Paper_jam

Also a good transporter chief.

A few days ago the Comptroller raised the revenue estimate by $7.4 billion. I'm not sure if that's just for the next year, or the full biennium, but either way it's a tidy sum that could be used for any number of good and necessary causes. In any case, is the Lege going to do anything in the special session(s) to put that money to use for the betterment of all Texans (hah) or are they just going to use it as a pretext for tax cuts for fat cats and favored industries in the next session?

I wonder if my homebuilder ever worked in Florida. When I complained about cracks in my newly-poured slab, "Concrete cracks, it's just what happens."

A six pack of Cokes (if I could find it) would last me at least a week, and a roll of paper towels probably two. I don't need big quantities of stuff.

I'm starting to get pissed off at these showers that rain hard for 20 seconds and then stop. In this whole thing I haven't had enough rain to even fully wet down the driveway, much less the yard. And now it looks like the system is petering out.

For most of my life, the "standard" form factor for buying soft drinks was the six-pack of 12 oz. aluminum cans. When I go to the store, any store, to buy Cokes or whatever, that is what I want. But in recent years it has become fucking impossible to find six-packs of 12 oz. cans and it's making me crazy. I don't want a fucking 12 pack, it;s heavy and takes up extra space. I don't want an 8 pack. See also: toilet paper (I like the 4 pack, now very rarely stocked), paper towels (one roll at a time, please). Why do these companies force us to buy ever-increasing bulk quantities of shit? Who has enough storage space?

With many people still working from home, why is traffic still an unholy shitshow? (Austin).

At my NE ATX hovel, last night was all show and no go. Didn't even fully wet the sidewalk. I am disappoint.

If so many companies are constantly watching me and listening to me, why are they still doing such a shitty job of actually producing and stocking products that I want, or supporting features that I want? I swear HEB has some floor manager dedicated to fucking with me personally, discontinuing all my favorite grocery items. (Why did you quit stocking Marie Callender fish filet dinners, and the Chicken Fried Steak dinners?!) And most products/appliances/cars etc. on the market have a bunch of useless annoying techy shit that is just going to break, while not supporting/providing the important stuff like basic build quality or basic design necessary to make the product actually usable for its intended purpose. If any corporations want to know what I'm thinking, I'm happy to tell them. Here's a few things I'll toss out for free: Put fucking analog L/R RCA output connectors back on all TVs and AV devices. Stop with the bullshit "upgrades" like 8K that nobody needs and won't be supported with content for ages anyway. What we do need is TVs with good build quality and long-lasting internal components, preferably made somewhere that is not China, which are carefully tested before release so you don't need a software update for a fucking TV once a month. Oh, washers and dryers? Rip out all the electronic shit and let me manually turn a knob so I can choose my own water level, temperature and shit. And Ford Motor Company: stop putting mommy-minivan-grade tires as standard equipment on the base Mustang GT. Car and Driver got 0.83 lateral g on those tires, a fucking Kia Sedona can probably corner better than that. Jesus christ what's the point of all this spying on us if everything they sell is going to be shit anyway...

That 9.2 sec 1/4 mile is insane for a street-legal production car. Is that on original, street-legal tires?

I wouldn't be surprised if some hack from the Lege or the Governor's office tries to tank her admission to UT.

I can't imagine that anyone with integrity or character would even accept an endorsement from Trump. An infamous liar and demagogue, twice impeached, who urged on a mob to subvert the U.S. Constitution and the democratic process. A man with no humility, compassion, or even loyalty to anyone besides himself. If you separated Trump from his wealth and power, and he had to be judged solely on his character, would anyone even want to be his friend?

Fucking toothbrushes. I'm trying to find a basic, but quality, toothbrush just like you used to be able to get from Oral B (or possibly Reach) in the 1970s-1990s. I don't want it to look like an athletic shoe. I don't want a big chonky rubber-coated handle that won't fit in a traditional toothbrush holder. I don't want exotic color-changing bristles made out of carbon fiber or organic spider silk. I do want to be able to pick the size of the head as they all seem to be giant or tiny without enough specific sizes. Why do manufacturers take devices that have already been perfected and fuck them up in ways nobody asked for?

I backed my car out of the garage for 10 minutes just for this purpose.

Time for a general strike. And stop paying any fees or taxes to a corrupt state. "No taxation without representation"-- if we don't have real elections, we don't have real representation.

If this had been a crowd of BLM supporters, or Greenpeace, or even the League of Women Voters, the Republicans would be jumping up and down screaming for congressional hearings.

Guess I should have taken macro instead of micro. If we get a sustained run of inflation I'm double-fucked, as my income is unlikely to ever rise for reasons I can only discuss in CR.

Maybe you should get tested, you might have the real thing.

Ugh, I quoted/replied to the wrong post. ... sorry

Rant about light pollution: Even on clear nights, I can only see the brightest meteors basically directly overhead. Doesn't help that my neighbors always have outdoor lights blasting (front and back yards) all night. And who made the decision that neighborhoods need streetlights glaring every 100 feet, or that gas stations need to be brighter than a supernova? People think it's "safer" to have everything lit up like it's goddamn daytime; shit, that just lets the crooks see better.

It's really enraging (at least to me) that we've lost control of our phone system. I don't understand why we can't implement security protocols and features to prevent spoofing and make Caller ID actually work as it was intended. I have Nomorobo, but I still get tons of calls from "Paul at US Home Solar" or "We have a special offer for AT&T Customers" or whatever that spoof local numbers and get through the system.

When the Manor Expressway (toll portion of 290E) was being built, a contractor working from an outdated set of plans built a bunch of enormous support columns to the wrong height. Version control is a bitch sometimes.

Oh god, my brain must be turning to mush. I saw articles about the sprint race quali format and assumed it was in place for this week's race. Thanks for clearing that up.

I'm pretty confused--was there/is there qualifying today (Friday) for the sprint race tomorrow? Can find nothing about TV time/channel coverage for the qualifying that happened (?) today. I see some Practice stuff for Friday, but are they calling today's qualis part of the "practice" sessions?