Ƭ̵̬̊ Logo. Hollow circle above downward arrow crossed with a curlicued horn-shaped symbol and then a short bar”
If he’s going start a revolution he’s gonna need some Raiders
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiwZoqzPenyv-AYbdsvWKxuLMJJ5ivua3
Speaking of histrionics…
On a recent afternoon, Kenrick Modie finished untangling his fishing net in a quiet Caribbean village.
As he slipped into a hammock at his home overlooking the sea, he worried that his life and livelihood could be wiped out by a U.S. military strike.
The notion that the military can’t tell the difference between a drug-laden speedboat and Kendrick the Fisherman is beyond ludicrous.
One has to assume he’s just trolling.
Maybe. Or maybe he has a deep sea-ted fear he needs to reel in.
He’s just fishing for some sympathy.
I think that’s how you end up getting crabs.
He should change his tack by trimming his sails.
Trolling if he’s got a few lines out behind the boat; trawling if he’s dragging the net behind.
And he’s no chum of mine.
AP news. That translates to ‘fiction’.
Or between a wedding party and a terrorist conclave???
Hmm. What happens when the U.S. and Canada raise steel tariffs and Asia needs to find a new home for it…
https://www.wsj.com/economy/trade/eu-plans-50-tariff-on-excess-steel-imports-in-bid-to-tackle-overcapacity-5f613e93?st=z1P226&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
Dedthread @Suthen: “Does that change perspective on time and history for any of you? What seems ancient to people really is not ancient at all.”
Fantastic example we’ve likely all heard: In time, I’m ‘closer’ to Cleopatra than she was to the Egyptian Pyramids. They were more ancient to her than *she* is to Me.
And the foundational truth most truly lose perspective of? All that history, the stories, accomplishments and failures? All done by *people.* Social primates, individuals, even. The same necessities, drives, instincts, patterns. All conflicts, for *all* species, are sparked by the ‘basic’ quest for survival: Territory; Resources; Mates. (To be fair, if ya can hold the first, the others come along just fine. Primo real estate leads to more and better of the other two.)
People forget we’re ‘simply’ mammals. Shit isn’t that complicated, really. Existence is a perpetual struggle and little of life is ‘easy.’
Dear My Generation: Ask pig mothers, who frequently eat their own runts, how ‘hard’ life really is, ya constantly complainin’ cunts.
All of human history makes up the last inch of the mile that is life on earth. Or summtin like dat.
I honestly don’t see how we can forget we’re nothing but mammals….
Exactly what I expected!
So we can both watch X-Files!
Like the lost catacombs of Egypt, only God knows where we stuck it.
The Brembo pad system is even easier, you use a punch to remove the 2 pins, slide the pads out, push back the pistons, insert the 2 new pads and tap the pins back in.
Use the pad to push them both/all back at once, or you’re liable to pop one out while pushing one in.
All of this “just push the pistons back and slip new pads in” presupposes one or more piston isn’t hung up in the bore, ot the sliders aren’t frozen.
Just use a bigger hammer.
I was wondering when you’d chime in
That’s how I feel about Apple stock, Suthenboy — late ’80s / early ’90s when I was working retail and it was below a buck a share I think… could have racked up quite an account.
Coulda, shoulda, woulda… didn’t. Fortunately, I’m fairly content with my life really — so it doesn’t bug me that I didn’t.
I’m the guy who said Apple was egregiously overpriced at $14/share. Look at me now.
Google’s split adjusted IPO price is $2.13. IPO was $85 and traded up around $100. I thought it was nuts to spend that money on a search engine.
Yep, this all counts as “luck”. Because there were tons of other companies out there that started at $85 and ended up at $2.13. If only there was some way to accurately predict the future.
This reminds me of an “Antiques Roadshow” I saw this summer. Dude had some Chinese temple bricabrac that he said his grandma had brought back from Asia in the 40s. The appraiser asked what he thought it was worth. Dude says, that Grandma was offered $27,000 in 1950 but she turned it down. Appraiser goes all “Glad she did. This (crap) is worth like $50 to $60,000 today so she was smart to hold on to it!” I got to figuring, went on line, and discovered that if Grandma had taken the $27,000 in 1950 and invested it in the S&P 500 Index, grandson would be holding $102 million today!
Part 3 of Tucker Carlson’s 9/11 files series.
In just ~5min and.. uh. I wanna watch this from the start. I knew much of the Bin Laden history, mostly cuz a netflix doc on the Hunt for Bin Laden and how he was found through his “Currier” and hidden and killed on the latter’s property.
Great to see it more straightforwardly presented. Need to watch parts 1/2 before I continue, frankly.
And, I got baseball on. I don’t care who wins this 1-1 tie series, but I really hope the Cubs don’t get swept. All hands – arms – on deck, tonight.
(Not tonight. Next game.)
I kinda hope the Yanks lose, but I’m far more interested in a Game 5. I *do* hope Judge keeps being a fuckup in the postseason. I’m not entirely sure why. (Things simply shouldn’t be *easy* for certain people?)
I really do want the Yanks to lose the series. I see no reason to be anti-Blue Jays v the contra, who can take their losses. They need ’em. Wins don’t matter unless ya kinda occasionally lose. Now is (another) one of those moments.
I am still stymied on the water pump. I called my father “Hey, you remember grandma Smith’s water pump?”
Yes he remembers it.
“What kind of pump is that? What is the name?”
He cant remember. He said he has never seen another one like it.
I am frustrated.
I cant find any definitive news on the Hamas/hostage deal. Does anyone know?
I’m Firsting for peace, so it should end shortly.
Water Wheels and Buckets: The Alhambra Palace in Spain featured a system that used a water wheel and buckets to lift water from a lower point into a high-elevation reservoir. This stored water then supplied high-pressure fountains and other systems for the palace.
Norias: These large waterwheels, also known as “wheels of pots,” used water power to turn a wheel with buckets (or pots) attached to its rim. As the wheel rotated, these pots would scoop water from a river and automatically empty into a trough, delivering the water to aqueducts for irrigation and distribution.
Watermills: The Greeks and Romans developed undershot, overshot, and breastshot watermills that used the force of flowing or falling water to turn the wheel. The rotating wheel powered machinery for grinding grain, smelting iron, and other tasks.
This one was a series of vertical tubs on swivels. When the tube filled up past the swivel the tube became top heavy and tip over to pour into a slightly higher tube until that tube filled up enough to be top heavy then it would do the same. think: a domino effect. I remember that thing clacking all day and night. It only delivered about a cup of water at a time at the top of the hill into a reservoir tank
I have only seen one other one like that….a Chinese one set up as a novelty. I dont know what the thing is called.
“This is what I get for saving money on Mexican workers by being Mexican, myself.”
Today I learned I’m a Mexican.
JFC the data in our maintenance program is atrocious and absolutely fucked.
Activist or criminal? Why not both?
https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2025/10/07/activist-or-criminal-jury-hears-opening-arguments-in-zoe-rosenberg-trial-over-poultry-farm-break-ins/
Criminal.
On another note she is probably part of the group responsible for burning down processing plants.
“Hey, you remember grandma Smith’s water pump?”
That perpetual motion one? She should have patented it.
“Reruns of Rizolli and Isles echo across my tile floors. Its femdom slop but at least it isn’t Crossing Jordan.” Could be worse. Could be Virgin River. You could cook a whole meal with the vocal fry in that show.
It has Sasha Alexander in it.
Abby Carmichael, (one of the Rizolli/Isles duo) was my favorite ADA on Law & Order. Well-acted, in a place where the writers portraying a conservative view, actually made them believable to her character. And pretty well-written, TBH.
Elizabeth Rohm and I, however, are more intimate cast members. (I kinda really hate her. A lot.)
Ded/@Suthen: “Does that change perspective on time and history for any of you? What seems ancient to people really is not ancient at all.”
Fantastic example we’ve likely all heard: In time, I’m ‘closer’ to Cleopatra than she was to the Egyptian Pyramids. They were more ancient to her than *she* is to Me.
And the foundational truth most truly lose perspective of? All that history, the stories, accomplishments and failures? All done by *people.* Social primates, individuals, even. The same necessities, drives, instincts, patterns. All conflicts, for all species, are sparked by the ‘basic’ quest for survival: Territory; Resources; Mates. (To be fair, if ya can hold the first, the others come along just fine. Primo real estate leads to better and more of the other two.)
People forget we’re ‘simply’ mammals. Shit isn’t that complicated, really. Existence is a perpetual struggle and little of life is ‘easy.’
Ask that pig of a mother who frequently eats her own runts how ‘hard’ life really is.
Local dipshits marched in support of Hamas, waving Pali flags yesterday. Fuck them. And fuck the Palis.
Imagine dipshits marching for the poor innocent Japanese on Dec 7, 1943. They would have needed a police escort to keep from getting lynched. As if anyone would have been so insane to do so.
The difference being that Hamas hasn’t attacked us, not that they wouldn’t if they could but they haven’t. Compared to the threat the Japanese Empire was they’re just a fly in the ointment.