It'll Be On The Wane Before You Know It

Thought I'd already posted this when I went w/ "Another Waxing Crescent".

St. Nick on a Stick ('Tis the season!) so effing busy yesterday & today (Mostly dealing w/ bullshit, of course.) that I couldn't post anything beyond juvenile to adolescent anger & 'phone-'em-in insults directed at the King of Shit, not that anything here will be read or remembered.

What a world of idiocy; had to charge a new cheap-o printer at Target. The Hewlett-Packard brain trust has decided that a USB cable was simply too passé & the only way to shove the software into the printer's little plastic brain is Wi-Fi. 2.4G Wi-Fi. This involves going to the Spectrum site, where they are ready for this & have a button one may press which sets the WiFi to 2.4 for 30 mins. Also had to download something called HP Smart.

As we're for hard copies & hard-wiring here (No spurious emissions!) had to disconnect the ethernet & turn on the devil-box Wi-Fi. Didn't take much over an hr. Possibly because it took a while for genius here to conclude he'd have to activate the devil-box WiFi, & then to realize the ethernet had to be physically disconnected as well. Now let's see how much of a pain it is to return to hard-wiring, & to see if the printer will work w/ USB, as promised.

Have printed & copied, was going to scan something but there's no "scan" button. The included "manual" is a "Reference Guide", four pages each in three languages explaining what the buttons are. It did advise to turn on the devil-box Wi-Fi & disconnect the Ethernet cable when setting it up, but I didn't get to that part (Fine print.) and it wasn't mentioned at all in the setup videos I watched. Nothing about scanning in it, either.

Fuck me you bastards!! Have avoided establishing an HP account through the entire set-up process, but now:

Create an account to scan with your printer using HP Smart

Scan documents from any HP multifunction printer using the HP Smart app. HP Smart optimizes the image and allows you to quickly save or send.

I fucking surrender! To hell w/ the rent, going out to get a gun steal a car & make the sidewalks red w/ blood buy some heroin tomorrow!

Ah-Ha!!

I was right. Aircraft, what a concept! Now I sit & wait, 'though I had plans to leave the bunker.Again, wise up, Yankee Dabbler. Go w/ the cheaper rates, at least cross-country. To quote myself:

Additional confuzzlement: The ebay seller who went Ground Advantage charged $5.10 for shipping, but the USPS website claims the minimum GA charge is $7.20. The corporate entity, however, charged $15.97 for Priority Mail. I can't imagine the second package is more than a few oz. heavier than the first one. Stop dabbling & figure it out, Yankee Dabbler!!

Dazed & Confuzzled

Don't give us that Xmas bee ess, we all know what's going on when jazzbos are "waitin' for the man w/ the bag".

If both these shipments arrrived at the PHILADELPHIA PA DISTRIBUTION CENTER on the same date, why will one allegedly arrive two days later, USPS?Especially confuzzling as 17318 was sent Ground Advantage, which promises 2-5 day delivery & apparently replaces First Class Mail, & arrived at the RDC nine hrs. later than 90256, which went Priority Mail, a 2-3 day promise. Which means that even counting only business days, it should be here by Weds., not Thurs.

Going to continue w/ the asumption that at least the Ground Advantage one will still be placed on a 'plane, as I hoped earlier. Patience being a virtue, we'll see what promises are made tomorrow. All I'm saying is the Priority Mail item better be on the same 'plane to the LOS ANGELES CA DISTRIBUTION CENTER as the other one.

Additional confuzzlement: The ebay seller who went Ground Advantage charged $5.10 for shipping, but the USPS website claims the minimum GA charge is $7.20. The corporate entity, however, charged $15.97 for Priority Mail. I can't imagine the second package is more than a few oz. heavier than the first one. Stop dabbling & figure it out, Yankee Dabbler!!

Moon Pie

Saturday Sage Burning Friday Freak Out

Heard this excellent number leading to a commercial break during the Fox Sports broadcast of the Arizona-Arizona State football game.No idea what that means (Probably nothing.) but there it was.

Minutes later: Wait, it's still Friday for an hr. or so in this time zone. Holidays are stupefying.

Ungrateful Sky

Ten Yrs.

This reporter hasn't had any booze since Thanksgiving 2015, ten yrs. ago today. Not a big deal, as I wasn't boozing much at the time, having tapered off considerably from my yout'.Never got behind (or under) any wheels when plowed good. Don't miss it a bit, either. On the other hand, I had enough "points" for a US$40.00 discount on a $43.00 bag of boo.

Xmas Is Over!

Meaning I finished all my shopping yesterday, w/ a month to go. Were Santa to stuff my stocking w/ another 100 or so bones worth of plastic Chinese crap I would have every possible structure I could want for (or that will fit on) the layout, 'cept for a larger quonset hut for Camp Swampy.Scam alert? Good price (MSRP is US$114.99) cheap shipping, but from "United States WAREHOUSE Brazil?" And no returns? Uh, no. Not to mention "import fees." Image at left is the item, but not the one from Brazil; note it's $19.85 shipping in the contiguous 48. Anyway, I got one for US$79.99, plus $5.10 shipping & $7.80 Calif. tax, which I'm happy & proud to pay. And the seller's in Jersey, sending it USPS; even at the cheapest rate the Postal Sevice is likely to put something from the wrong coast in a 'plane & have it here in civilization ASAP, as opposed to UPS & FedEx, which mean it when they call it ground service. Hey, it's almost amusing to track one's package across the country for days & days.

Moon Over McDonald's Monday

Can't escape the oppression of the arches.

Character Building In America

Th' fuck's w/ coach's hair? Or is it not hair, but the world's worst rug?

Sat. Sizzler Shots

"Moonlight On Vermont"

Meet The New Plague

Looks like an artist's impression. Search "H5N5 virus images" for other interpretations.

Died. Didn't just contract a new-to-humanoids strain; died.

CNN:
Washington resident dies of complications from bird flu strain never before reported in humans  —  A Washington resident died of complications from an infection with a bird flu strain never before reported in humans, the state Department of Health said on Friday.
Grace Abels / PolitiFact:   This year, Thanksgiving turkeys might need a prayer, not a pardon, as bird flu cases rise. …
CBS News:   Washington state resident dies after contracting a bird flu strain never before detected in humans, officials say

I understand there's a celestial object w/ our name on it if this plague doesn't get the job done.

Fatiguing Friday Photograph

Tedious Thursday Turkey III

As much for the alliteration as any other reason.

Tired Thursday Turkey II

The Clouds Above, The Palms Below

Eff Microsoft & whatever service they use to provide weather information. Rain was forecast for 1000, then 1100, now it's 1347 & still no rain!

Also screw Gates & Microsoft for managing to screw up the slideshow. It went downhill in Windows 10, & Windows 11 is fucking worse, not better. How is it possible for everything not only to suck, but continuously to suck even more? Just how many sub-human cretins passing as humanoids must be killed to stop the sucking? And why is it the only answer is always mass killing? Are there perhaps too many of you, all of whom are cretinous beyond human comprehension? I'm looking for solutions here people, &, as always, none of you are the slightest damn help.

Between Storms

Six Yrs. On

Six yrs. ago today the Rail Chief starter set arrived. A few days ago I finished the baseboard, & as I already had the track plan I figured I could nail it all down & start testing electric flow & derailments.

There are two phrases one hears often in model railroading. "It's your railroad, do what you want" (Who's going to stop anyone? The NMRA Police?) & "A model railroad is never finished." While the concept for this one is done, it can't get any bigger, & there's little space for more plastic crap from China, it won't actually be finished for some effin' time, as demonstrated by it taking Sunday, Monday, Tues. & part of Wednes. to get the track as intended & functional in relation to buildings & the like. Then I could start painting the track & painting & cutting cork for roadbed. Won't list everything else there is to do, but I have a reefer car & four buildings to build paint & cement together, & one building & two oil loading platforms to buy & assemble. Also, much of the rolling stock needs better wheels & couplers.

One good thing: W/ the changes & adjustments it turns out I have a turnout that works in a spot where I thought I'd need to blow US$30+ on a curved one from England. No idea what sort of tariffs are being idiotically imposed on goods from Britain above the list price.

I will need to buy a couple of turnouts for the Army camp that's going to be in the northwest section, & the nuclear power or poison gas plant needs plenty of work. (Piping & such. And, radiation trefoils or poison gas skulls & crossbones?)

Untitled (Globs)

I auto-corrected again & again, but I'm still not sure this is correct.

Untitled