My favorite Spanish Pop-Mashup cover show band.
This was a particularly chill summer. I didn’t get everything done that I wanted to, but the ticks have been less of a problem than previous years (though of course the fall feeding frenzy hasn’t yet started) and the burrs haven’t been as bad as usual. (I spend so much time picking burrs out of Lily’s fur after a hike). I really need to make an appointment soon to get my snowblower looked at. Life up here is weird.
The skies are also chill. We still are enjoying the Jupiter-Venus tranquility that started last week, and we’ll keep it until Wednesday. Monday looks laid back, Tuesday might have a bit of a bump as the Moon and Mars interact, and on Thursday a time of good luck begins for Scorpios.
Virgo: Queen of Wands – Success in business, love of money, a brunette.
Libra: 6 of Swords reversed – Declaration, confession, publicity
Scorpio: Knight of Wands reversed – Rupture, division, interruption, discord.
Sagittarius: 7 of Cups – Illusions, believing one’s own bullshit.
Capricorn: Death – End, mortality, destruction, the loss of a benefactor.
Aquarius: 5 of Cups – Loss, but something remains; inheritance, patrimony, transmission, but not corresponding to expectations
Pisces: Ace of Coins – Perfect contentment, felicity, ecstasy; also speedy intelligence; gold.
Aries: 6 of Cups – The past and memories are the most important influences.
Taurus: Ace of Wands – Creation, invention, enterprise, principle, beginning, source, birth, family, origin.
Gemini: 2 of Coins – Recreation, news, obstacles, agitation
Cancer: 8 of Swords – Bad news, violent chagrin, crisis, censure, power in trammels, conflict, calumny, sickness.
Leo: Wheel of Fortune – -Destiny, fortune, success, elevation, luck, felicity.
Published this early because scheduler still broke and I’ve got places to go.
thanks
Thanks!
Sagittarius: 7 of Cups – Illusions, believing one’s own bullshit.
Whose bullshit should I believe?
Rapunzel
The State’s Comrade.
Taurus has been surprisingly positive the last few weeks, which is a vast change from the last few years.
My computer rant from dedthred continued: On my own computer, I’ve had to start taking copious notes about what I configured and how, in case I ever have to do it again OR something updates itself (that I had previously not caught) and it breaks. I’ve had it so customized for so many years I don’t know what anything is called or where it is and I can’t tell anyone how to do anything in Word because I haven’t see the native ribbons in years.
Same with my websites. I comment the hell out of every edit I make. /* This is to load that fucking .php I had to write to do this other fucking thing that I needed for this third fucking function I wanted. */
To be honest, some of it wouldn’t be necessary if I were willing to put up with tiny inconveniences, but I am not willing to put up with them multiple times an hour or day. I had a boss who’d put up with something indefinitely. Extra click for this one function several times a day? For her, no problem. For me— I WANT TO TALK TO YOUR MANAGER!
Destiny, fortune, success, elevation, luck, felicity.
Not sufficiently shitty
I have food, shelter, clothing, and a wonderful wife. I guess that counts as success and luck.
I consider myself very lucky. When I go outside in the morning, look around and listen I realize how fortunate I am.
Certainly there have been bumps along the way and in hindsight there were things I shouldn’t have done. At this point in life none of that matters.
Sachsen-Anhalt is going to be interesting.
Oh the vote is today?
Polls just closed. The first projection is that AfD is on either 41 or 42 out of the 83 seats.
Except that the BSW, a party that’s somewhere between the ex-Communists and the AfD (if you think of political preferences as a circle instead of the standard left-right), is on the cusp of being over the 5% hurdle to get seats in the legislature. They’ve been equivocal on the issue of the firewall, which has led to a lot of internal strife in the party. So if they get in, the likely choices are an AfD minority government tolerated by the BSW, or the CDU, three leftist parties, and the BSW getting together against the AfD. Either of those two options seems insanely volatile.
No, it doesn’t take courage to say you don’t like the AfD.
Odds the powers that be allow AfD to win?
Voter turnout went from 61% at the last election to 76+%, which is seen as good for the AfD considering that traditional non-voters are more likely to vote for an outsider party.
Wow. Those turnout numbers are crazy high.
One national broadcaster is reporting 76.5%; the other is reporting 80%.
Sounds like people A: Are unhappy, and B: still think their vote matters.
Their next step is to ban the party. If they manage to win a majority here I could see it happening.
Also, the pre-election opinion polls slightly underestimated the AfD. That’s not because of bias, because they also seriously underestimated the vote of the far-left Greens. Polls suggested there was a possibility the Greens might not get to 5%, which would have made the AfD’s path to an absolute majority a lot easier. The first projections have the Greens between 8.5% and 9%.
From the exit polls:
Q: Should the AfD be considered in forming a government coalition?
All voters: Yes: 52%, No: 44%
Obviously almost all the AfD voters said yes. BSW (I should add they broke off from the Linke/ex-Communists over immigration issues) was also majority Yes, 57-33. The other parties were 10% yes or below.
That majority yes vote is really interesting.
Apparently there was also some tactical voting. According to the exit poll, two-thirds of those who voted for the Greens did so to get them into parliament to hinder a possible AfD majority.
Was their slogan “why vote for a lesser evil?”
ZDF’s exit poll. In German, of course, but most of the questions should be reasonably understandable.
I was thinking it’s be funny if AfD got an absolute majority and was able to give the rest two middle fingers.
Sensei-
Also, on that Toyota: the weird wear patterns on the bearings made me wonder if the crank is not straight. That would ordinarily be an absurd thing to even consider, but…
Where did Toyota make those engines?
China? 🤷♂️
2.8L “Cummins” has entered the chat.
I wish I’d bought a 4Runner before the refresh, but the missus pushed for a pickup. Not entirely unhappy.
“ Cancer: 8 of Swords – Bad news, violent chagrin, crisis, censure, power in trammels, conflict, calumny, sickness.”
Whatever. I’m still getting laid.
That’s my ongoing consolation regardless of how bad the horoscope is.
Snow White Meets Rapunzel
Virgo. Success in business, love of money, a brunette.
And all done from the relative comfort of my couch!
I’m partial to redheads…
Danger Will Robinson!
Where did Toyota make those engines?
Hecho in Haiti.
That would be fabrique not hecho
Voter turnout went from 61% at the last election to 76+%, which is seen as good for the AfD considering that traditional non-voters are more likely to vote for an outsider party.
The terminally pissed off “Throw the Bums Out” vote.
That would be fabrique not hecho
I have seen products marked Hecho in China. It’s standard usage.
Is it being sold in a French speaking country?
Spangrish
First round of porterhouses on the grill. 👍
Sounds like a good Sunday.
We’re overdue for a grill. Our last one died a long time ago and we haven’t replaced it.
Any suggestions?
Make your own from scrap metal and charcoal.
I’m a fan of propane cuz I’m lazy and like the convenience.
*insert Hank Hill gif*
How many people at a time are you grilling for?
https://www.homesandgardens.com/reviews/Weber-Q3200-grill
I have an early model of this. It’s held up real well. Replacement parts are available.
Works great for 2-4 people and doesn’t take up a lot of room.
I think Pie grills on the same line.
UCS the grill for my fire pit is made out of just that, and the grill bars from our old BBQ that died. It only gets used a couple times a year but is nice to have. https://ibb.co/YBw2ZTjG
Sean, really just my wife and I, kids aren’t eating a lot of meat yet as they are little.
The image won’t load.
What Kind of Virus did you embed In it!
Looks like a nice compromise Sean.
Hotdogs and marshmallows UCS. And the HIV.
They Hydrogen Intrusion Vector is highly important to factor in.
Charcoal man here (although I do enjoy the convenience of propane when grilling at a hotel). Can’t go wrong with a 22″ Weber one touch or whatever they’re calling it now. Saw on Reddit there are still some Walmarts with seasonal stock putting them on clearance. I have two.
I got a wood pellet grill for the new house (Weber Searwood 600) – didn’t have gas anywhere I would want a grill, and I’m not man enough for wood or charcoal. Very pleased with it – super easy to use and you get real smoke flavor.
How many people are you feeding?
2
I want to joke about how big a meal you’re having that requires multiple rounds of steaks…. but there are too many rational explainations to undermine the snark.
I bought 4. Strips tonight and round two of porterhouses tomorrow.
Hold on to your wallet
These headlines have renewed calls for austerity, but the truth is, America is nowhere near broke. On the contrary, the nation holds a staggering amount of wealth — far more than the debt it owes. The real question is not whether we have the resources to manage the debt, but whether we have the will to use them.
——-
We propose measuring the debt a different way. Instead of dividing the debt by a single year’s income, divide it by the nation’s private wealth — that is, the combined net worth of everyone in America. This includes the value of homes, businesses, stocks, retirement savings and so on. By that measure, the national debt equals only about one-fifth of total wealth. At the height of World War II, it was nearly twice that.
The question is not whether we have the wealth. The question is when will we muster the political will to seize it?
You can go ahead and measure the debt however you want. Compare it to the entire GDP and it’s still massive and historically larger than it’s ever been.
But yea, if you stole all the wealth you could put a dent in it I suppose. And then kill all future hope of getting revenue.
Elon can bail us out by donating his fortune to the Treasury!
The government does not hold a staggering amount of wealth. Its assets fall far short of the debt it owes.
And no, selling off all the national parks isn’t going to raise nearly as much money as people fantasize about. Supply and demand, people – dump all that acreage on the market, and what do you think prices are going to do?
We all know how the debt gets paid off. Eventually we devalue the currency. At that point a big chunk of that wealth disappears either into nothingness or by fleeing to other lands.
RC, it’s not specifically the proceeds from the sale.
Combine that with execution of anyone advocating spending money beyond our means, and the increased economic activity by that land being put to more productive use, the revenues will rise to pay down the principle.
Especially if the executions keep pace.
You don’t need to sell land to pay off the debt if you balance the budget.
I’m not opposed to it, but the idea that it will do much to pay off the debt strikes me as unlikely.
Look, I just want the land out of government hands and in the hands of citizens.
I come to the federal land ownership auction viewpoint from a guy who lives in a state that’s 2/3 locked up behind federal and state gates where property prices have nearly tripled in the last 6-7 years.
If it were in private hands much of it would become productive rather than a drain on the taxpayers. Of course it’s not enough to pay off the debt. Not even close but it needs to be auctioned non the less as the feds have no constitutional authority to own it.
Look, I just want the land out of government hands and in the hands of citizens.
And taxed!
Seems like an article that is priming the pump for DSA.
See, these Americans are selfish and hold wealth to pay for everything!
I think they are implying confiscation of private holdings, if said holdings are not voluntarily turned over to those believe they know better how to utilize them.
It goes with the recent flurry of articles about those damn boomers holding on to their homes and that boomers ought to turn over their wealth to their kids.
In the mid-20th century, private wealth was worth about 2.5 times that of GDP; today the factor is closer to 4.5. Much of that gain comes from rising asset prices for stocks and real estate — increases that aren’t included in GDP and which accrue overwhelmingly to top earners.
Or that “increase” could be completely illusory, based on the declining worth of all those scraps of paper with pictures of dead presidents on them.
Compare the debt to the country’s total wealth, though, and a different path emerges — one that requires neither austerity nor squeezing the middle class.
Here it comes…
Consider that a one-time tax of just 10 percent on the wealth of the top 1 percent would raise enough to pay off roughly one-sixth of the entire federal debt in a single stroke. Instead, today’s wealthy are taxed remarkably lightly. Because gains on stocks and other assets are not taxed until they are sold (or never taxed at all if passed on to heirs after death), the richest Americans can watch their fortunes expand while paying next to nothing. This is why Elon Musk’s jump past a trillion dollars in June did not come with a single dollar in additional tax owed.
We must punish the undeserving rich, and redistribute their wealth to the
needygovernment, so the government can increase spending with a clear conscience.Hurray!
That’s an epic level of stupid. First, that only works if we are talking about a wealth tax. Second, the wealthy are very, very good at tax evasion and you’d never actually get that amount of ‘revenue.’ Third, they act like a drastic measure like that (which they probably are trying to sell as some trivial thing with no real repercussions for anyone) paying off 1/6th of the debt is actually something to crow about.
The real issue to these people is that private citizens are allowed to have any wealth. Obviously it all just really belongs to society and by society we mean the government.
Government creates money. Therefore all money belongs to the government.
The thing I never understand about the whole “one time tax on the wealth of billionaires” idea is who is supposed to buy the stock that these people are holding? If my math is right, there would need to be 4 trillion dollars just sitting around somewhere to do the stock purchase.
These are the same people who tell us over and over that the average American is struggling and has no disposable income. So where is this money going to come from? The large holding companies that they tell us are evil?
The same people never explain how “taxing the rich” makes any poor person not poor. Once you’ve given them all the free stuff the money is gone. You’re right back in the same situation. Nobody believes that you’re really going to use all that money to pay off the debt. You’ve shown no interest in doing that, ever.
The whole thing makes no sense at all and the people proposing it are insane and/or blindingly ignorant. They really do think that the rich just have a bank account with a billion dollars sitting in it.
My far left acquaintance says the government doesn’t need to take cash, just take 10% or whatever percent of the shares. No billionaire has to come up with a dime, just fork over stocks and bonds.
Your far left friend is pitching fascism. That makes my cold black heart get all giggly
One collectivism is as good as another.
I’m sure if we forced rich people to sell millions upon millions of shares of stock to pay for a wealth tax there’d be no impact to anyone’s 401K account, nope nope nope.
None whatsoever.
Just the warmth of collectivism.
None of this means deficits don’t matter or that debt can grow without limit. Rising interest costs are real, and they are already displacing critical public investments. The debt is large, but the nation’s wealth is far larger. It is past time we started measuring and acting accordingly.
FAIR SHARE!
FAIR SHARE!
These commies never suggest that the state ever sell any of its actual assets of course but steal from the assets of others and crash the economy in doing so.
Start auctioning off that 640,000,000 acres they shouldn’t have ownership of.
Also, fuck you cut spending.
(Not you you)
I should cut spending too.
I know I have bad habits even though I have no deficit. I should be saving more.
RE: Saxony-Anhalt – Elites’ unironically asking the question “Is it a threat to democracy for people to vote for particular party in a free election?” is beyond parody.
It’s only democracy if they vote for US, not the people we hate!
My German/Palestinian lefty friend is absolutely convinced that an AfD victory means death camps for him. He’s third generation, was raised by his German mom, is an atheist doctor, but somehow the deportations will grab him
How lefty is he? I mean, far enough left, and you get into helicopter ride territory.
He comes from a communist background, but has been convinced that socialist economics don’t work, so he would call himself Rawlsian, although his belief in markets is grudging and he constantly convinces himself that specific industries need central control (medicine especially). When I say communist background I mean it. His grandfather was a communist Palestinian who was selected to go to med school in East Germany as some commie outreach thing.
Go AfD! Not sarcasm! They seem to be the most organized, influential push back to the fuckery in Europe that will leave the continent totally fucked in, uh? How long? (Already? Yes, but… ya know.)
Of nations, the one that feels the most unwilling to ‘demonize’ any group of people, Germany, is the one most disciplined(?) to (at least attempt) to see/act on the treachery they’ve surrounded themselves in?
Culture’s culture, I s’pose. I guess die Deutschen were at least punctual with their decision to start thinking about beginning to speculate on the obvious consequences of ‘recently’ expanding Islamic importation after 5+ decades of sorta welcoming it.
Demographics being destiny, there are some-to-many Euro countries that are lost already.* Also, Canada.
*Absent a campaign of remigration/ethnic cleansing that simply isn’t in the cards.
Looks like BSW is going to get to 5.1%, so the AfD won’t get a majority but they plus BSW clearly will.
So: CDU plus three lefty parties tolerated by BSW, or AfD tolerated by BSW.
The CDU have historically said they won’t go into coalition with the ex-Communist Linke party.
Taurus: Ace of Wands – Creation, invention, enterprise, principle, beginning, source, birth, family, origin.
—
I celebrate this last week of rest before work begins the 14th. July was quite profitable, despite my working only three weeks, got paid for five. A bit of a refresh in August, and now we begin again. Had another tremendous Uncle Weekend with the 6yo. Very rewarding to see that relationship pay off in real time. ‘Tis rather nice.
He’s tremendously vocal and expressive, and he’s picked up a few phrases from me, which greatly pleases me. *beams*
I also don’t have to pay for, house or feed ‘im. Don’t have to clean the rascally rabbit, either.
Elliot Page is crying that they aren’t getting calls for work despite The Odyssey. Says they can almost certainly do their best work now because they are their authentic selves while pretending to be a man.
I think we need a petition. When James Gunn gets canned and they recast Superman again, we need to break some barriers.
I had a mini-crush on Ellen. Her exposition character in Inception is kinda necessary, and I think she’s cute. Very Evan-Cute. Being in Trailer Park Boys helped form the idea she ‘might’ be cool, though she’s kinda worthless in it. (I really, really like that movie, I may be semi-lonely here. The hallway fight scene alone is fantabutastic. Very clever, that.)
Were she going trans for attention and more offers, which I’m quite certain she did, uh? She’s not a cute dude. She’s a twinky but doesn’t qualify. It was very short-sighted, and I imagine she was pushed into it, and from there she strapped the gear on and eagerly jumped into it. Now? Uh? Yeah. That was very short-sighted. Whoops.
A group of “Survivors” needs to come together after being pushed to de-trans-truction to reveal how fucking nasty the groomers are. This won’t happen, but my, my! This soup is delicious!
Edited for clarity:
Elliot Page is crying that she isn’t getting calls for work despite The Odyssey. Says she can almost certainly do her best work now because she is her authentic self while pretending to be a man.
Crazy person, in crazy person profession, caught up in the current crazy person mass delusion to the point of self mutilation, has delusional view of crazy person’s employability. Story at 11.
Just sad really.
“…she is her authentic self while pretending to be a man.” Such an odd thing for an actor to say out loud.
“Do ya have a ‘semi-authentic’ version of yourself that can act? We can work with that, but you’ve out-aged your character, the library-cute nerdy girl next door. We’ve got plenty younger ones waitin’ for that one. Would you like to review your gender affirming surgeons and therapists? Would recommend?”
She’s the girl pretending to be the dude playing the other dude.
What kind of roles does she expect to get? She looks like an androgynous 40-year old head plopped on a pre-teen boy’s body. She can’t play female roles anymore, she’s not masculine enough for male roles, Hollywood likes its trannies to be flamboyant MtFs, and I have no doubt if they started giving her roles as a middle-aged FtM tranny she’d be complaining that that’s the only role she can get.
Welcome back, Akira! I’m pleased folk are coming into new professions. You and HVAC, Derp with forklifting, and I start as DOCUMENT AGENT *sick guitar riff* next week.
Best news is no one there expects me to know wtf I’m doing for at least a few weeks. *They expect* me to not know. That’s good. I’m sure their system makes sense to account for the monthly quota increase to 225/hr after three months. *blank stare into abyss*
But I’ve had machines tell me where to go to repeatedly scan things for delivery before. ‘Twould be lovely if I get into the system, as they encourage further training and I’m likely best at a desk. As long as I can make it work, I’d be eyeing my own apt in ~six months. I also said that about escrow processing, but that was ‘more difficult’ and it’s still true.
Good steps forward for many.
Washington Center for Equitable Growth
We are lying liars and no one should believe a word we say.
Translation: Our name is Equitable, and our wealth is what needs to grow.
I just translate “equitable” in my head to “communist”. For honesty.
😃👍
😕
Just think of how bad Monday to Wednesday will be!
I already know Tuesday’s going to be crazy at work – I’ll be scrambling to get payroll submitted a day later than usual, and we have four new hires starting.
Speaking of paying off the national debt- it’s a little more complicated than just putting some cash in an envelope an dropping it into a slot marked “The Debt”.
I can’t imagine anyone at the Fed wants the debt paid down at all.
A strong dollar and no more money printing hits them in the wallet directly.
In other too-local news, the hometown minor league team lost their last regular season game this afternoon, but they’ll play at least one playoff game at home starting Thursday evening. Even with the loss, it was a beautiful day for a game. 🌞😎
🙁
The good news is they made the playoffs because they won the first half of the season. The bad news is that the best players from the first half of the season were sent up to the next higher level of the minors. 😕
So… the team going to the playoffs isn’t the team that one the spot for them?
Exactly.
she can almost certainly do her best work now because she is her authentic self while pretending to be a man.
See how good she is at playing pretend?
The VA rates me at 70% disabled for psychological reasons. I get $1800 monthly now. I don’t feel great about being a rider of the purple wage, but at least I’m working. Looks like the system worked in my favor for once, though my libertarian street cred has taken a big hit.
On the whole, I feel better about life. I climbed all the mountains and killed all the dragons. Time to sit on my throne and relax.
Thank you, taxpayers, for the help.
I feel a bit like Winston Smith at the end of 1984. After the government torture him and break him mentally and physically, they send him to a hospital to recover and give him a do-nothing job.
Well, at least I don’t love Big Brother. There are 4 lights, Uncle Sam.
I’m 50%.
All real injuries.
I give the majority of it away.
How toxic is modern AC coolant?
One of my portables sprung a leak in the heat exchanger. I’m trying to vent the room outside, but I immediately begin wondering “What exactly am I breathing?” when in that room at the moment.
Should I get my affairs in order? I don’t feel any different at the moment.
Can you get tomorrow’s anecdotes prepared tonight, for early morning posting? Just in case?
Yes. One needs one’s early morning Eeyore.
It can’t be good for you.
R12 was/is some pretty nasty stuff.
You’ll be fine.