A Tale of the Belt
They aren’t ‘Roids exactly, more like a large, coalesced pile of debris we called Diamond Dust, and I found one. They are full of rare earths, water ice, and yes diamonds, not dust but industrial grade chunks, easier to harvest than grow in orbit, and this one find set me up for a cycle or so, I was what they called a happy camper.
I pulled out an old style Vanilla Cigar, sat down and had a good look. Too big for a grav lasso, I may need Mylar paint to fab up a bag to put it in, so I ran the numbers and for 2B tonnes, I needed 2000L. Cheap enough. With my claim registered and my Stake buoy in place, I plotted for high G direct to Ceres, there were appointments to be made, but I couldn’t do it over normal comms. No one knew where my claim was except for the Reg. department, so silence was key at this point, Burn!
Ceres, always a welcome sight, I can’t actually see it, sensors take us in from 10k, a flip at 4k and a landing at pad 9, and an easy walk to Rose’s Cantina. Rose keeps a room for me on credit, and she has the recipe for Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, So it’s a great spot for rest and business.
After dinner and a rest period, I dressed in some nice clothes and set out, I had three appointments set up, 2 buyers and a mining company, so I set out to the main strip, and walked the promenade.
Andy was there prowling for girls, he still grinds the gold runs, Which is a lot of work considering gold being cheap, but Volume I guess? He’s making bank, and his wife is fat and happy, so good on him .Marie is still running the Girl House, we shared a quick Espresso, the girls are fine, including my daughter, I paid Marie her the geld and we parted ways. Fredo, Lucianne, Nick, all the usual losers were in their usual places, and I passed on, down to the trade quarter.
Understandably the Investors had concerns over me even getting the Dust back, let alone the pirates, I let them see my armament, shielding and tac systems and they seemed satisfied, so we sealed the deal, then it was off to see a Mining operator, but first…
Kerry!, it’s been a while, and she had a four hour layover, how lucky!
/3 hours later…..
Oh Shit! I’m late! Damned Bots!
I need a mining ship, a full crew and Mylar tow capacity, and Will Robinson fit the bill, a true roughneck, his Fam were OG belters, and so were his boys.I was lucky, My Mom was an Eart’er, and me Da was a Belter, so I have connects you know? If you want a good job you pay extra and use Belters, they don’t complain about low O2, dust, or the cold, the toughest humans in the system Ya.
/sorry for the slang
Last stop was Martian Security inc.,post13. MS13 is a private security firm that does cloaked backup, very pricey, but we always win. They have been in business for hundreds of years.With the Leopard as Flagship, three mining ships and the MS13 ships in stealth, we were off.
Burn!
We had to run at less than relative speeds so as not to attract attention, so after a quarter cycle run, we were due for some down time once we arrived.The thing about diamond dust is you can’t burn straight at it or you’ll just blow it out of the sky, so an indirect burn and a flip is required, and without radar, this can be very tricky.
The Mining ship led the way in and established a stable orbit, then gave us LaGrange points to fix, we didn’t want to create tidal effects and drag the dust apart, these guys are good. With MS13 at an unknown location close by, we took a few days off, and plotted our next moves.
A fine start
They aren’t ‘Roids exactly, more like a large, coalesced pile of debris we called Diamond Dust, and I found one.
I read “‘roids” as steroids.
Rose keeps a room for me on credit, and she has the recipe for Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
Rose is excellent.
This is a good start.
I read it as a different kind of”roids” and happy for a fellow traveler
#metoo
Rose’s Cantina
https://youtu.be/uZWaj3JZN1Y
Out in the West Belter town of El Ceres
I fell in love with a West Belter girl
Nighttime would find me in Rosa’s Cantina
Music would play and Felina would whirl.
Blacker than night were the eyes of Felina
Wicked and evil while casting her spell
My love was deep for this West Belter maiden
I was in love, but in vain, I could tell.
One night a wild young miner came in
Wild as the West Texas wind
Dashing and daring, a drink he was sharing
With wicked Felina, the girl that I love.
So in anger I challenged his right for the love of this maiden
Down went his hand for the phazer that he wore
My challenge was answered in less than a heartbeat
The handsome young stranger lay dead on the floor.
…
Oh Felina!
That. Was. Awesome!
Nick, I traveled via the ‘net to Isabella. For those looking for a permanent getaway, handy with tools, short on cash and enjoy being alone, Isabella, MN is looking for you. It’s beautiful, quiet and few noisy neighbors. Acreage is not too expensive, snowmobiles useful.
On a different note, my uncle had a sawmill in Isabella back in the ’50s. The company has their own school for the younger kids. He and his family were there for a couple years.
Hey 4score,
I’ve been thinking about you. I finally got my garden planted this past weekend. I hope to have some peppers and cherry tomatoes to bring to Honey Harvest. The garden is about half the usual size. I get my left knee replaced this Friday and I’m not sure I could keep up with the full garden.
I actually LIKE Isabella, MN. I was just pissed at how that date ended.
Good luck! Hope it all goes well.
The missus got several tomato plants (and a couple bells) in her garden around the house. She put them in the ground about last Thursday, this weather has really turned them on to grow.
A friend up the road took my garden seed and planted some , he will share the corn and dog forbid zucchini and other stuff. We have tomato sauce and cuke pickles left over so we’ll be in good shape for veggies this year.
Good luck with the new knee, you’ll be out and about within days, working away, boy-farm, I know the feeling.
Next trip to the Shore will include Isabella but the same ol’ date as the last time.
I can’t help but think of lake Isabella in Cali. It’s the low rent lake around here. mostly dirt around it. We stayed about 15 miles up the mountain and our cabin was pretty cool. The lake is…featureless.
Very nice! Vaguely where my mind went too, but you did all the poetic details.
-1 Screech 🙁
huh?
This guy
I enjoyed it all, but really, all i need is Burn!
Yes!
Nobody needs 23 kinds of burn.
Vivaldi did 254 variations of the same song, go figure,
I got dragged to a Dead show. Those guys did 254 different songs simultaneously. I still can’t understand the attraction. Of course, I was stone sober at the time.
I was stone sober at the time.
Seems you answered your own thought
I have never understood the love for that band.
Good start. Great job
Geicos Lisa Loeb commercial…she still cute and…does math…52? I have crossed the Rubicon it seems
Maybe she can sing in your cantina
Yeah, I dunno how they conjured her up from 25 years ago.
She only hears what she wants to.
Lol
Is she still wearing fake glasses, or does she need real ones now?
Made me look up Leopold and Loeb. Loeb’s death deserved, but sheesh.
She was a cutie, still hot?
For age yeah.
I saw her about 15 years after she was back to playing smaller venues. I don’t remember much of the show itself other than her in person singing was as good as her studio work and she had a good rapport with the audience, but after the show she sat out by exit and did signings and meet & greet for anyone (and the venue wasn’t that small).
Kudos to her. That’s a lot more than most musicians will do.
I was the sound guy at one of her shows, probably twenty years ago. She struck me as a pretty nice person.
“OnlyFans star promises free boob jobs if she wins election
Boobs for ballots — it’s a thing.
OnlyFans model Rocio Pino, does solemnly swear to foot a round of free boob jobs if she’s elected to her dream job in Mexican parliament.”
https://nypost.com/2021/06/07/onlyfans-star-promises-free-boob-jobs-if-she-wins-election/
Lighting the Q signal early are we
MS most overlooked.
At least she’s up front about it.
I was under the impression most young Mexican women had no need of boob jobs. Especially soccer fans.
That’s not the craziest thing promised by a Mexican politician.
All politicians plan on fucking you one way or another.
https://twitter.com/KidDiedofBeetus/status/1401898232779784197
The internet was a mistake.
That IS nuts, but this struck me as funnier. From a little lower down the page.
Wtf
I thought this was more wtf tbh
https://twitter.com/_MunecaMorenita/status/1401918519613272072
Tik Tok videos. ?
Straff gets it.
Thanks. Now my husband’s irritated I made him watch that.
I made you make your husband watch it?
I can’t look away! It’s such a trainwreck. So he wanted to know what trainwreck I was watching. It’s all your fault!
I hate the simulation for throwing Ivermectin and Ivor Cummings at me in the same cycle.
I live in the Stepford Simulation, help me please…..
Milfulation?
God I wish, it’s all heifers here,
Once a month flea treatment makes the odds of hitting it up with something else pretty good.
I do a Tick check daily, Golf you know, chicks don’t dig fleas and /ticks,
Have some Ivor Biggun instead.
Yusef,
I’m really digging the space opera. Thanks.
” MS13 is a private security firm that does cloaked backup, very pricey, but we always win. They have been in business for hundreds of years.”
Nice touch.
Thank you, glad you noticed, there is more,
OT: So when did my neighborhood start getting its air from Manila.
80 DEG and soupy at 10 pm. Gross
Brood X should be emerging after this heat wave. Lemmy will be eating every cicada he comes across.
RIP, like Norman Borlaug, someone that did more to better humanity than he’ll ever get recognition for:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuan_Longping
I never heard of him. Has he been been venerated or unpersoned by the CCP?
Seems to be venerated.
Makes sense. At least they got that right.
Gotta be careful with those.
Good news, everyone! Heard on the Ag market show this morning that the NW wheat harvest looks to be a bust due to lack of rain. Chart doesn’t look so good either, close to the five year high already.
https://www.nasdaq.com/market-activity/commodities/zw
You’re saying I should buy semolina futures?
I’m heading down to Richland, WA tomorrow to count silos full of corn. Pretty stoked.
I’m heading down to Richland tomorrow to try to talk my girlfriend out of buying an overpriced 804 square foot Hanford house.
Bring a Geiger counter, or better a walkie talkie with adjustable squelch.
Heh, I’ll actually fly over the B reactor on the way there
Most California crops are hard hit due to lack of rain and California’s decade long inability to store water.
If only there was a way to save up the water when it is rainy season, some way to “reserve” the water for when we need it, really need it, for voir…
Which one of us gets to hang with Jamie Lee Curtis?
That’s fine, we’ll all just eat bugs.
Sento.
https://soranews24.com/2021/01/27/two-men-charged-for-having-sex-at-a-public-bathhouse-in-tokyo/
“Shibuya Ward has enacted its ordinance on same-sex partnerships but at this establishment LGBT customers without morals or standards are not permitted.”
A list of prohibited behaviours follows, covering things such as: “inviting acts“, “intense looks“, “following around“, “making out“, and “touching“.
No intense looks?
Willem Dafoe haz a sad.
Swiss got arrested after hearing a pun.
“The signs shouldn’t be addressed to gay people, they should be banning all public sexual acts without any mention of sexual preferences.”
That seems correct.
“No Fucking”
At least we can make out in Michigan,
So being gay is fine by trying to attract another is right out.
Gotta find em before you bang em!
What about wide stances?
Inside the toilet cubicle, no one can hear you tap.
When you do what you love, you never work a day in your life.
https://youtu.be/TmMV_R7d2eo
It’s a bit long but some good old fashioned Candian nice.
I’m watching old Law & Order episodes on BBC-A and they’re blurring out clothed female rear ends and mannequin bulges.
The New Puritanism is getting tedious.
Minus one on Claire,
“they’re blurring out clothed female rear ends and mannequin bulges”
Wait, what?
The world seems to be getting stupider.
it is getting stupider, Live the Dream of Mediocrity!
You mean like a lady in tight jeans? WTH?
So how are things in Japan? Are people over there really pissing their pants over the olympics or is that the media here playing it up?
People I know don’t care much at all.
No, it was two ladies romping around in bed with some dude. They were wearing nighties.
They went from bra burning to this? Progress.
Conway Twitty hit hardest.
Now they just crap-gapped the word “ass”.
Are they afraid Prince Andrew will do something stupid?
Speaking of ivermectin, anyone know of a good source that is safe for humans and doesn’t need a script?
Amazon’s got tons of the horse stuff and it’s almost certainly safe as long as you don’t screw up the math for the dose.
Did someone say meth dose?
See you on the other side!
“ A Tale of the Belt”
Sounds like the time I left my Hess truck on the stairs when my dad was on third shift.
lol
I guess this is just Kamala doing whatever it is she does.
https://twitchy.com/dougp-3137/2021/06/07/kamala-harris-and-guatemala-president-completely-disagree-about-who-what-is-to-blame-for-border-crisis/
They really never do, but it doesn’t feel like she’s actually Vice President.
Agreed. It’s amazing she has any job given how unlikable she is.
She makes Preet seem like a pretty chill AG.
Legit lol.
I don’t know if this will cause narcotics to fall from my derriere, but has anyone posted this gem re: Lori Lightfoot’s “No Whites Allowed” interview policy?
Mayor runneth giant mouth and lawyers lie asses off to protect her. I love it.
She actually said “overwhelming whiteness”. This type of shit better stop soon or some ugly backlash will happen.
I think I posted it a week ago.
Fellow Whites, we peaked years ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hy_cZCvXAuk
No one brought it to my attention before now so I apologize for assuming there could be some improvement.
It’s all over. Let them have it.
Let’s negotiate our way into annexing Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho into Canada and settling there.
One might way we should…jump…into our future home.
We even peaked in Florida.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIWzz6wcNug
Your video – while fantastic – is far too self aware.
The Kings and Queens who shine in my either have no idea what they are doing or don’t care, which is great. I don’t even want to make fun of it, I just like it.
Nah… James Last is a kraut; he’s been a fixture of German television for 40+ years. Also, that Florida shite is excused because in 1971 he released the album Voodoo Party which features this amazing track – https://youtu.be/SPJWMhpey0M
On behalf of whites everywhere, I apologize.
These crazy goyim!
That group would eat mayo on white bread then sincerely tell you it’s delicious.
Hey! I resemble that remark.
Depends on the bread and mayo, too.
Pat Boone heartily approves.
Bud Light Seltzer Iced Tea?
WTF?
You wanted to let women go to college so have to deal with the consequences.
Country clubs and blended Scotch are out, hideously expensive brunches and Seltzer ice Tea are in.
You misogynistic ass clown.
That’s just wrong. Fortunately, Nephilium isn’t awake to read that.
https://archive.li/I89ce/f8ea6104ef0d168cd42d0968355f56c98ebaf861.jpg
NSFW.
https://archive.li/RNal8/aa195ba2f87821a774c867b5e421e708f072dc0a.jpg
NSFW.
https://archive.li/9O8Ch/39c7f6aa2f6d0e968e980599aa2234f325240daf.jpg
NSFW.
https://archive.li/Po7go/f65531e46cabb4cb832294ae6b0f828882dd636a.jpg
NSFW.
Tina Fey’s sexy, younger sister?
Mmmm… Tina Fey – https://youtu.be/U9G3qtOUIpo
Another space adventure from Yusef! Yay!
Good brain candy.
the first of many, thanks!
Fredo. Really?
I’m reading “Anatomy of Fascism” by Paxton.
It’s partly good, but he resorts to the old “Fascism is far right, socialism is far left” model. And I think he’s at least subconsciously sympathetic to socialism and communism.
I hope I’m wrong; some aspects of the book are quite good so far.
I stopped refusing to finish a book when I knew how it would end about six years ago. I didn’t throw them at the wall but would quietly close them and return to the library. Adult fiction is dead, Sci-Fi is dead, horror is still dead-alive, non-fiction is spotty, historical fiction was done like dinner ten years ago, science writing has sputtered and anything whimsical is buried in a ditch these days.
I can predict the ending ans still be entertained.
Admittedly, I seem to be favoring authors who wrote in the first half of the 20th century, with a few from the latter half for settings that didn’t exist then.
I’m still a completist. Do you understand how hard it was to stop that reading habit? I didn’t leave the publishing industry, they left me.
Stupid Mountain Time
WRT to JF Parnell’s upthread comment:
A woman was in the country club bar after being on the golf course. She told the people she was with “today on the course, I got stung by a bee.”
One of the men said “where?” and she replied “Just between the 1st and 2nd hole.”
He said, “your stance is too wide.”
/shows myself out
Mornin’ Glibs, let the Covfefe flow, and let’s swim to work, it’s so gross right now,
Currently a nice 72º F here, with a dry relative stupidity of 86%. But the forecast high is only mid-80s.
Summer in SW Ohio.
Once I get someone delivered to the airport….TALL CANS!
Drink some for me, it’s Deer Thirty at Chez Yusef, later on, with golf, I’ll raise a TALL CAN! to you,
A balmy 60 F with a sort of high 29% humidity here. Gonna be warm today.
https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/coronavirus/philly-giving-away-multiple-50000-cash-prizes-in-vax-sweepstakes/2839533/
Nope.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vkBW7RoGG1Q
Non news, for Yusef.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=X46e4Qnr1TY
?
Aaaaaaaaand here it comes. My commute used to be fifteen minutes, all on surface streets. Then my employer merged with another organization, and my job moved to the opposite side of town, tacking on another fifteen minutes to my drive, mostly on the interstate.
My boss has been concerned about how to be evenhanded WRT WFHers and those of us who HAVE to come in to the office to do our jobs, since that arrangement may continue for the foreseeable future. I may try to drop the words “gas allowance” into his ear.
I’m sorry to hear that.
The upside of a 30 minute commute is that it’s a decent amount of time for listening to audiobooks.
On the way in, I spend the first fifteen minutes (the surface street minutes) listening to the local news radio station for the traffic reports, since there are frequent boo-boos along my highway route, in case I have to resort to Plan B. I might try an audiobook on the way home if I can figure out which format will pick up where I left off. (Tried it some time ago with my portable satellite radio/MP3 player but couldn’t crack the code on how to “bookmark” it.)
Hrmm…
Not sure, since I’ve been using a walkman which I can take with me on my walks and plug into my car, so it’s always at the current spot. It depends on what you’ve got to work with.
I’m nursing this poor obsolete model along as long as I can. Unfortunately, a tiny plastic tab that holds the selection button to the front of the radio has broken off, so I have to keep the whole thing flat on its back – the dial and the button still work, but if the device is set upright, they’ll both fall off.
I keep it at the office now. At home I listen to the radio online. Needless to say, this is not a good option for the car.
Yeah, the car needs something that can survive being jostled a bit.
One of the standard choices for iPhone or Android should do that for you just fine. That kind of functionality has come a long way in the past several years.
Know any of the apps’ names? I do Android, but use very few apps since they all seem to want unfettered access to everything on my phone. I’d consider making an exception for something from a reasonably trusted source that would do the trick and work with readily available audiobook formats.
I’m not familiar with Android but here you go:
https://www.androidauthority.com/best-audiobook-apps-android-1076256/
As far as privacy and permissions go, I’m not sure to be honest.
They actually have useful traffic reports?
My boss doesn’t want to work in the office any more than I do, which is evident in the fact that a week and half after we were directed to return he still hasn’t shown up.
My boss, as introverted as he is, HATES to WFH. He’s supposed to do so one day every two weeks just to keep in practice in case he ever HAS to WFH, but it’s been a while since he’s done so. He’ll take any excuse to skip it.
Ugh! Sorry, Red.
I am trying desperately to not yell at Ze German vendor tech. The man has zero adaptability, and cannot adjust to the fact that we do not give people half a world away undupervised direct root access to any of our boxes.
Maybe you SHOULD mention the war.
(Dammit, that was meant as a reply to you, U. Brooksed it.)
I’m grousing here so I don’t come off as unprofessional to my own management – the people who control promotions.
A big chunk of my job is being the person to whom my boss can safely vent.
I know way more of my boss’s personal life than I care to know.
/Consigliere (without the pasta)
“The Science Suggests a Wuhan Lab Leak’
https://archive.is/f6iG6
A very interesting WSJ article without the paywall. Looks damning (probably) to me and if I find out I paid for it I’m going to be fucking pissed.
$547 for 6 months of full coverage auto insurance on a single vehicle. Should i be annoyed or (relatively) pleased?
Less than what I have to spend. I’m closer to $600 🙁
Looks to be in the normal range to me.
That really depends on the car and age of the car. I pay $200 for 6 months for my 1996 Oldsmobile., $300 for my 2006 F150, but I get a discount for multiple policies as well
2018 loaded GTI.
Agent told me I’m paying a premium for the adaptive cruise control/backup & side alarms and associated bumper mounted sensors.
that sounds like a good price then. You’re also paying more for it being a Volkswagen. They have high safety ratings, but those are high because the airbag sensors are more sensitive. That increases insurance cost since they are more likely to need replaced.
Interesting.
Wait, so you’re paying a premium for features billed as safety items? That seems off. Do the underwriters have data to show that they actually reduce the safety performance, or not enough data to form a conclusion, I wonder?
Yes, paying extra for safety equipment.
Direct quote from my agent in 2018:
My 6 month payment amount is down a whole $2 since then.
That being said, my 6 months payment is down $2 from 2018.
umm…need moar coffee…
Berry interesting, thanks. It definitely makes sense, but I would have thought that there’d maybe be some improved safety data to back it up. In that case, I see no utility in paying more for those systems. I drove a rental a couple of months ago with adaptive cruise control and at my first stop I dug into the manual to see how to disable it. I really didn’t like it. I use cruise all the time, but I don’t want my car speeding up or slowing down on its own, and certainly not making steering decisions.
In limited situations, adaptive cruise is great. On long drives on interstates with light(ish) traffic, it really shines.
I’m guessing the claims are for a higher dollar amount having to replace all that stuff?
It looks like I guessed correctly.
That’s what I paid (more or less) for years. Now it’s less than $800 per year.
We’re at about $1800 annually for three vehicles and a motorcycle.
I pay about that for a 2018 Tacoma.
Jugsy safely delivered to the airport, and since gas is about to hit the $3/gallon point, all vehicles topped-off (for now).
I have 4 TallCans® and many small ones, and the entire day before I work tonight.
To mow or not to mow.
Procrastinate!
/Dalek voice