Do You Own It?

If you can't run it offline, you don't own a copy.

If the failure of someone else's computer takes it offline, you're renting it.

A good sized chunk of the nation got an object lesson in this today! 

Too Big An Ask

The woman suing Torchy's for $250k...

First off, finding that tooth is kinda proof that it's really beef.

Secondly you were not actually harmed.

You found something icky, true, but you weren't hurt.

Now, some stout fines are in order for both Torchy's and their meat supplier.

This sort of thing shouldn't make it into the customer's meal. 

Voting Not Voting

Got a text from a pollster asking whom I was voting for in Florida's 16th Congressional District.

Um...

Nobody.

Not because I am not voting, but because I don't live in the 16th. 

Maybe I Don't Need It

Facebook constantly suggests products I might want or need.

A repeat offender is 4Patriots.

They have a big battery with a solar panel they're selling.

"That'd be handy for hurricane season," I think. 

Do you know how much one costs?

It's not on the main page for the item.

They tell me why such a thing would be handy.  How much it can power and for how long.  How fast the solar panels can recharge it.

But no price.

To approach the price I have to "Start My Order".

Now I know that it's $1,500.

But I would have preferred not to click the order link to see the price. 

Menu

Dear Restaurant Chains;

I want to see what food you have on the menu without entering into the ordering section.

Especially since you lock the ordering section when you are closed most of the time.

Is it really so hard?

Local places manage to have their menus online, separate from the ordering system.

Thanks! 

Apparently

Because I have been paying the same mortgage for 24 years, I am, apparently, "bad with money."

To be good with money I was supposed to refinance every time I could and chase an ever lower interest rate.

I do know that because I was ACTUALLY very bad with my money 24 years ago that I couldn't have gotten a better rate than the 7.375% I've been paying until just about a year ago.

I prolly ain't really great with my money, but I'm not over extended.

We're paying what we owe to whom we owe as agreed.

We're not sweating maximizing at the margins.

Of course, we regard our house as a box we keep ourselves in rather than an investment vehicle, which is also "bad with your money."

On the whole, I'd rather be happy. 

Customer Appreciation Day

My favorite local brewery does a customer appreciation day over Labor Day weekend every year.

They grill burgers and hot dogs and give them out for free.

Something that stands out is how many new faces I see there.

The customers bring their extended families for free grub...

But they're not the worst.  You can make the case that they appreciate the family letting their customer come to the brewery.

The worst are the people, families in tow, who have never patronized the place. 

It ticks me off.

I like the owners of the brewery and I don't like seeing these people take advantage of them. 

My Way Right Away Is Too Hard Today

The Boy and Harvey swung through Burger King for supper Thursday.

I have only one request from a trip to the drive-thru.

Hold the ketchup.

My Whopper, with cheese, was supposed to only be sans ketchup. 

The Whopper I got was labeled "No Mayo, No Ketchup, Add Mustard." and it wasn't with cheese.

Our burgers got confused with someone else's order, our bag label had a different order number than the one on the burger boxes.

The burger I got was within my tolerance for a Whopper.

But someone else got cheese and mayo and no mustard...

Bet they were upset about that. 

This just underscores that fast food is paying too much for their employees. 

GURPS: Ring Of Fire

Looks like the estate of Eric Flint has decided to make an RPG supplement for the Ring of Fire series that began with 1632.

Cool.

But the launch on Backerkit keeps resetting.  I've watched the countdown clock get to zero several times.

Multiple times today!  I saw 20 minutes, 25 minutes, 5 hours and 9 hours; in that order.

That's not a countdown, that's a count up! 

Jun 10, 2026, 1041 update:  The countdown clock currently indicates a launch time of 1900 EDT today. 

Back In Stock In All Three Colors!

If you're following along on the Dissipator Dottie adventures and want to participate, PSA has the uppers (sans bolt-carrier-group and charging handle) for $219.99 in Black, OD and FDE.

I've been very pleased with mine so far.

 

Obstructive Facilitation

There's a ticket processor called EventBrite.

Nominally, they facilitate the purchase of a ticket for an event for small and local venues so that the small, local, venue doesn't have to deal with the headache themselves.

It's a win for everyone, in theory.

What's that line?

In theory, practice and theory are the same.  In practice they're not.

The first problem has been fee creep.  They, like TicketMaster, are asking for a larger and larger portion of the total price of the ticket.

Then their web page has become increasingly difficult to navigate.

This is to motivate you to download their app so they can better harvest your personal information to sell.

When every link to your tickets is interrupted with, "download the app!" and you never actually get to the ticket download...

Then, suddenly, it works fine.

I didn't do anything differently, it's like they give up and let it work like it's supposed to work after you do the loop a specific number of tries. 

Another Fee?

I've noticed "shipping protection" on several online orders lately.

I'm all fee'd up with them.

It, apparently, is extra insurance past the normal protection we've had since it was 6-8 weeks for shipping.

What has been a little hard to determine is exactly what it's insuring that wasn't covered already.

Porch pirates?

Dunno.

Just getting sick of a $5 charge on a $20 item in addition to taxes and shipping.

Food Truck Idea

The truck or the tow vehicle has to be a hearse.

The food will consist entirely of upper midwest casseroles normally made when someone dies.

Not sure what to call it yet. 

Worth It

The Beast has a 19 gallon gas tank.

Gas going up about 50 cents a gallon thanks to bombing Iran means that it will cost me $9.50 more for a full tank from empty.

WORTH IT!

Especially since I know it's going to be a short lived increase.

It's Already On The Gun

When I was dithering about buying a retro set of handguards for Dottie, I had put them in the cart then closed the window.

This triggered Brownell's to start sending me emails asking if I was still interested in the item.

Obviously, I was because...

I checked out, paid, waited for shipping, and installed them.

I'm still getting emails asking if I am still interested and to hurry because stock is getting low.

Glitch in their matrix. 

Shut Up Clippy

Amazon has rolled out an AI helper named "Rufus".

Rufus pops up in the way with helpful stuff like, "I see that you're looking at the thing you searched for, would you like help with that?"

Why, no, Rufus, I don't want help with looking at the thing I am looking at.

Rufus can be dismissed, but if you use the back button to navigate away, Rufus returns.

Rufus only stays the fuck gone if you use buttons on the Amazon site to navigate around.

This is exactly the same as a sales-drone hovering while you try to make a decision between brands suggesting the item in general.

Most of the charm of shopping online was not dealing with people.

Adding an AI shopping assistant is forcing me to deal with a fake person, with an additional down side of when I tell them to fuck off they don't even look hurt and cry.

Loophole Gunshow Attended

It has been a very long time since I've gone to a gun show in Tampa.

The Lovely Harvey expressed an interest and a buddy wanted to go too, so we went!

Meh.

Gun shows, at least in Tampa, are soulless things now.

The same guns at the same prices as you can get at any local gun shop.

For the most part, the same ammo at the same prices you can get at any local gun shop.

Not much for interesting stuff.

Buddy got to coon-finger a lot of stuff and since he's no longer living with a felon after his divorce, he can own a gun!

He's only fired a grand total of 100 rounds from Marv and my pistol collection.

Because long arms are easier and he's got some disabilities, I suggested a pistol caliber carbine over a shotgun, or an AR.

A 9mm S&W FPC seems to fit his needs in his new, tiny, home.

He needs to safe a couple weeks to get the scratch together and I've aimed him at Gunbroker for to get a sense of what things are worth. 

Missed My Chance

Darn.

The special commemorative Vietnam editions of the 1911, Vietnam Tribute to Valor and Vietnam War Golden Anniversary Tribute, are no longer available.

Because the web page is dead.

But fear not!

There's a new web page!

A different company.

And a new commemorative 1911...

Only making 500, ten for each of the 50 American states!

How much?  Sign up for their mailing list and they will, most assuredly, let you know!

Marketing Fail?

I'm on Atlantic Firearms email list.

They frequently send me links to items I might like.

They are never in stock.

Not even if I click the link the moment the email arrives.

To say that this makes it hard to make a purchase is a gross understatement.

On the plus side, it's sure easy to fight temptation this way. 

A Matter Of Tips

I just read that it's been 33 years since Dateline NBC tried to convince America that Estes rocket motors were OEM parts on 1973 to 1987 GM pickups.

I had something of a personal connection to this story.

Michael "Boom Boom" Gartner left NBC to come back to Iowa and run the Ames Tribune.

He'd order pizza from the place I worked as a delivery driver.

We'd fight over who had to take that order because he was a notoriously bad tipper.

As far as I know, I was the only driver who knew about his connection to Dateline NBC.

The other drivers just knew the tip would be bad and it'd happened enough they remembered the name and address.

We were very aware of the tips.

On the other hand there was a Mexican restaurant and a motel we fought to get the delivery.

Both were excellent sources of tips.  Interestingly, the motel was the one the dancers at a local strip club stayed at.  Strippers are EXCELLENT tippers.  They were also very casual about getting dressed when answering the door.