About The Author

Mad Scientist

Mad Scientist

Mad Scientist enjoys racing, wrenching, and telling his wife to take the dog if she wants a long walk on the beach.

577 Comments

  1. Sean

    Happy birthday?

  2. UnCivilServant

    I’m confused, why is there a rotary engine posting links?

    • I. B. McGinty

      Read and enjoy the links. Don’t be such a wankel.

      • db

        “Do any of these words embarass you?”

      • blackjack

        No, he has a point, well, three points actually.

      • J. Frank Parnell

        Good evening!

      • zwak

        That will be the apex of the comments. You really sealed the deal.

  3. Nephilium

    The wrong kidney story has been all over local news. As well as the Cleveland Clinic (reported in the New York Times as an Ohio Clinic) refusing to stock the new Alzheimer’s drug.

    • Swiss Servator

      I am astounded at that error. When I donated, they damn well asked several times – me, the doc, the nurses. they wrote on me with a marker. We had OR rooms next to each other.

      They are lucky to get out of this with quite the settlement to the person who got shorted.

      • Rat on a train

        When I had surgery back in the 90s, everytime staff interacted with me the first question was “What are you here for?” followed by questions about details. Nothing was done unless my answers matched the paperwork.

      • Mojeaux

        This, plus the OR timeout where everything is matched up by the operating team. I think Mad Scientist was correct: That was no accident. Someone got paid off or called a marker.

    • Gender Traitor

      What’s the CC’s stated reason for not doing so?

      • Nephilium

        Cleveland.com article. From the article:

        The Cleveland Clinic will not stock the controversial new Alzheimer’s drug Aduhelm, citing lingering concerns over its safety and efficacy.

      • Pine_Tree

        Hey journalism-ist who typed that….
        – So it might not be as safe as a long and miserable death sentence?
        – So it might not work? You don’t realize that “might not” and “might” mean the same thing?

      • Chipping Pioneer

        Now do mRNA vaccines…

      • Agent Cooper

        I worked tangentially on advertising for that drug.

      • Animal

        The Cleveland Clinic will not stock the controversial new Alzheimer’s drug Aduhelm, citing lingering concerns over its safety and efficacy the supply having been completely taken up trying to keep Joe Biden functioning well enough to mumble into a microphone.

      • J. Frank Parnell

        They forgot.

  4. Not Adahn

    links with no fucking politics

    Thank you! It gets so tedious determining an equitable time on top or the frequency of orgasm distribution.

    • Sensei

      Hello future Intel employee!

      • Not Adahn

        It’s kind of nice for Intel to admit that they just can’t compete anymore.

  5. The Late P Brooks

    Today, in noxious hogwash

    Surgeon General Vivek Murthy revealed during the White House news briefing Thursday that he’s lost 10 family members to the coronavirus.

    Murthy, who joined the briefing in an effort to urge Americans to get their shots amid lagging vaccination rates, was candid about his own experience during the pandemic. His family members who died were in both the U.S. and India. He said it was “painful” to know that “nearly every death we are seeing now” from Covid-19 in the U.S. could have been prevented with vaccines.

    “I say that as someone who has lost 10 family members to Covid-19 and who wishes each and every day that they had had the opportunity to get vaccinated,” Murthy told reporters.

    Murthy said misinformation has been a significant contributor to vaccine hesitancy. He said roughly two-thirds of people who haven’t gotten the vaccination believe, to some degree, common myths about the shots. Some of this misinformation has been amplified by social media, he said.

    ——-

    Murthy’s experience is similar to that of many other members of the Indian diaspora, who experts say are experiencing collective grief over an unprecedented, large-scale tragedy during this pandemic.

    “We can see the tragedy happening in South Asia. Social media is interconnecting us, and WhatsApp, we are hearing from family and friends, and that gets amplified,” K. “Vish” Viswanath, a professor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, previously told NBC News. “Everyone is touched by this.”

    Lost? Maybe he should have kept better track of them.

    Maybe those concerned Indians should go home and help, instead of whining from the sidelines.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      How big is his family?

      Ages and number of co-morbidities please.

    • Not Adahn

      “Losing one family member might be considered unfortunate. Two smacks of carelessness.”

      • Sean

        They didn’t wear their masks.

    • invisible finger

      It’s possible nearly every death could have been DELAYED with vaccines.

      It’s also possible that every death could have been delayed by not outsourcing our bioterrorism research to China.

      • rhywun

        Or by not withholding effective treatments.

        /doffs tin-foil

      • invisible finger

        Especially that

      • Stillhunter

        That’s not tin foil hat, it’s blatantly obvious.

      • Tundra

        There is just no excuse. They murdered a shit-ton of people so a handful could make bank.

        Bret Weinstein has been doing a phenomenal job of highlighting the disgrace.

      • juris imprudent

        [shrieks] you said the name of a de-platformed non-person!

      • ignoreLander

        They murdered a shit-ton of people so a handful could make bank.

        I’m not sure it was for the bank, I really do think it was to hurt Orange Man. Which to me is ten times worse; there’s a long and rich history of evil people discarding others’ lives for money, but to do it for political gain? Evil beyond compare….

      • Suthenboy

        ^This^

      • leon

        Killing for money and killing for political power are two sides of the same coin

      • Hyperion

        “Or by not withholding effective treatments.”

        Or maybe they all died of depression or drug abuse because of senseless and ineffective lockdowns.

      • Ghostpatzer

        Neighbors lost their daughter (mid-20’s) to suicide last year. Nobody will ever know what happened in that specific instance, but I’m pretty sure a significant number of deaths due to suicides, depression, drug abuse, etc. are a direct result of the lockdowns. Lockdowns justified by “if it saves one life…”. Fuck every authoritarian POS taking up space in state capitals.

    • Tonio

      “So, what are the names of those family members who died?”

      Would love for a reporter to have asked him that with an open mic.

      • Hyperion

        If you’re an expert you can lie all you want and no one should question it.

      • zwak

        This. It was the first thing that popped into my little brain.

    • EvilSheldon

      You can easily tell how big a piece of shit a politician is, by how shamelessly they exploit their family…

      • R C Dean

        I’d give even odds he’s lying.

      • Nephilium

        In a way, aren’t we all just one big global family?

      • prolefeed

        “even odds”

        Mathematicians everywhere: Phrasing?

      • Ghostpatzer

        Yeah, that is strange.

  6. Rat on a train

    No link for yesterday’s insurrection in DC?

    • Tonio

      Don’t leave us hanging…

      • rhywun

        OFFS.

        Sorry, you’re going to have to continue stealing elections the old-fashioned way.

      • leon

        For now on she should be called “dangerous insurrectionist Joyce Beatty”.

        Will she be held without bail indefinitely?

      • Tonio

        ^This.

      • EvilSheldon

        Heh. I take back what I said earlier about sitting legislators being arrested. Turns out I’m completely comfortable with it.

  7. Not Adahn

    Dedekind cut

    This is one of (((those things))) isn’t it?

    • rhywun

      Dekindest cut?

  8. Scruffy Nerfherder

    I’d forgotten what a science article without politics looked like.

    • Stillhunter

      I was waiting for the math article to go off on some white supremacy tangent. I was pleasantly surprised. Maybe I just need to look around more.

      Remembering all the irrational/rational number stuff made my brain hurt though. Most of what I do involves good old whole numbers and fractions, as doG intended.

      • Pope Jimbo

        When woke politicians fuck people over by exploiting differences in people, is that multiplying or division?

      • Ghostpatzer

        Exponents, it’s all about the power.

      • SandMan

        Clever!

      • Pope Jimbo

        That’s a fact!-orial

  9. Not Adahn

    Does TMITE necessarily count as politics?

    Today the techs were all abuzz about the slew of news articles about us being bought by Intel. The newsfeed pushed seven different articles about it to me. I can only assume it’s a planted story by… someone, because:

    Any talks don’t appear to include GlobalFoundries itself

    • UnCivilServant

      So, are you or are you not being sold?

      • Not Adahn

        I guess that depends on whether the UAE royal family thinks they’ll make more money selling to Intel or going public.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        I thought Intel was going to get out of the foundry business. At least that was the talk a year or two ago.

      • Sensei

        If you can’t make it in house buy someone who can!

      • rhywun

        Why you lookin’ at me?

        /Bill Gates, tugging collar

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        Seems to be the motto of silicon valley. Financing is cheap, money is easy right now. May as well snatch up a bunch of smaller companies to fill your gaps.

        Oh, and ignore the broader issues implicated by the fact that you have to buy your innovation these days.

        /can’t even count the number of acquisitions in the last couple years at my company

      • Animal

        Are the chicks for free?

    • Sensei

      No, their bankers are setting up a trial balloon for market support, finance and possible acceptance by GlobalFoundaries.

  10. The Late P Brooks

    Noxious hogwash on stilts

    Housing has become so expensive in the United States that the typical minimum wage worker cannot afford rent, according to a new report.

    There is no state, county or city in the country where a full-time, minimum-wage worker working 40 hours a week can afford a two-bedroom rental, a report from the National Low Income Housing Coalition showed.

    There are so many people working for minimum wage it’s impossible to count them all.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      How could that have possibly happened I wonder?

    • Not Adahn

      Why does a single person need a two-bedroom place to themselves?

      • UnCivilServant

        I use the other as an exercise room.

      • Not Adahn

        That’s what the basement is for.

      • Plinker762

        I guess digging holes in the dirt is a form of excersize.

      • UnCivilServant

        I’m not making that mistake.

        They always search the basement.

      • Tres Cool

        “The world need ditch-diggers too”

        -Elihu Smails

      • rhywun

        Mine was an office until I had to cart my workstation to New Jersey. Now it’s too hot to do anything in there anyway.

      • Festus

        That’s my Whack-off err Glib room!

    • Surly Knott

      And why does a (presumably single) minimum wage worker need a 2 bedroom apartment?
      If not single, why is the partner not bringing in an income?
      Have these people never heard of roommates?

      • UnCivilServant

        Until I was making >$40k, I had roommates.

      • Not Adahn

        I couldn’t afford a 2br when I was at my first job, so I had a 1br. Funny how that works.

      • UnCivilServant

        Oh, at $40k, I had a 1 BR apartment.

        Now I have a 2br house, but I make more than I used to. If this contract passes, I’ll pass $100k/yr come april.

        I’m voting no.

      • leon

        I can’t believe you expect these honest workers to live in a one bedroom apartment!!! Or with roommates!

      • banginglc1

        Next you know you’ll tell me these folks don’t deserve brand new cars, dinner out every night, and Starbucks in the morning.

      • Bobarian LMD

        Or maybe put in a slight amount of effort and make more than minimum wage.

        Local McD’s sign:

        up to $13 hr. starting, $100 signing bonus, paid vacation, tuition assistance.

      • Rat on a train

        I didn’t get my own place until I passed $60k. I spent years renting spare rooms for less than I would pay for a shared apartment.

      • Tonio

        Because the left thinks one should be able to support a family of four on minimum wage. If questioned closely they will admit that it’s okay to pay that HS kid less for the same job than the 42 yo woman, which they call a “living wage.”

        I remember when the mantra of the left was “equal pay for equal work,” back when blacks and women made lower average wages than white men. Now that has shifted.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        It’s all just jabber to gin up support for UBI. It’s a bait and switch. “Living wage” is the bait, and then they’ll conveniently decide that these evil capitalists can’t be trusted to not increase prices every time a living wage is established, and they’ll pass UBI. They’re just waiting for the right situation with the right optics.

      • blackjack

        The next step after UBI is hard and heavy price controls. To punish the evil profit seekers.

      • DrOtto

        Next stop – Utopia! (Legal disclaimer – Utopia may induce long lines and shorta…er, supply crunches)

      • Rat on a train

        “You know, it’s funny, sometimes American journalists talk about how bad a country is because people are lining up for food,” Sanders said. “That’s a good thing. In other countries people don’t line up for food. The rich get the food, and the poor starve to death.”

      • Bobarian LMD

        It’s all because of the Hoarders!

        I don’t need to worry, they ‘re not coming for the Kulaks.

      • waffles

        You think so? We are so doomed.

      • R C Dean

        Weird how this is the one issue where the left supports the classic nuclear family.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        Nope, they support single moms with a gaggle of kids. They couldn’t care less about single income two-parent families.

    • Nephilium

      There are places that can still find workers for minimum wage?

      • Timeloose

        I made around today’s minimum wage 30 years ago doing hard labor. If you are making minimum wage after being on a job for more than 1 year you are doing something wrong.

        As you indicated, the minimum wage jobs are very hard to find. Most are part time work meant for teens and or the mentally handicapped. You should only be at the minimum for a very short time or not at all in this job market.

      • waffles

        An interesting effect of the labor market post-covid is that the minimum wage is irrelevant. In places that didn’t pass minimum wage laws, there is effectively no minimum wage. When Taco Bell is struggling to staff itself at 13/hour and the minimum wage is 7.25 it’s over. There’s just no need to legislate.

        The rent is too damn high though. Government will only make it worse.

      • Nephilium

        Yep. FFS, there are McDonald’s in the area that are offering to hire 15 year olds. Unless the child labor laws in Ohio have changed dramatically from when I was a teenager, they would be unable to work with knives, fryers, grills, or any hazardous material. That basically leaves cashier.

      • DrOtto

        I was recently on vacation. Went from central TX to Gatlinberg TN. “Now Hiring” signs at every stop. The cheapest starting wage I saw was $9.00 at some fast food joint in the middle of nowhere.

    • leon

      And how many mythical minimum wage workers are there now? It seems that every place that i’d expect to pay minimum wage is paying much more.

      • Tonio

        That is, of course, because the labor market has been distorted by paying people to not work.

    • invisible finger

      There is no state, county or city ON THE PLANET where a full-time, minimum-wage worker working 40 hours a week can afford a two-bedroom rental

      • leon

        Also, I read that if you think a family should be supported on one income, it’s because your a mysogynist who thinks woman should be barefoot and pregnant chained in the kitchen.

      • Bobarian LMD

        Invisible fence.

      • Mojeaux

        Meh, it’s probably functionally impossible, e.g., you live a gabillion miles away from work but don’t have a car.

    • rhywun

      I hate to break it to them but this has *always* been the case.

      • blackjack

        This. having your own place has always been expensive, and one had better up their game if you’re gonna do it. Meanwhile, there’s renting rooms and roommates to split the bill. It’s always been exactly as it is.

      • zwak

        Especially in areas with repressed construction. Like SF or NYC.

    • juris imprudent

      the typical minimum wage worker

      A teenager with a part-time job while living at home?

      • rhywun

        That hasn’t been the case for a couple decades at least.

        All those jobs are filled by adults who can’t get anything better for whatever reason while kids are at home playing Xbox.

    • l0b0t

      UGH… I make a wee bit over minimum wage and I can’t afford to move out of my ex’s house. 1 bedroom prices have steadily climbed here in the Outer Boroughs as Manhattanites flee Gotham. The 1br/1ba that was $900 – $1100 last year is now around $1700 – $3000. At 49, I might be too set in my ways to move in with strangers; the shares I’ve looked at were all pretty sketchy anyway. I’m fucked.

      • Tulip

        Things have gotten worse. Largely due to government policy, but that doesn’t help people who are stuck.

      • zwak

        I feel sorry for you I0, my son lives in Bed-Stuy and pays a shit load, as his profession was gutted by COVidicy.

      • l0b0t

        Thanks. We were on the Bed-Stuy/Crown Heights border for many years but got priced out when we had kids and needed more space. I would very much like to stay in The Rockaways or Long Beach because of my kids but who knows… The Finger Lakes region looks increasingly enticing.

    • invisible finger

      I wouldn’t listen to an illiterate or sub-literate person tell me about books, and I have no reason to listen to an innumerate or sub-numerate person tell me about statistics.

    • EvilSheldon

      A minimum wage full-time worker hasn’t been able to afford a two bedroom rental at any point in the last fifty years.

      That’s why minimum wage workers live with parents or roommates.

      Is this really so hard to understand?

    • The Hyperbole

      Bullshit, @ bedroom rentals around here go for 600-900$, take home for minimum wage is about $1250, $750 for rent leaves $500 for beer which is plenty, only twenty-two 30 packs of Strohs a month may seem a bit stingy but it’s doable with some will power.

      • waffles

        “around here” is the most important word. People hate that they can and will be priced out of living in some areas.

      • Stillhunter

        Does that include utilities? Depending on climate, much of that $500 will be eaten up by heating in the winter. We spent that on fuel oil every month the first winter before we could get a firewood supply built up. Toss in electric too. You plan on eating anything? It may be technically possible, but probably not sustainable, which is really the point folks are making I think.

      • The Hyperbole

        Meh I haven’t run the numbers lately, but a few years ago I figured out that if I had to I could live on 700$ a month, now my housing costs is only $400 but bring that up to 750 and I still have $200 to handle inflation, I have no doubt that I could live on 500$ after housing. I don’t budget it but if I did my gas would be around $60 and my electric is $30 Water and sewer another $30 so $380 for food and extras.

  11. Festus

    Sorry for OT but my latest Health and Safety alert reached back to the mid 1980’s. That’s right folks, be aware of blood bourn pathogens. Apparently they are scary and imminent. Does this Gary guy just sit in his office bouncing a tennis ball against the wall everyday? What sort of life does he lead? Fuck! Leave me the fuck alone and in peace to do my fucking job. San Francisco Cocksuckah!

  12. The Late P Brooks

    The pandemic exacerbated the unstable housing situation for many people, and local, state and federal governments put protections in place to prevent a tidal wave of evictions. An unprecedented amount of federal emergency rent relief — $46 billion — was set aside to provide relief for struggling renters and their frustrated landlords.
    But many will still struggle to pay rent in the future without addressing longer-term housing affordability, according to the report.

    I’m sure the Top Men at Housing and Urban Development have a plethora of innovative ideas. If only we would permit them to open their Federal Government One Size Fits All solutions toolkit and get to work.

    • Surly Knott

      “One Size Fits All solutions toolkit” == other people’s money.

    • rhywun

      Another heaping pile of regulations ought to cover it.

      • juris imprudent

        Are you kidding – we need more civvies and contractors to make sure those regulations are being respected!

  13. The Late P Brooks

    “Losing one family member might be considered unfortunate. Two smacks of carelessness.”

    Well done.

    • Not Adahn

      I can’t take credit. It’s a paraphrase of Oscar Wilde. The line was delivered perfectly by that dame, Judi.

      • Festus

        Golf clap

      • Raven Nation

        You’ve lost a SECOND relative?

  14. The Late P Brooks

    Speaking of innovative solutions:

    The NLIHC a non-profit policy advocate for growing and improving affordable housing, recommends expanding rental assistance to all eligible struggling renters and making investments in the national Housing Trust Fund and public housing to create, preserve, and rehabilitate affordable homes.
    It also asks Congress to create a permanent National Housing Stabilization Fund to provide temporary assistance for households at risk of eviction and to strengthen and enforce renters’ protections, in order to keep renters stably housed.

    Just sprinkle the magic pixie dust on it.

    • Mad Scientist

      Just like with student loans, all that will accomplish is increasing rents.

    • leon

      Having the her feds sprinkle money into it never makes prices go up.

    • waffles

      Subsidizing things makes them more expensive. It punishes honest hardworking people with higher prices and encourages people to go on the dole wherever possible.

      • juris imprudent

        Careful, you’re going to give progressives the petit mort with that kind of talk.

      • zwak

        I think he’s shooting for the grand mort.

    • rhywun

      public housing

      Yep, knew that was coming.

      I mean, come on, who doesn’t look at the projects and think to themselves, “I want me some of that”?!

      • invisible finger

        The only people who think public housing projects are a good idea are people who never lived in one.

      • Mad Scientist

        They’re people who want to play SimCity with actual people.

      • Tulip

        Mostly just the people who build them like them

      • Tres Cool

        “If you live in an old project, a new jail aint so bad!”

        -Chris Rock

      • DrOtto

        +1 pissy elevator

  15. PieInTheSky

    I too find myself a year older and not a penny richer.

    • UnCivilServant

      Perhaps it’s time to re-evaluate your budget and spending habits.

      • Tulip

        Inflation doesn’t help

    • invisible finger

      Orphan rich/cash poor, eh?

    • Not Adahn

      They have pennies in Romania?

      • PieInTheSky

        well sort of

    • zwak

      In other words, they weren’t leu’d to you?

  16. PieInTheSky

    Unfortunately, our website is currently unavailable in your country. We are engaged on the issue and committed to looking at options that support our full range of digital offerings to your market. We continue to identify technical compliance solutions that will provide all readers with our award-winning journalism.

    vs

    Our European visitors are important to us.

    This site is currently unavailable to visitors from the European Economic Area while we work to ensure your data is protected in accordance with applicable EU laws.

    • UnCivilServant

      Translation – The GDPR is too much of a hassle for the income we expect from European visitors, so we’re giving some platitudes.

  17. Suthenboy

    We did not discover numbers, we invented them. They are an analogy that helps us understand the universe, a very useful but non-perfect analogy.

    Electric cars suck. Dumbest fucking idea since the square wheel. The whole thing is a con.

    I suspect you are correct in your suspicions about the kidney Mad.

    “Tell me more about the chemistry of your sausage”
    Metaphor much? We are back to that?

    Menopause occurs in animals that are successful enough to live beyond their breeding age?

    • UnCivilServant

      Does it occur in Gators? Last I knew they could live 80ish years, but I don’t think they go through any changes once adult-sized.

    • leon

      “We did not discover numbers, we invented them. They are an analogy that helps us understand the universe, a very useful but non-perfect analogy.”

      That their relationships explain the universe so well, and help form a non contradicting logic, you have to admit that it seems deeper than “humans made it up”

      • blackjack

        Yeah, I think it’s more like we just gave them names. two items were there, you gotta have a name for two vs any other number so we made up the name two. But we discovered the whole math thing and then named all the parts.

      • Suthenboy

        No, I don’t. Humans made it up.
        Math helps us understand, but it is not perfect and the logic is not non-contradicting. The devil is in the details…see kinetics.

      • Spartacus

        In philosophy of math this is called the indispensibility argument.

      • Spartacus
      • Suthenboy

        Correct. There is no viable alternative.

      • prolefeed

        Everything we think we know is a theory, and every theory is at least subtly wrong about how the universe actually works, because models of reality =/= reality. This includes maths.

      • Suthenboy

        That is a very good way to put it.

      • Ask your doctor if BEAM is right for you

        Also known as “the map is not the territory.”

      • juris imprudent

        seems deeper than “humans made it up”

        Is there a whiff of Platonic ideal I’m catching here? Or, is it just that our pattern-processing function is so deeply embedded that useful patterns are imbued with a supranatural quality?

      • Not Adahn

        It’s “unreasonably effective.” Just by looking at the math, you can predict undiscovered physical phenomena.

      • leon

        I know that among some libertarians Platonic Idealism is the root of evil, but I am an idealist by nature, so I find some of his ideas intriguing.

    • Stillhunter

      The idea of electric cars isn’t dumb, but the implementation sure has been.

      • blackjack

        They were rejected early on, in favor of I/C. There’s always been some of them around. In the 70’s they saw a minor resurgence as a response to the gas crisis. They’ve been used for indoor industrial vehicles also. They probably work fine for people with highly limited needs. Here in Cali, there’s probably the highest overall number of them. However, we can’t even supply normal electricity before factoring in EVs. It is quite amusing to see people milling about charging stations alongside of highways for their 80k wonder mobiles, while a I/C vehicle refuels in minutes. At work we have a couple of hundred EVs and nobody drives them because of range fear. The hybrids get plugged in at work, but everywhere else, they just refill the tank. Ain’t nobody gonna pump up their own personal electricity bill. If you find the bottom of your batteries, you are going to be waiting somewhere for maybe hours and wondering the whole time if there’s enough to get home or not. No one wants to have to explain why they took an extra few hours to drive to downtown and back to their supervisor.

      • Stillhunter

        As I said, the implementation sucks. At the basic level a car is a chassis with stored energy on board. Gasoline storage on vehicles used to be a bit sketchy too. Now, batteries are obviously a bit different technologically than a metal tank, so I’d probably expect more growing pains. There is nothing inherently wrong with electric vehicles. I will never own one, but it doesn’t mean that in a free market, they wouldn’t find a niche. I just don’t understand the hate for electric aside from being a proxy for hating leftists/progressive policies.

      • Old Man With Candy

        Second Law.

      • Stillhunter

        A quick refresher on Wikipedia tells me I have idea what your implying.

      • Jarflax

        But EV run on magical free wind energy! How can you claim efficiency is lost?

      • Pine_Tree

        Well, besides the proxy thing in your last sentence, for me it’s the self-imposed and self-congratulatory NIMBY-ish idiocy you encounter when EV-types pretend they’re “zero-emissions” (etc.). Dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb.

        If a person likes EVs, fine. If they actually have some sort of math where (employer plug-ins) they can save money, fine. But the smug “I love me ’cause I’m so awesome look at my car” stuff is what’s irritating.

      • Sensei

        NJ gets about half its power from nuclear. I always say my car is nuclear powered.

        The South Park “Smug” episode perfectly captures EV evangelist mindset.

      • prolefeed

        Much of the hate for electric cars is from the rent seeking. Tesla’s “profits” including a huge payout forcibly extracted by the government from other car makers. Without those payouts, Tesla is still running at a significant loss.

      • Bobarian LMD

        Musk makes money from selling carbon offsets to California industries that are ‘generated’ from his electric cars, as well.

      • Pine_Tree

        Counterpoint: I have a friend here at work who just got a new Tesla. He’s a ChE and super-smart and totally understands all of the things I criticize above. He’s always been a careful and conservative investor, 2 kids, head-down and doing the right thing. And he admittedly got it as something of a splurge for himself – because he’s saved up a ton of money, things are on the right track, and this is the first time he’s ever bought anything like that for himself.

        I like his car.

      • Sensei

        They make a great second car with the tech in its current form.

        I shudder to think what the charging stations look like during peak holiday travel in CA.

      • waffles

        I really like electric vehicles in the small personal electric vehicle category. Bike, scooter, skateboard really shines. Still a glorified toy. But I like it.

      • blackjack

        When I drove to Santa Rosa, we took the kid through the Mcd’s to get him lunch. It was in a tiny rest stop area in the middle of nowhere. The charging station had 30 bays. There were about 4 cars, with three of the owners playing with their phones and leaning on the hoods. The fourth was a lady who walked through the drive through behind our car. I think renting a real car would have made a lot of sense for these people. Especially now that I/C cars have reached such low emissions and high MPG standards. They’ve probably overtaken most forms of electrical generation in terms of greenness.

      • Stillhunter

        Obviously those people are likely virtue signaling or at least have some perverse idea that current EVs are better for the planet.

        I think your last couple statements are the true evilness of the whole thing. I/C cars are so clean now it’s not even funny. But they still get painted as gas guzzling pollution machines like the 60s era.

      • slumbrew

        I can’t recall reading any “died due to to a car running in a closed garage” stories in years – the cars just run too clean.

        That was not the case growing up.

      • juris imprudent

        better for the planet

        Gaia isn’t being raped for rare-earth minerals, she is gladly serving them up to humanity.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        I still dont get (OK, I do get it, but it exposes some shitty things about our culture) why hybrids aren’t a best of both worlds compromise to people.

        Our new van will (as soon as the damn charging cable gets here) do its first 33 miles each day on electric and then switch into hybrid mode. When we take it on the road trip this fall, we fully expect 25-30 MPG out of a loaded down minivan. There’s no sitting around for an hour before we can drive to the next station. There’s no planning the trip around charging stations.

        On a regular daily basis, our energy usage is primarily the cheaper electricity, but we don’t need to rent a car to do non-typical driving, and we didn’t pay a penny for the hybrid functionality compared to the ICE alternative.

        I see the niche for EVs. I see the points behind sticking with ICE. I don’t see how either of them beat hybrid as a utilitarian daily driver.

        *shrug*

      • UnCivilServant

        I still dont get (OK, I do get it, but it exposes some shitty things about our culture) why hybrids aren’t a best of both worlds compromise to people.

        You have two engines, each of which is smaller than it needs to be hauling the weight of both engines and the batteries. You struggle to get the performance that either pure gas or pure electric can deliver. The system is more complicated and thus more expensive to maintain.

        Yes, I get 36-40 mpg from ym C-Max, but there are pure gas alternatives that do the same. I could get more if I turned ‘eco mode’ back on, but the agonizingly poor performance in that mode makes it almost not worth driving.

        You did fin the right word – “Compromise”. It’s not a best of both worlds, it’s a compromise between both worlds, with all the trade offs that implies.

      • Sensei

        Pure EV is much simpler and more robust compared to the way they now pollution control ICE vehicles. I hate modern cars emission systems and monitoring with a passion.

        That said once they are obtainable again our next primary vehicle is likely to be a RAV 4 plug in hybrid for the exact reasons you mentioned.

      • slumbrew

        Yes, I get 36-40 mpg from ym C-Max,

        2009 Honda Fit did ~ 38 mpg on the trip a couple weeks back. That’s with me lead-footing it and the 12 year old engine likely being less efficient than new.

        Honestly, it’s a surprisingly good car.

        Good think I’m married, through – that car has to be a total lady-boner killer.

      • l0b0t

        Ex-wifey is on her second Fit. I agree, they are great cars; perfect for NYC parking. With the magic seats, they have so much interior space. I’m still happy with my wee trucklet though.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        I could get more if I turned ‘eco mode’ back on, but the agonizingly poor performance in that mode makes it almost not worth driving.

        Sounds horrible. Reminds me of the Jeep Liberty of 7 or 8 years ago. Not enough acceleration to merge onto the highway safely.

        My hybrid fusion, besides missing some top end acceleration, has plenty of performance for my uses. Even at highway speeds, I mash the pedal and it goes faster in a hurry.

        The van is probably more performant than the fusion, which was a surprise. I’ll hit the gas at a stoplight and by the time I get to looking at the speedo again, I’m doing 10 over.

      • Lord Humungus

        EF’s Audi A3 – which has a 2.0 turbo engine and a 6-speed DCT – can get 36mpg on the highway, all while being quiet and handling crappy roads quite well. And do 0-60 in the mid-to-high 5s. Not a bad little package… too bad VW engineering and all that.

      • Sean

        too bad VW engineering and all that.

        I love my GTI way more than I did my A3, and the A3 was a very good car.

      • Bobarian LMD

        The real efficiency gains for hybrids is in stop and go traffic. EVs pick this up as well. It has been a long sought after goal in automotive development trying to figure out a way to store the kinetic energy that is thrown away every time you step on your brakes.

        Experiments/prototypes have been developed to use springs, compressed air, steam, fly-wheels, batteries… to temporarily store that energy and then use it to get a car back up to speed.

        Batteries and motors never had the size/efficiency until recently, and all those other methods become extremely dangerous.

        Imagine spinning up a 300 lb flywheel with the energy from a 3000 lb car going 70 miles an hour.

        When you rear-end that car at the stop sign and all that energy catastrophically releases right there, people die.

        There has been some work done into looking into converting that energy back into chemical energy, but not aware of that going anywhere.

  18. leon

    I pushed an article for review here a few days ago, but not sure if I did it right, am I missing something?

    • PieInTheSky

      looks to be in pending which means waiting review…

      • Tonio

        Pending means that the article is assumed to be finished but hasn’t been scheduled.

      • PieInTheSky

        yes. but I assume someone looks it over first not just schedule it

      • Tonio

        Meh. Sometimes, I think.

        I am available to help people with their posts but only do so if the author requests that, or SP asks me to.

      • Swiss Servator

        Not me?! I haz a sad.

        P.S I have 1100 spots for next week all filled now! I am working on the 1900 ones next.

      • Tonio

        “Meh” not “me.” I was expressing that I was unsure if articles got reviewed (not that they necessarily need to).

        Of course you. I know you have done Herculean labors for the site and wasn’t meaning to discount that.

        You can put me down for ongoing Thursday 1500 links duty. I’ll try to kick out some content suitable for the 1900 slot.

        Let me know if there’s anything else I can do to help.

      • Old Man With Candy

        That “person” has been tied up In New York, getting fucked over by US Bank, the worst institution since the SS.

      • Ghostpatzer

        That really sucks. I described your situation to Mrs. Patzer the other night (she works at a local bank). She asked me which bank; upon hearing “US Bank” she rolled her eyes and shook her head. This from someone who works for a bank I would be very reluctant to do business with.

      • Swiss Servator

        I did look over yours, Pie.

      • PieInTheSky

        good to know 🙂

    • Festus

      If you are anything like me Leon you probably forgot to press the “enter” key…

      • Swiss Servator

        Is it Leon’s Reviews? If so, may I post it as an 1100 post during early next week?

      • leon

        You can post it whenever needed.

      • Swiss Servator

        Done. See it 1100 Tuesday.

      • Swiss Servator

        Pie? Your latest goes up Thursday at 1100 Glibs Time.

      • Swiss Servator

        Putrid? Yours goes Friday 1100 Glibs Time.

  19. Festus

    Music choice matches both the the drapes and the carpets.

  20. The Late P Brooks

    I can’t take credit. It’s a paraphrase of Oscar Wilde. The line was delivered perfectly by that dame, Judi.

    I knew that. The Importance of Being Earnest is one of my all time faves.

    • Not Adahn

      Yeah. Except for the most recent remake. That one kind of sucks.

  21. Tundra

    Good morning Mad!

    Thanks for the non-political lynx.

    Although technically the GM one is, as there would be no Bolt if there were no fed subsidies and if GM would have been allowed to die back in 2008.

    But still, nice job!

    • Tundra

      And Happy Birthday, if the song was a clue!

      • Mad Scientist

        Nah, it just came up on shuffle and tickled me. My wife’s birthday is tomorrow though.

    • Festus

      Yeah, Chevy and Dodge taking the bail-outs means that their products are non-starters for me. Ford is shite but I’ve been pleased with my Mexican Toyota!

    • Mad Scientist

      Hey, the other day I was visiting a buddy and he said he had something for me. Out of his storage locker appeared a supercharger for a Spitfire. He’s had it for 20 years and finally realized he was never going to buy a Spitfire, so he gave it me. I’m thinking of rebuilding an engine and slapping that baby on there. I imagine it’ll jack up the power from 60 to 75 horses. Those MGs around town won’t stand a chance!

      • Tundra

        Sweet!

        You tore all the pollution control stuff off, correct? That gets you the first bump anyway.

        Mine went to its new owner on Sunday. He texted me already saying how much he likes it. Fun cars.

      • Mad Scientist

        Mine’s a ’71, so pre-smog.

        YOU SOLD YOURS!?

      • Tundra

        Yeah, we’re moving across the country and I won’t have my nice garage for awhile. It was a tough decision, so now I’ll have to live vicariously through you!

      • Mad Scientist

        Well, I have a buddy who has 3 more. So when you get your nice garage…

    • blackjack

      GM wouldn’t have died back then, they just would have suffered. The bailouts were to prevent the unions from suffering any losses and GM got a stack of cash out of it, so they dove in. They could’ve weathered the rough spot, cut back some and came out clean but they got bribed.

      • Timeloose

        I remember that time well. GM always seems to be too big to fail. It is also always too big to succeed. They have made so many great innovations and car concepts. They will make a vehicle that looks great in the concept and pre production, then cheap out on one or two features to make it ugly, cheap looking, or mediocre performing.
        Pontiac Aztec was amazing looking with somewhat larger wheels and all wheel drive (concept for the first CSUV). In production they put tiny wheels and tires on it and made it look in capable of going off road or on trails.

        https://www.motortrend.com/news/thread-of-the-day-what-if-the-pontiac-aztek-concept-had-gone-to-production-unchanged-192105/

        They will make a great innovation in manufacturing, but then abandon it (plastic body panels and automated assembly). True read engine sports car like the Fiero. It was a cool little car that had a pile of problems, by the time they cancelled it it was a great little car with most or all of the problems fixed.

  22. Festus

    Every married man of certain age knows about “Whale Menopause” They start off like Orcas and wind up as Hump-backs. No, I am not the ghost of McAffee.

    • Swiss Servator

      *squints suspiciously*

      You sure you aren’t at least channeling him?

      • Festus

        My eyes did turn back in my head and there might have been some petit-mal…

  23. Trigger Hippie

    ‘General Motors is telling owners of some older Chevrolet Bolts to park them outdoors and not to charge them overnight because two of the electric cars caught fire after recall repairs were made…

    At first, the company didn’t know what was causing the problem, but it determined that batteries that caught fire were near a full charge. So as a temporary fix, owners and dealers were told to make software changes to limit charging to 90% of a battery’s capacity.’

    So you can’t park it in the garage, you can’t charge it overnight and you can’t charge it to full capacity. Oh, and it may still catch fire anyway. Why would one want to continue to own such a piece of shit again?

    • invisible finger

      White Privilege guilt.

    • waffles

      The batteries degrade, period. I don’t understand why we accept that the batteries degrade in all consumer electronics but somehow magically think electric vehicles should be immune.

      • Swiss Servator

        Well, the ability to hold a charge degrading is one thing – bursting into flames is another.

      • waffles

        These things are related when it comes to current battery technology.

      • Nephilium

        It’s just a rapid release of stored energy.

      • Timeloose

        There are a lot of things that have to be done to control the charge and discharge of a Li-Ion cell to prevent it from being damaged, killing it’s life time, and or making it dangerous.

        In your phone or laptop they can monitor and control each cell that is the battery pack because there are only a few in series for more voltage or in parallel for more capacity.

        In a vehicle they typically have hundreds or thousands of cells and they can not monitor each cell. They monitor the pack of cells. If one cell is significantly different in behavior from the others in the pack it will drive the charging ability and capacity of that pack.

        If you charge one cell or area a of a cell too much it begins to plate out Li, which will not go away. This plating can build up during each charge / discharge cycle and can eventually puncture the separator between the adjacent electrode. This short can start a fire. Same thing can happen if there are particles or defects in the separator or electrode. Over heating during fast charging or discharging can also cause fires.

        The li plating occurs most readily when the battery cell is almost fully charged, so one way to minimize risks is to only charge to 90% or less capacity. This will also allow the cell to last longer.

      • Gender Traitor

        ::starts carrying all battery-operated devices outside, just to be safe::

      • Gender Traitor

        ::looks at one device, has second thoughts, carries device back in to bedroom nightstand::

      • db

        A couple of months ago, we took an old cell phone that a friend of mine had that had failed, and duct taped it to a target backstop at our rifle range. His son fired a single shot at it, piercing it dead center, with the bullet going through the battery. Immediately, the battery started emitting great billows of white smoke. By the time we had walked the 100 yards, the plywood backstop was on fire and the phone was swelling in weird ways. We knocked it off the backstop and found the bullet hole in the wood on fire, and the entire area that had been in contact with the phone was charred.

        The back of the phone actually conducted enough heat all around to char the wood even in places that weren’t near the battery itself. The rapid release of energy from that battery was surprisingly destructive. Granted we shot the damn thing, but if the battery had had an internal short and runaway, the result would have been about the same. Imagine that in your pocket, backpack, or on your desk or nightstand while you sleep.

      • Sean

        Thanks, something else to obsess over.

        *sigh*

      • blackjack

        Meh, it beats brain cancer. And that one lasted for a few years. Let’s not forget the magical ability to down a flying jumbo jet. We all missed the real issue, which is turning everyone’s brains into oatmeal. Sure the phone’s get smarter, what about the users?

      • Timeloose

        That is a test we did on military Li Ion packs, also a nail puncture test. To pass the cell should vent but not ignite or explode violently.

    • Stillhunter

      To save the planet, duh.

  24. The Late P Brooks

    Panicmongering never goes out of style

    With Covid-19 cases surging in 49 states as vaccination rates lag, turning the tide will require Americans to “do something dramatic to protect our country,” an expert said.

    “We’re seeing this because the public misunderstood the CDC guidance for fully vaccinated people as ‘We can now do whatever we want. Even if we are unvaccinated, we can now behave as if we are vaccinated,'” CNN Medical Analyst Dr. Leana Wen told CNN’s Anderson Cooper on Thursday.
    Covid-19 cases are surging in nearly every state with the average of new cases at least 10% higher than a week ago — and 38 states are seeing at least a 50% increase, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Many experts have attributed the rise to slowing vaccination rates with only 48.3% of the US population fully vaccinated, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

    ——-

    There is still hope for avoiding a fall spike, CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said, if enough people get vaccinated. But, if the trend in rising cases continues, cities and states could implement travel restrictions for unvaccinated travelers, she told ABC’s Good Morning America.
    “I think now is our moment to really double down on our vaccination efforts and our other prevention interventions,” she said. “We still have to send the same messages as we did last year,” Walensky said.
    In an interview on NBC Nightly News, Walensky said that with case rates rising, vaccination rates declining and the Delta variant spreading, things could continue to get worse in the pandemic.
    In California, Los Angeles County — the nation’s largest county with a population of 10 million people — has responded to a surge in cases and hospitalizations by reinstating a mask mandate beginning Saturday.
    “Right now is the time for locales to follow LA county’s lead,” Wen said.

    Die in a fire, cunt.

    Oops. Do I sound angry and resentful? Do I sound as if I think all public health experts should be dragged into the street and necklaced? I should work on that.

    • LJW

      Here’s my prediction. The numbers will spike for about a month. Nothing crazy, no bodies in the streets. Then it will burn out. This is just the last few people who aren’t vaccinated or haven’t already had the virus.

      • LJW

        By spike I mean small increase nothing compared to winter.

    • blackjack

      I have no idea how they’re even testing these people. Through most of this the mantra was, ” get tested, regularly” Now, the only testing option is 150.00 around here. All those mass testing sites are long gone. Only thing I can think is the hospitals are still testing everyone who checks in, meaning only the sick are getting tested. Which means that now, we are going to have higher positives relative to the number of tests. Same hocus pocus bullshit the “cases” numbers have always been.

    • Suthenboy

      They wouldn’t have to sell this so hard if the virus was what they say it is and the vaccines actually worked. I know a rat when I smell one.

    • Tonio

      “An expert…”

      “Cases…”

      You notice they’re not talking about wholesale COVID-attributed deaths anymore, but talking about the few, tragic cases of young people dying from COVID.

    • Pope Jimbo

      I upset a coworker last week by referring to new cases as “natural immunization project”.

      She was complaining about people refusing to get immunized and that cases will start growing because no one is getting vaccinated and the Delta variant is coming. I said the new cases would be a free and natural immunization project. She got flummoxed when I pointed out that the people who got the Rona had immunity afterwards just like a vaccinated person, so isn’t that a good thing? Anytime someone gets the Rona and doesn’t die or go to the hospital it makes Big Pharma cry.

      I’d love it if a journalo would ask those “experts” if people who have had the Rona would be subject to travel restrictions.

      • Mojeaux

        My post last night brought over from dedthred:

        So one of tonight’s medical reports is an early middle-aged woman who caught the ‘vid…from the vaccine. She’s on a vent and it’s not looking good.

        Now, I do this gig maybe 15 hours a week and most of the stuff I work on are operative reports and ER notes, so if I’m getting one of these, how many others are out there?

      • Ghostpatzer

        MJ – did she actually get it from the vaccine, or despite being vaccinated (like 6 of those damn Yankees)? Not a good look in either case. Can’t imagine why I decided to forego the vax.

      • Mojeaux

        Okay, this is where I admit that the doctor’s voice inflection says more than the text. Basically he said something along the lines of she has COVID pneumonia AFTER GETTING THE VACCINE (emphasis his). So I’m totally assuming she got it FROM the vax based on the doctor’s inflections.

      • Ghostpatzer

        Sounds about right. “Totally Safe”.

  25. Trigger Hippie

    Three day weekend, hooray!

    *thinks about all money I have to spend and personal crap to attend to*

    Three days at my “second job”, hooray!

    P.S. To the KC Glibs: I’ll try to attend that meet-up Saturday but I can’t promise anything. I’ll be the thin guy with a shaved head wearing a STEVE SMITH SAY RELAX baseball t if I manage to get there.

      • Trigger Hippie

        Yep, that’s the one. I’m a little disappointed nobody’s ever asked me about it. It just gets a quizzical look on occasion.

      • Ghostpatzer

        STEVE SMITH is the ghost of Tex Antoine!

        https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tex_Antoine

        “With rape so predominant in the news lately, it is well to remember the words of Confucius: ‘If rape is inevitable, lie back and enjoy it’.”

  26. The Late P Brooks

    By spike I mean small increase nothing compared to winter.

    They seem reluctant to divulge the actual numbers. It’s “per cent increase”.

    Cases spiked! They doubled, from twenty to forty, in a county with a population of two million people. We’re doooooomed!

    • LJW

      They did that here locally. Southwest counties doubled their cases in a week! They went from 12 to 24…

  27. The Late P Brooks

    meaning only the sick are getting tested. Which means that now, we are going to have higher positives relative to the number of tests. Same hocus pocus bullshit the “cases” numbers have always been.

    *totters off toward fainting couch*

  28. The Late P Brooks

    The batteries degrade, period. I don’t understand why we accept that the batteries degrade in all consumer electronics but somehow magically think electric vehicles should be immune.

    But- but- but- Batteries are teh kleen enurgeez! They come from packages.

    • LJW

      All these EV owners are gonna have some sticker shock when they see the price tag to replace those batteries.

      • Sean

        Maybe Gropey will give them away for “free.”

    • invisible finger

      Even ignoring the greenness or lack thereof of electric cars, you have to consider the recent history of energy in your locale.

      There have always been oil and gas shortages. But these are always alleviated by price – if you REALLY need to fill up you can IF you’re willing to pay extra.

      Extended blackouts and brownouts are a thing. If you REALLY need to fill up, you can’t no matter how much extra you are willing to pay. So you better have some sort of backup source – like solar or at least a gas-powered generator.

      • Sensei

        I remember as a kid the lack of gas in the 70s.

        During Hurricane Sandy there was no electric to run the gasoline pumps for at least 50 miles and the roads so badly torn up there was no way I could figure to get somewhere with power.

        Any fuel I could get ahold of during Sandy went in the generator and not the car. That was a long two weeks…

      • Suthenboy

        Same here for Laura but it was 3 sweltering weeks. What a misery that was. I nearly wore my chainsaw out just making sure the six households on this road could get out. Then the highway….

      • invisible finger

        That lack of gas in the 70’s was complete bullshit, It was price controls.

        I remember seeing the news with long lines at gas stations and it looked like a problem somewhere else. Because I would go out and fill up any time I wanted. The price of gas shot up from 21.9 cents/gal to 65.9 cents/gal rather quickly (a matter of weeks). But there was never a line at gas stations in my area. (It’s possible that was due to there being several refineries in the area so we got supplies before anyone else – but that still implies a political problem.)

  29. Chipwooder

    I need to stop complaining that I never catch a break with anything, because, after a long series of failed offers, we accidentally stumbled into a great house for a reasonable price by sheer coincidence. Got it before it was ever even listed.

    • Sean

      Congrats!

      I hope it’s not built on an old Indian burial ground.

      • Swiss Servator

        Nah, just over an old benzene dump.

      • LJW

        No worries the lead paint and asbestos insulation will protect them.

      • Nephilium

        It’s OK, that was taken care of.

      • Pope Jimbo

        Uffda, wouldn’t it be creepier if it was built on a young Indian burial ground?

      • Not Adahn

        Planned Parenthood of the Iroquois Confederation?

    • Tonio

      Congratulations!

    • slumbrew

      It’s a trap!

      Seriously, congrats.

  30. CatchTheCarp

    For those who are retired or approaching retirement do you use a Financial planner? Or do you manage your retirement funds yourself? I have friends who tell me it’s not difficult to manage investments yourself. I don’t feel confident I have the knowledge to do this myself and can’t afford to learn the hard way.

    • invisible finger

      Then you’re fucked.

      • invisible finger

        Seriously, start reading whatever you can. I have a financial planner but I started doing most of it myself. I still have the planner handling about 20% and once I retire I will probably have the planner handle about 70-75%.

        But rules of thumb:

        1) If you have no confidence, mutual funds are the way to go.
        2) The older you get, the greater percentage you should have in fixed income (usually bonds/bond funds).
        3) Calculate how much you plan on spending annually – and take inflation into consideration.
        4) If you plan on keeping up with the Joneses (I call it “chasing yield” or living a more expensive lifestyle), you shouldn’t be retiring. I don’t understand people retiring while they still have loans.
        5) If you think financial planning is difficult, navigating social security/medicare is even more confusing.

        Most of the larger investment houses have funds that are managed toward specific retirement target years. Those usually are a good combination of yield/safety that are managed to transition into fixed income as time goes on.

    • Sean

      Retirement?

      Get a load of the optimist over here.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        There is also stacking bitcoin.

    • Swiss Servator

      It depends on how much you have…since managers charge you. If their fees are going to outweigh what small gains you might make, then it is no help. If you are talking a decent amount of money, then ask a few, “why should I use you? What are you returns, historically?”

      I am managing it myself, for now. I just split my investments into a few areas (increasing my ‘inflation protected’ category a bit lately) and will grimly march on working for another 12.5 years.

      • Tulip

        First question is “how are you compensated?” if they fumble or babble, move on.

      • CatchTheCarp

        I met with FP yesterday that a friend recommended and gave him all the relevant details. He is going to put together a couple of strategies for me to review. His fee is 1%. I have never dabbled much in the stock market – the bulk of my retirement is in an employer 401K that I manage myself using tools provided by the 401K management company. t manages it. Being a company plan I am limited to a specific list of investments to choose from. I guess I need to check out these Boglehead links. I am hoping to retire soon – in the next year or two.

      • Sensei

        Since you are near retirement I’d suggest a “fee only” planner and plan. Cost will be $500 to $1k depending on complexity.

        You can take that plan and execute anywhere.

        This person should be asking what your objectives are before suggesting strategies. From your comments it doesn’t seem like you know how to express your objectives. That is what the planning process is supposed to do.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        My link is better.

      • slumbrew

        Damn your nimble fingers, Trashy and CPA!

      • slumbrew

        I’ll note that we have 3 Glibs spontaneously agreeing on something with Bogleheads.

        I’ll note this day in my diary.

    • wdalasio

      An interesting bit of trivia. Researchers have found that women, on average, get better long-term investment returns than men. Is it some sort of gynocentric brilliance about the financial markets? Nope. The difference is entirely explained by investment turnover. More guys try to actively manage their investment portfolios than women and transactions costs, bad bets, etc. wind up eating up their returns.

      The point I’m making is that, if you’re a very disciplined investor, you might do well to manage it yourself. Financial planners are, after all, salespeople. If you aren’t that disciplined, you’re probably better off hiring someone to set up the program and get you a nice, boring, wealth-building program.

      • Sensei

        There are fee only planners. That’s what I generally recommend.

        That said there are some commission and fee income based planners that are quite good, but here it is much harder to separate good and bad.

      • Tulip

        Even within fee only, there hourly, percentage (of the amount they manage) and flat fee.

      • Sensei

        I’m talking about paying for a plan. I.e flat one time fee.

        After that you can take the next steps which may or may not AUM based fee planning.

      • Tulip

        There have been psychology/economics experiments that (repeatedly) find that women are often more likely to take ‘expert’ advice, and thus end up doing better than men. For example, an experiment on predicting something (generally abstract results in a game format), will explain the game, then suggest an algorithm for predicting. Men tend to ignore the algorithm, while women tend to use it. Women, in those cases, typically end up with higher payouts.

        Repeatedly, men tend to overestimate their own performance relative to others, while women tend to accurately predict where they fall. A series of econ experiments done at Harvard* had people adding columns of 4 digit numbers. Players were rated on accuracy and speed, then could enter tournaments (they could see how accurate they were and how fast but not others performance before entering tournament). They were asked where they thought they ranked and so on. Men all thought they were at the top, women were more accurate.

        *I know the researchers. It was originally done at University of Pittsburgh, then repeated at Harvard because Al Roth raised questions about selection, and maybe the women weren’t as competitive, blah blah. Anyway, no change in results. See Niederle and Vesterlund circa 2007. They did a series of papers with a variety of tests as people raised issues. Fascinating

      • UnCivilServant

        Shit.

        So my self assessment that I suck means I’m actually godawful?

      • Tulip

        No, it means you’re in touch with your feminine side. ?

      • pistoffnick

        “…men tend to overestimate their own performance relative to others…”

        No, I assure you, I am an excellent and skilled lover! ;^)

      • Tulip

        It’s stunning how hilariously bad men are at assessing their own performance. The whole thing started out looking at whether women avoid competition, but, to me, the big result is the men’s behavior.

      • Sensei

        Unpossible. No man would ever overestimate his performance on any endeavor.

      • Nephilium
      • B.P.

        You should see me dance. Goodness gracious am I a good dancer.

      • Master JaimeRoberto (royal we/us)

        That may be true of other men, but my performance is truly outstanding.

      • db

        It’s well known among firearms instructors that women tend to do better than men because they don’t come into the instruction with the baggage of having to look like they already know the material. Many men feel pressure to act like they know guns and shooting because it’s a manly thing to do. Women often learn and shoot better than men because they listen to instruction and have far less ego and things to unlearn about it.

      • Lord Humungus

        The old man had a financial advisor stop by the house and try to sell his services. As the old man said:

        Advisor: (jokingly) “Have you made your first million?”

        Dad: Yes, a long time ago.

        Advisor (eyes wide): We sell a wide range of services, blah blah

        Dad: I made my first million without any help, why do I need it now?

        Advisor: …

        My dad was just really really conservative and held onto a lot of stock for a long time; along with dividend returns and whatnot. He did, during the 80s, get into a bunch of trouble buying stocks on margin. Crash of 1987 and he was almost bankrupt. He learned that lesson and was really really careful after that.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        Easy now:

      • Certified Public Asshat

        *clears throat*

        Fidelity Investments Survey Reveals Only Nine Percent of Women Think They Make Better Investors than Men, Despite Growing Evidence to the Contrary

        Fidelity Investments client data analysis3 shows on average, women performed better than men when it comes to investing by 40 basis points, or 0.4 percent. At first glance this may appear to be a minor difference, but can have a significant impact over time.

        So somewhat significant. This is for women who actually take the plunge and invest.

    • Animal

      I use a financial planner. You people know her as Mrs. Animal.

    • Nephilium

      Another relatively new option that’s out now is the algorithmic investment accounts. You answer some questions about risk tolerance, and put in a goal year and amount and the system will rebalance your investment allocations on a regular basis. The ones I have keep a set amount in cash, and use interest on that cash to pay for the feature (as well as using their own funds). Most of the ones I’ve got use ETF’s and require a small ($6,000) minimum.

      • UnCivilServant

        That “Small” minimum is more than my whole brokerage account.

      • slumbrew

        I was in Schwab’s Intelligent Portfolio for a while (the heavy cash component makes me think you’re referring to them).

        I ditched it for a nice, simple three-fund portfolio (SWTSX, SWISX, SWAGX) after I really knuckled down and marinated in the ways of the Bogleheads.

        That cash is a drag – it’s not really a substitute for an emergency fund since they’ll rebalance right back to that heavy cash position if you withdraw.

        And I’m still unwinding the ridiculous holdings I ended up with when I was with Personal Capital for awhile (though I do like and use their website – I just don’t have them manage anything anymore).

        De gustibus and all that…

      • Jarflax

        Constant or even frequent rebalancing is one of those ideas that sound like they make sense, but really end up counter productive. A balanced (diversified) portfolio is effective because it avoids the perils of trying to make short term predictions. You set yourself up so that problems in one sector won’t wipe you out, and to take advantage of whatever sector has gains. If you rebalance too often you end up pulling money out of things as they start to gain and putting money into things as they start to lose. So paradoxically rebalancing defeats the purpose of balancing.

      • Sensei

        There is good and bad rebalancing. Your overall allocations shouldn’t change, but if you have a single security significantly appreciate you want to sell out so as to diversify.

        You need to do that kind of rebalancing systemically so you don’t wind up chasing returns or become your own version of an active manager.

      • slumbrew

        Yes, occasional rebalancing is good, constant rebalancing is bad.

        I rebalance on my birthday.

      • invisible finger

        ^This.

        I had a 401K that was initially graded as “balanced” – started with 5 funds with equal weight (one was a bond fund). Five years later – after making no changes – it was graded as “aggressive growth.” That’s what happened when one of the funds I was in took off and instead of being 20% of the value became 75% of the value. That’s a sign to rebalance – essentially taking profits.

    • kinnath

      Index funds.

      Put your money in. Never look at it.

      No one beats the market for any significant length of time.

      • UnCivilServant

        My index funds have been doing poorly.

        Mind you they’re not the worst performing thing in my portfolio. That would be CDPR (still at half the value I bought it at)

      • kinnath

        When FedGov tanks the economy, index funds will suffer.

      • slumbrew

        When FedGov tanks the economy, all stocks will suffer (except maybe ammo).

      • Tulip

        Fyi, the stock market isn’t a random walk. It is a martingale.

    • Tonio

      Seems pretty abstract.

      • blackjack

        It seems to just bounce from one point to the other. In the end, the whole idea just sags sadly.

      • Animal

        Yeah, never really seems to get abreast of the topic.

    • R C Dean

      “On the one hand, on the other hand” . . . .

  31. waffles

    Thank you for no fucking politics. I feel so much better now. Happy Friday yinz!

  32. PieInTheSky

    well it is 5 PM I think I can have that third beer now

    • blackjack

      How many Crown Vic owners have not wanted to set them on fire?

      • blackjack

        In his defense, CB radio lore says that that very car was driven by bears at one point.

      • UnCivilServant

        They haven’t made the Crown Vic in ages… and I’m sad because I’ve always wanted one. I don’t know why.

      • Sean

        An ’82 (I think) was my first car, gifted to me by my parents.

  33. Festus

    Fuck it. I’m gonna feed the critters and go straight to the land of nod. Have the best one that you can manage, Friends!

  34. limey

    Ozy! Help! I think you posted something with regards to legal precedent for cases involving forced invasive medical procedures and their relevance to any challenge to a hypothetical vaccine mandate, or (de facto mandate?) that work it’s way up to the SC given the hypothetical occurrence of such a thing. I think it involved Buck v Bell, by way of Skinner v Oklahoma, and maybe Stump v Sparkman, other cases like that (?). What are the grounds for arguing that someone who refuses to be vaccinated is not mentally fit to make the decision for themselves? I don’t see this happening because the quasi-fascist de facto mandate via the structure of incentives ultimately enforced by corporate policy is the mechanism by which this would work without dirtying govts hands? In that case it’s discrimination cases that might have a chance of reaching the SC?

    • limey

      Other legal glibs please chime in.

    • Suthenboy

      IANAL but I would keep mentioning two words…Josef and Mengele

    • The Other Kevin

      My SIL (the nurse practitioner) just talked to me about this the other day. She has a big problem with employers requiring employees to have an experimental medical procedure that is NOT APPROVED by the FDA.

    • blackjack

      You will treat the disease you don’t have, regardless of the chances of it affecting you negatively, and you will like it. It’s very important that we underscore the seriousness of this disease to provide cover for all the scamming we have done to take all the branches of government. Do your part.

    • Ozymandias

      Wot, mate? (J/K, I’ve always wanted to write that).
      The first (awful) case was Jacobson v. Massachusetts, 197 US 11 (1905). Jacobson was a Swede who came to the US and had previously had a horrible experience with the smallpox vaccine in his homeland. MA was one of 11 states that had compulsory vax laws and Jacobson refused and was fined. Supreme Court – in sweeping language that would give Progs today a boner – said essentially your liberty ends where the State’s police power begins. It’s a horrible decision.
      On the heels of that one, Holmes issued the infamous “three generations of imbeciles are enough” in Buck v. Bell (1927): “The principle that sustains compulsory vaccination is broad enough to cover cutting the Fallopian tubes.” Progressive. Piece. Of Shit.
      Those decisions, however, have been undercut by Skinner v. Oklahoma AND the little thing called WW2 and the Nuremburg Code that came after it and was eventually adopted into US law and every agency has some version of the informed consent rule in the CFR. The CFR that discusses informed consent WRT drugs and biologics (i.e. vaccines) is 21 CFR 50.23(d). Generally, 21 CFR 50 contains the prohibitions and rules regarding experimenting on humans.
      However, as I linked the other night, Congress passed something in 2004 that essentially gave them an end-run around the requirements & limitations of the Nuremburg Code requirements during declared health emergencies. And that’s where we’re at.

  35. The Late P Brooks

    The difference is entirely explained by investment turnover. More guys try to actively manage their investment portfolios than women and transactions costs, bad bets, etc. wind up eating up their returns.

    I don’t have that problem. I hold even when I should sell.

  36. Timeloose

    The lack of live music since March 2020 and the uncertainty of lockdowns since has resulted in a complete glut of concerts all trying to perform at the same time. September and October are all summer acts and festivals crowding into the same two months. The same goes for stand alone concerts.

    The entire late summer to early fall feels like a giant country wide festival with competing stages making you choose between similar acts. It’s a good problem to have, but I’m concerned the glut will result in poorly attended events and thus cancelled gigs in December.

    • invisible finger

      Musicians are greedy.

    • Nephilium

      Rise Against announced a show here in Cleveland as a warm up before their tour starts. The show sold out in a couple of hours.

      There’s a fairly large pent up demand as well.

      • Timeloose

        “Instead of trying to elbow into overcrowded markets, Eva Alexiou-Reo, owner of the Philadelphia booking agency FATA, is routing her emerging artists towards cities that are within a couple hours’ drive of the nearest big-city concert scene. In the case of Philly, for example, Alexiou-Reo is talking to her acts about pairing up for package tours that will increase their draw, and looking for availability in places like Scranton or Allentown. “It’s almost like trying to buy a house: it’s a seller’s market right now, because everyone else is trying to buy a house,” says Alexiou-Reo, whose roster includes Weathers, Party Nails, and Micky James.”

  37. Ownbestenemy

    So fun night at OBE house. Teen knocks on bedroom door at 1:30 and says “GF is missing and cops are on way here to check”

    He tells us that he last talked to her at 10am and that she was going to look for a job. I guess her phone has been broken and she uses a tablet to talk via apps.

    Cop that showed up was nice, never came closer than 6 feet from the door and didnt ask to look around or anything like that.

    Teen says after cop leaves “they make me nervous”

    • Suthenboy

      To teen: As you get older you will learn that that little voice in the back of your head is wise. You should listen to it.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Yep. He did do some cop things…”huh that isnt what her sister said…” That is what perked his ears a bit after they left.

        “Why did he sound all suspicious of that?” Cause they are cops and we are the nails to their hammer son.

    • blackjack

      “It’s not that I hate cops, I just always seem to feel better when they’re not around.”

      • Suthenboy

        I like that one. I worked in a small police department for a while. I found that about half of them were solid gold, half were just regular Joes and half were the scum of the earth. Of course when you are dealing with them unless your radar is especially sharp you have no idea which half you are dealing with.

      • invisible finger

        Sounds like a bloated department.

      • EvilSheldon

        Yeah, I figured you for a Buk fan.

  38. l0b0t

    Tales From Tinder – (A profile from a lady who selected me) BLUE COLLAR SEEKS RADICAL “I will not go back to normal. I’m looking for someone who hates systemic supremacy and likes cuddling. If you can’t see the links between modern dating and white and male supremacy, move on!

    I’m gonna go to the beach and try to think of reasons to not eat my gun.

    • UnCivilServant

      There are plenty of reasons. Just stop going to places where the crazies congregate.

    • juris imprudent

      Now, now, you need to stop crawling into the realm of the crazy. Take that gun to the range and maybe you’ll meet that tactical lass from yesterday.

    • prolefeed

      Soo … she’s a whack job who did you the favor of letting you know she’s crazy without having to go on a date?

      Not seeing the problem here.

      Have you tried sites like Match or OKCupid? Met my wife on the latter.

    • Old Man With Candy

      If you can’t see the links between modern dating and white and male supremacy, move on!

      Please tell me you sent her a link to this site.

      • limey

        ?

    • Tulip

      Online dating is horrible.

      • limey

        It is. It’s where the dysfunctional people default to when they need to find an emotional crutch. Go out in the real, productive, positive, professional world and find yourself a Dagny Taggart or whatever it is we’re supposed to like.

      • Tulip

        I don’t want Dagny.

      • Old Man With Candy

        Article…?

      • Tulip

        I’ve been thinking about writing it again recently, but I have some other short ones that I’ll probably do first. Maybe even a summary about the research I mentioned above.

    • slumbrew

      Oy.

      There are glimmers of hope. My cousin, who’s about your age & in Manhattan, just met a nice, non-crazy lady on Bumble (Long Beach, I think).

    • blackjack

      If you can’t see the links between modern dating and white and male supremacy

      She just wants to be a sub. That’s the only link I can find there.

    • Master JaimeRoberto (royal we/us)

      Is she hot?

  39. juris imprudent

    Wish this was just Navy’s bitter swill – but every service is drinking from the same barrel.

    • Pope Jimbo

      If I was President, I’d only allow enlisted men to enroll in the service academies. Every officer should come up through the ranks.

      I can’t even imagine the gulf between officers and the enlisted men today. Officers being drenched in woke-ism at their colleges are going to have a hard time relating to the enlisted men under them.

      Also, when I was in the Corps it was sort of expected that you would lose a stripe or two. Nothing career ending about that.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Even in 03-08 the fear of performance evaluations for airmen that were doing their jobs was ridiculous, especially stateside (and I would assume any ship afloat not in a warzone)

        Our senior enlisted leadership was afraid to give anything except a firewall 5 rating because officers who led them wanted their promotions.

        It was fucked and shitty airmen were never corrected on the little things and hammered (loss of strip(s))/pay when they went on to screw up big.

  40. The Late P Brooks

    There have been psychology/economics experiments that (repeatedly) find that women are often more likely to take ‘expert’ advice, and thus end up doing better than men.

    Racing schools report similar results. Women tend to learn better and improve faster.

    • Pine_Tree

      I’ve always thought women and girls tended to learn shooting better.

      Not sure how much is natural/instinctual (“how their brains and bodies work subconsiously”) and how much is that the boys mostly think they should naturally be good at it, but it’s there.

      • juris imprudent

        Now there’s an interesting thought – the real toxic masculinity about what men are supposed to be naturally good at. I had to endure quite a lot of self-induced pain to get that shit out of my system.

      • EvilSheldon

        Thinking that you should be good at something, and then not being able to do so, has an amazingly high psychological cost. It literally drives people, men and women both, to despair.

        The most important thing for an adult who wants to learn something new, is to be gentle with themselves. Track down those little voices that say, “What the fuck is wrong with you, this is so simple, anyone could do this!” and leave them buried in multiple garbage dumpsters.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Me putting up floorboards in our bedroom and being halfway competent in math and unable to cut the angles needed for the bay window agrees.

      • UnCivilServant

        I have this odd mindset which classifies activities as “Something I can do” and “Something I can’t do”. Anything that lands in the first bin is also classified as “easy”. So if I can do something, it’s something anyone can do. I can’t seem to convince myself that I have any abilities above average. So I end up putting more value on what other people can do but I can’t.

      • blackjack

        Given enough knowledge and practice, you can do anything anyone lese has done. My employees used to come to me and say, ” I can’t do X” I’d always say, ” Why? Do you think this machine was built by wizards? No, it was a guy, just like you. Now figure it out.” I usually ended up having to do it myself anyway, but maybe the idea got into their minds.

      • Mojeaux

        Random internet meme:

        To succeed at something, you must first be willing to suck at it.

      • blackjack

        The road to success is paved with failure.

      • Mojeaux

        Well, I’m about to go sit my old fat ass in a classroom with a bunch of 18-year-olds to (re)learn how to draw, so I fully expect to suck at it while being totally out of my element.

      • Master JaimeRoberto (royal we/us)

        In order to win you need to be prepared to lose.

    • invisible finger

      So the women that learn and improve are the ones that did what the white males told them?

  41. The Late P Brooks

    Whoops- I left something off:

    Women tend to learn better and improve faster. Because they listen to the instructors.

    • Tulip

      Yes, same as the algorithm stuff. Seriously, the Niederle and Vesterlund papers aren’t technical, and are well done – check them out if you have a chance.

      • Jarflax

        *looks at 2020

        Well this is certainly an advantage for women as long as those giving the instructions are honest and competent, but I am not sure the strategy of ‘pay attention to experts’ is without its own perils.

      • Suthenboy

        “Letting someone who has nothing to lose by being wrong make decisions for you is the worst decision you can make.”

        – Thomas Sowell….paraphrased

      • leon

        Well sure those men sucked, but I bet I could do better than them.

      • slumbrew

        I…

        Phrasing?

    • Suthenboy

      My doctor is always grinding my ass about not taking advice or doing as I am told. He is Jordanian and bragged that Jordan has had such a low number of cootie deaths because people there so as they are told.

      “You believe those numbers?”

      Him….*silence*

  42. Draw Me Like One of Your Tulpae, Jack

    Good morning, dillholes.

    This is kk speaking from the beyond (aka a VPN)

    My dog died on Monday. Tulip has been sending memes, but I fear my need for memes is a vast black hole that refuses to be filled.

    Can you help a non-existent libertarian woman out? Funny memes, animal memes, pug memes, gun memes. No angry memes, please.

    • Suthenboy

      I am glad to hear from you but that is sad news. I am sorry. I have two that are 16 and 18 and approaching the end. my only comfort is knowing that we gave them a long, happy and comfortable life. That is really all you can do.

      • Suthenboy

        I usually whip this up –

        2 cups of milk
        4 cranks on the flour sifter
        2 chicken bouillon cubes
        1 cap full of Kitchen Bouquet

        Whisk on Medium high heat for about three minutes or until thickened.
        It is a simple brown gravy and no trouble. It is quite tasty. Mrs. Suthenboy drizzles some over their dry dog food and mixes it in. You should see the sparkly eyes, wagging tails and happy dances when they smell that cooking. For dogs feeding time is a very special time.

        Mrs. Suthenboy: “We neglect our dogs. They need more exercise.”

        Me: “What are you talking about? They are sleeping on the couch. In air conditioning. They get gravy on their food. These freakin’ dogs won the canine lottery when we rescued them. The youngest one is 12 years old except for the latest rescue who is less than 2. That little booger is going to outlive us.
        Neglect? We cook for them for Christ’s sake.”

        Sometimes we make rice/chicken stock to mix in their food. Both that and the gravy recipe are tasty, cheap and easy to make. Honestly, I eat it myself sometimes.

      • UnCivilServant

        What I get from this story – Suthen ends up having to eat dog food.

      • The Other Kevin

        This is Trump’s America.

      • slumbrew

        “LA man forced to eat dog food, how our government failed him”

        “‘Suthen’s Law’ proposed to provided guaranteed meals to all”

      • Suthenboy

        America, the country where dogs eat better than the majority of the human race.
        Dog obesity is a problem in this country. A generation ago who could have imagined that?

      • Tulip

        That’s why they need more walks

    • l0b0t

      (chokes back tear) I’m so sorry for your loss. That was a great photo you posted on the tweeter.

    • slumbrew

      That sucks, KK – still feeling the passing of ours last year.

      Not a meme, but hopefully you (and others) get a kick out if this local van:

      https://ibb.co/X8W5TRR

    • Nephilium

      Sorry to hear that.

    • juris imprudent

      My favorite coffee mug. Our girl just had her 1-yr “gotcha” anniversary (which means it was a little over a year that we lost our previous one).

    • Mojeaux

      I’m so sorry, KK. I will send memes when I get to my office and find them. I keep a stash for emergencies.

      • blighted_non_millenial

        Cat’s are literally Hitler.

      • blackjack

        They’re very negative. They have nein lives.

      • Ghostpatzer

        *verengt den Blick*

      • Ownbestenemy

        Son? Is that you?

      • blackjack

        Fake news. D&D players can’t talk one girl into meeting for a date, much less four.

      • Suthenboy

        Sometimes you have an idea that seems like a good one….

    • Sean

      Sorry KK.

    • Pope Jimbo

      Sorry to hear that KK. Sending happy thoughts your way

    • blighted_non_millenial

      Sorry, kk.

    • Mojeaux

      Memes sent. Check your Twatter. I’ll send more later when they’re less likely to ban me for spamming you.

    • blackjack

      Sorry about the pooch.

    • db

      KK, I’m very sorry for the loss of your pup.

    • Gender Traitor

      Oh, I’m so sorry kk! I’m at work and busier than I expected to be today, but I’ll see what I can do meme-wise. ::gives kk a big virtual hug::

      P.S. No fair changing your handle AND your avatar at the same time.

    • Tundra

      I am truly sorry, KK.

      I have two oldsters so my time is coming. So, for the lols:

      No walks!

      Beverage center.

      Take care of yourself.

      • Tundra

        Dude.

        That’s killer.

  43. The Late P Brooks

    If you can’t see the links between modern dating and white and male supremacy, move on!

    What is the likelihood this person has a fish hook through her septum, and/or a tie tack in her eyebrow?

    • slumbrew

      I’m still trying to figure out why that person is on a dating site, if that’s how they feel.

      • Jarflax

        It is not enough to refuse to take part in an activity. To be truly woke you must take part and ruin it for everyone else.

      • Sensei

        This man gets it.

      • KSuellington

        Did you see that they changed the format for the F1 race at Silverstone this weekend? Should be interesting, I’m excited to watch the sprint race they have to qualify for the Grand Prix.

      • slumbrew

        Yep, haven’t dug into what, exactly the changes entail but I’m planning on watching qualy today & tomorrow.

  44. The Late P Brooks

    I am not sure the strategy of ‘pay attention to experts’ is without its own perils.

    “Demonstrable expertise” is an essential part of the equation.

    • Suthenboy

      Every single one of the mandates made over the cootie bugs are illegal. Every one of them.

  45. KSuellington

    If this has been linked already I apologize, but it is well worth the read. Even though I was one of the “red pilled Ron Paul libertarians” mentioned in the essay, I was surprised by the Russia bullshit that went on during the entirety of Trump’s presidency. The very last remnants of any residual trust in media, tech, and government institutions were completely shredded early on after he was elected. Not like this is revelatory here, but it is a good overall description of what went down and how it changed conservatism.

    https://outsidevoices.substack.com/p/author-of-the-mega-viral-thread-on

    • blackjack

      In keeping with the Matrix concept, the squandering of trust by TMITE only gets noticed by those who care to see the truth. Most people happily go on thinking there’s such a thing as “trusted” media like CNN, NYT, etc. That’s how the whole scheme continues.

      • KSuellington

        Absolutely. But I do think that the number of people who have seen this truth has grown exponentially after the Trump presidency and the Russia! nonsense. I know a number of conservatives (yes, even here in leftistville central) that still had some trust in government before all that and are now much more aware of what is actually happening with big tech, media, intelligence and Guv bureaucracy. If you had polled Repubs and conservatives about their feelings about the FBI for instance I would imagine that pre 2016 and now would look massively different.

        I was having a political discussion with a slightly lefty buddy a month ago on a camping trip and when he basically said, “why can’t Republicans nominate someone more like Mittens and less like Trump” I had to contain myself from laughing and basically making this guy’s point that that is absolutely not happening anytime soon.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        “why can’t Republicans nominate someone more like Mittens and less like Trump”

        Erm, y’all called mittens a Nazi back then and pulled out all the stops to keep him from being elected. Are you telling me that he wasn’t a Nazi and wasn’t sexist and wasn’t an animal abuser and all that other muck you slung at him?

        On the other hand, the right is having a very predictable and rational reaction. If the left and TMITE are going to slander and attack any GOP candidate proffered, may as well stop nominating squishy moderate compromise candidates and put somebody up who checks a few more boxes for the base.

      • Pope Jimbo

        Trump got the nomination because he was the only one that the voters thought would actually take Hillary on.

        The rest of that bunch would have treated her with kid gloves because it would be “bad optics” to attack her for her emails or her husband’s fooling around.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        Yup. Conservatives have been bitching since the days of Bob Dole that they wanted somebody with a backbone like Reagan to stand up for the right. They finally got that in Trump, and the left and moderate right went nuts. Not seeing where conservatives are even remotely incentivized to go back to the old way.

      • B.P.

        He also took positions on a couple of issues that The Establishment refuses to touch, but a huge number of voiceless Americans support. The fine folks on this board may or may not support those positions, but a yuge opportunity was there for someone, and Trump exploited it.

    • Suthenboy

      I wasn’t surprised by the bullshit but I was stunned at how many people bought into it.

    • B.P.

      That’s a good article. There’s something in there for nearly everyone to quibble with, but it ties a lot of things together nicely.

    • Suthenboy

      If they are so smart why cant they say anything wise? Makes ya’ wonder.

      • Hyperion

        One of the chattering class says something, sends out the memo, and they all just repeat it like mindless drones. Because it’s what they are.

    • leon

      Pretty good and accurate description.

    • trshmnstr the terrible

      To the tune of Frere Jacques

      ?
      Motte and Bailey
      Motte and Bailey
      This then that
      This then that

      I tell you that it’s one thing
      Then I say another

      It is this
      No it’s that

      ?

  46. Lord Humungus

    so a few weeks ago I was playing Xcom: UFO Defense, the original granddaddy of all the Xcom series.

    I beat the aliens, but at no time did I ever get PSI powers. It was Snakemen almost 90% of the time so no aliens with psychic powers were captured. That was a first; raiding the main alien base on Mars without any PSI and I still made it. By blowing the shit out of everything with blaster bombs.

    Ah good times.

  47. Draw Me Like One of Your Tulpae, Jack

    I’m going to look at an RV on July 31. 29′ Class C, F450, 2003, 40k miles, W/D hookups, dolly, 2 slides. Not even going to haggle the $16k asking price

    Keep your fingers crossed!

    • slumbrew

      Good luck! That doesn’t seem like a bad price for only 40k miles.

      Gas or diesel?

      • slumbrew

        I still have vague daydreams about this Super C but that’s a bit rich for my blood.

        As in, that’s more than my condo is worth.

      • Draw Me Like One of Your Tulpae, Jack

        Gas. Seller is a close friend/colleague’s dad

    • Suthenboy

      RV’s are like boats. The asking price is just the first bite. Check the gas mileage on that thing.
      We looked at one once and figured we could fly to our destination and stay in a first class hotel for the price of the gas to drive the thing and park it.

      • Draw Me Like One of Your Tulpae, Jack

        It’s not a vacation RV

  48. The Late P Brooks

    Random internet meme:

    To succeed at something, you must first be willing to suck at it.

    You can’t hit a home run if you don’t swing the bat.

    • Hyperion

      That’s not equity. Everyone must hit a homerun.

    • Suthenboy

      Yes Sir. Wisdom is acquired over time by fucking up.

      • Animal

        Then how come Mrs. Animal’s brothers aren’t the wisest men on the planet?

      • UnCivilServant

        Because the process also requires looking at what went wrong and learning from it.

      • Animal

        Well, that explains those two. Both in their fifties and still fucking up.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        Same reason why many lotto winners go bankrupt. Just because you acquire it doesn’t mean you have the sense to use it correctly.

    • Rat on a train

      You have to core/fork bomb a server to learn how not to do it.

      • Pope Jimbo

        Back in the day when I was doing Lotus Notes development, I told people, “until you are ready to cry, you haven’t begun to learn Notes”.

        What a frustrating development language (but oddly very powerful at some things).

  49. Lord Humungus

    I’ve been reading The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist : A True Story of Injustice in the American South which is co-authored by Radley Balko and Tucker Carrington.

    This concerns Mississippi misuse of two expert witnesses who were used in some 80% of the murder cases in the state for some 20 years.

    It’s good – so far – but Tucker Carrington tries to steal a logical base. ie – this criminal justice system of chosen expert witnesses was used against blacks since the post-Civil War years; so therefore this system is racist. And that idea is repeated two times in the author’s forward.

    It’s the same kind of the Constitution is racist argument because (some of) the founding fathers were slaveholders.

    I would say just because a system – be it criminal justice or Henry Ford’s assembly line – can be used for both good or bad, does not make it racist. It’s just a bad system that can be exploited for whatever reason or cause the – in this case – the prosecution wants.

    • leon

      Its either lazy thinking or wiful rhetorical sophistry. Something can be bad and not be related to racism. Likewise, something is not inherently bad because it was used by racists.

      Tools are tools, they do what their masters wield them to do. If you want to find evil or good, its in the heart of the wielder, not the tool.

  50. PieInTheSky

    So how many beers is appropriate on one’s birthday? It is kind of hot for wine or scotch sadly

    • Ghostpatzer

      One for each year?

      • PieInTheSky

        That is not a possibility if it ever was

      • Ghostpatzer

        Huh, I have been led to believe that Eastern Europeans have the ability to consume unlimited amounts of alcohol. Fake News?

        Also, Happy Birthday!

      • UnCivilServant

        If I read above in the thread correctly, he’s short of cash, so he can’t afford enough beers for that drinking.

      • PieInTheSky

        I can afor beer i aint broke or nothin

      • UnCivilServant

        I mean, four or five hundred of even cheap beer starts to cost real money.

      • slumbrew

        You’re thinking of Brits.

        (neighbor is an ex-pat – his mates started at the pub at noon for the Euro final, game was at 8pm. They were sinking 3 pints an hour the entire time.)

      • rhywun

        Jesus. That would put me in the hospital.

      • UnCivilServant

        The volume of liquid alone would cause be problems unless I was sweating my ass off.

      • slumbrew

        Same.

        These are 50 year old men, too.

      • PieInTheSky

        I have determined the maximum amount of beers a human can drink in a day is 12 because i cant do more than that so i don’t belive anyone else can

      • Tres Cool

        12? I call that “breakfast”.

      • Not Adahn

        Every 21 year old frat boy know it’s entirely possible.

      • Bobarian LMD

        While in school, the guys on the football team had ‘300 lb. Club’ shirts commemorating their bench-press achievement.

        Little Bille S. and I were motivated and created and entered the ‘300 Oz. Club’.

        Beer #s 24 and 25 were a little hard to get down, but we powered thru and got ourselves T-shirts made.

      • R C Dean

        3 12 oz Bud Lights an hour for 8 hours? Sure.

        3 16 oz British ales an hour for 8 hours is a completely different matter.

      • slumbrew

        These are modern Brits – they’re drinking light beers, albeit 16 oz pours.

      • slumbrew

        Happy birthday, BTW.

      • Sean

        ^^ This too.

        Happy Birthday Pie!!

        ???

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        la mulţi ani!

      • PieInTheSky

        Mulțumesc

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        ?? ?

    • Ownbestenemy

      Two..your first and your last.

    • Sean

      Just keep drinking until you fall asleep on the couch.

      • grrizzly

        This.

        And happy birthday!

    • Jarflax

      Sangria is an option…

      • PieInTheSky

        No no it isn’t

      • Tulip

        How about mojitos? Happy birthday

      • PieInTheSky

        Neah to sweet… thanks

      • slumbrew

        Rye Smash? Whiskey Sour? light on the simple.

        Or get some ginger beer, limes and vodka and make Moscow Mules.

      • PieInTheSky

        I went to the store to but dead pony club beer on account that it is just 3.6% but the fuckers were out.

  51. Animal

    I got my new flame thrower yesterday. Have to get a smaller propane tank that I can lug around, but I hooked it up to one of our big ones and it works just fine.

    This is going to be a great weekend.

    • slumbrew

      That’s not really a flame thrower, now is it? (but I do want one).

      You need this not a flamethrower.

      • kinnath

        I have mentioned that a few times.

        We used that during a class in the vineyard about 10 years ago.

        Delightful results.

      • Ghostpatzer

        * sees groundhog running through backyard, takes notes *

    • PieInTheSky

      but why?

  52. kinnath

    Three broken trees from Wednesday’s storm.

    My weekend will be busy cutting up the downed limbs.

    At least the forecast isn’t brutal.

    • Suthenboy

      Good grief we are still having trees fall from Laura. There is a lot of root damage and with all of the rain this year the soil is soft.

      • kinnath

        I have friends that lost every tree in their neighborhood in last year’s derecho.

        Having broken limbs in three trees after a night of tornado warnings is pretty much just nuisance territory.

        One tree (an ash tree with an 18 inch trunk) lost about half of its canopy due to a lightning strike. Another tree (a really nice maple) lost about a third of its canopy. The third tree is just a couple of broken branches.

        I have several dozen trees on the lot. So, this was actually pretty light damage.

      • Suthenboy

        I lose my pines to lightning (deep taproots) and oaks to wind (shallow, wide roots).

        I am glad the damage was light. A few limbs…at least you can get firewood out of it.

  53. Not Adahn

    Hmmm.

    Got an email from the CEO about “dispelling rumors.” Now I’m certain we planted that story. Don’t know why.

    • Suthenboy

      Rumors of…?

    • trshmnstr the terrible

      They’re talking behind the scenes, I’m sure. Probably informally at this point. One side decided that the other was dragging their feet and leaked the info to speed up the process.

      • R C Dean

        Competent companies don’t even have informal talks about multi-billion dollar deals with a negotiated non-disclosure agreement in place and identified (and firewalled) teams on each side, secure communications channels, etc.

        “People familiar with the matter” are either fictional, or (if this is real) soon to be fired. Or at least, they damn well should be fired.

        Or, these aren’t competent companies.

    • PieInTheSky

      so spam?

    • Timeloose

      It would also be a good way to hype and increase the valuation of a near future IPO.

      • Not Adahn

        That’s the best guess I can come up with. I’d imagine they’re wanting to go public as soon as they can before the “ZOMG! Microchip shortage!” fades from public consciousness.

      • PieInTheSky

        I blame the texas power grid for that

      • Timeloose

        Intel should have the ability to expand it’s foundry business model without gobbling up pure play foundries like GF. They can build a few new 300mm fabs and switch over the older ones to the foundry business.

        The engineering and manufacturing talent will be harder to scale, so maybe that is their intention.

      • PieInTheSky

        They can build a few new 300mm fabs – those aint cheap

      • Not Adahn

        You can probably build one for <$10giga, unless you want EUV tools. Then it'll be more.

      • PieInTheSky

        off course I’ll put that on my credit card

      • Timeloose

        Samsung is trying to catch TSMC in the so-called foundry business of making chips for the world’s corporations — a particularly pivotal capability given a deepening shortage of semiconductors in recent weeks.

      • PieInTheSky

        the problem with these shortages is they can stop and lead to surplus

      • Timeloose

        They are not cheap, but they are one of the few companies that have the means to build them. They will need to eventually re-tool for their bleeding edge technologies, at this point they could justify a new fab or convert an existing one. Converting an existing one won’t get them more capacity however.

      • Tulip

        But they can’t seem to get the latest (now not latest) size right. They’ve been struggling for years.

    • UnCivilServant

      None. numbers are an abstraction used to describe observed phenomena.

      How many values can our models support? more than the brain can actually comprehend.

    • PieInTheSky

      at least it keeps mathematicians busy and out of mischief

    • trshmnstr the terrible

      The short info graphic describing cohen’s filter seems to leave a lot to the reader’s intuition. I don’t see anything based on the infographic that proves when you descend the filter to infinity that you’re required to have a resulting window (or whatever it’s called).

  54. Tulip

    Related to the research above, more recent research has looked at men and women college freshmen in STEM. Women drop out earlier than men. So they asked students (planning on STEM majors) where they thought they ranked before first STEM class and midway through. Women, again, far more accurate.

    • Not Adahn

      Men have to be stupidly optimistic. Otherwise they’d never ask out women.

      • Timeloose

        Word!

    • leon

      Further evidence of Matriarchal oppression on Universities, the grading system refuses to take into account the mens truth

  55. Mojeaux

    @Swissy and/or Tonio, I just put in an article for approval/scheduling.

  56. Sean

    https://dailycaller.com/2021/07/16/border-patrol-agents-biden-administration-title-42/

    A senior official reportedly told Free Beacon that the administration is prepping for the policy’s termination by warning border agents to be ready for processing up to 1,200 family units each day. Former President Donald Trump implemented Title 42 to expel migrants from the country during the novel coronavirus pandemic.

    “All of these people will become permanent residents,” a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) official told Free Beacon. “There’s no political will from the Biden administration to deport families once they’re already admitted. The White House knows that. The end of Title 42 will result in de facto open borders.”

    JFC.

    They’re going all in at lightning speed.

    • leon

      It’s nice that presidents can pick and choose which laws to enforce

    • LJW

      They need to get as many voters as possible before 2022.

      • Mojeaux

        Hey! DEG, Mr. Mojeaux, and I (possibly Ozy) are meeting up at Bryants tomorrow night ~615ish for a Glib meetup.

        Also, @Libertesian, if you’re lurking.

    • Tres Cool

      And in a couple years the non-stop political ads before November will be “Recuerda quien te dejo en este pais !”

      • leon

        I’ve been assured that non citizens voting is not a thing.

      • Sean

        How’s that audit thing in AZ going?

      • blackjack

        If you think there was misconduct, it seems to proving that there was. If you think Biden is an angel from heaven, sent to save us from a bleak orange future, the whole thing was a sham and should be suppressed with prejudice.

    • rhywun

      I’m convinced the Dems see the writing on the wall and are ramming as much radical policy up the nation’s ass as they can get away with before next year and/or 2024. They certainly don’t see to be paying any attention to poll results.

  57. Penguin

    Some thoughts about numbers

    The Surreal number tree bears a resemblance to Moroccan architecture.

  58. Sean

    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-07-16/record-used-car-prices-can-t-keep-buyers-away?srnd=premium

    Even clunkers are worth more than ever. Used vehicles with 100,000 to 109,999 miles on the odometer fetched an average of $16,489 in June, up 31% from $12,626 last year, according to Edmunds. Pickup trucks are the most valuable in the over-100,000-mile (161,000-kilometer) fleet. A Chevrolet Silverado 1500 that had hit that mark sold for an average of $26,914 last month, up 49% from last year, while a Ford F-150 of similar vintage commanded an average of $25,924, a gain of 43% from a year ago.

    This is normal.

    “The bad news is I don’t think there’s really a lot of relief coming,” said LMC’s Schuster. “We’re so far from normal that these high used-car prices are projected to be with us certainly for the remainder of the year.”

    .Gov – “You ain’t seen nothing yet.”

    • B.P.

      Another hidden tax on the poor, brought to you by Cash for Clunkers. (and, I assume, COVID-related supply chain disruptions screwing up car manufacturing)

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        The used car market never fully recovered from C4C, but the insanity over the past few months is something more than just C4C. Something’s a’brewing.

      • Tundra

        $8 billion in new vehicles sitting waiting for parts. Drives the demand for used. Auction prices are absolutely insane.

      • blackjack

        Coupled with massive amounts of “free” cash being sent to people who otherwise would never have any where near that much. Every flaky bum I know has profited handsomely from the ‘vid. They look at all the money they have and buy stuff they used to could not afford. Extra demand, reduced supply. The demand is coming from people who know the money was free and they are less than careful spending it.