Bullet Points:
** (Financial Times) “China’s tech giants have doubled capital spending this year as they splurge on artificial intelligence infrastructure, despite US sanctions designed to limit the country’s progress in the crucial technology. Alibaba, Tencent, and Baidu combined capital expenditures of Rmb50 billion ($7 billion) in the first half, compared with Rmb23 billion a year earlier. The groups said the focus was on buying processors and infrastructure to power the training of large language models for AI, both their own and those of others. TikTok parent ByteDance has also increased AI-related spending, backed by a cash pile of more than $50 billion, with the benefit of being privately held and relatively free of investor scrutiny, according to two people familiar with the matter.”
** Break Out Another Thousand (with EdB) https://www.facebook.com/share/r/KqfS1WnTo9Mmw1FQ/
** Pro Tip – When your wife asks you to take her to one of those nice places where the chef makes the food in front of you, take her to Subway. If she prefers a more international feel, there’s always Chipoltle. She’ll thank you.
** Crippled Secret Service Agents are Woke Agents – The watchdog group Judicial Watch has obtained 311 pages of US Secret Service (USSS) records revealing the agency’s heavy focus on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). The records state that the Secret Service requires DEI to be demonstrated by all employees through “Every Action, Every Day.” The documents show that the Secret Service, part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), mandates that 12% of its workforce comprise “persons with disabilities.” The Secret Service also promotes equal employment opportunities without regard to non-merit factors such as disability.
** Guys, understand that there are places you can’t go — even to win the game show. https://www.facebook.com/share/r/w1j3kmZMZ1ePsmpf/
** (CDR SAL) The Navy will reportedly sideline 17 vessels due to a manpower shortage that makes it difficult to properly crew and operate ships across the fleet. The ships include two replenishment ships, one fleet oiler, a dozen Spearhead-class Expeditionary Fast Transports, and two forward-deployed Navy expeditionary sea bases – the USS Lewis Puller, based in Bahrain, and the USS Herschel “Woody” Williams, based in Souda Bay, Greece. The effort is known as the “great reset” and is awaiting approval from Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti. The change will reduce the demand for Navy officers by 700 mariners.
Somebody in the Navy should ask themselves why they’re having recruitment and retention problems, but (as with Don Quixote) the mirror is a terrible foe. I expect the great depletion reset will continue, as we can only produce a handful of warships per year without the capacity to replace losses due to age. Never fear; the Zumwalt class is being retained in the fleet. At least we can sail those white elephants into harm’s way. Those new officers the Navy is commissioning are said to be far more woke than the old dinosaurs that built the Navy. One woke DEI hire is worth ten straight white men.
** Food Review – Lake Elsinore, CA – My daughter recommended this place when I had a business meeting in the area. https://www.facebook.com/share/r/siiwgiyNVYbrfQ1w/ – We met there, and fortunately for me, the other guy paid.
** If you’re ever feeling useless, remember that it took the USA four presidents, twenty years, trillions of dollars, the might of the American and allied armed forces, and many thousands of lives to replace the Taliban – with the Taliban.
Identify the Armor
> DHS mandates that 12% of its workforce comprise “persons with disabilities.”
—
If “stupid” counts as an official disability then the joke writes itself. ‘Nuff said.
I think that stupid is a bonus with DHS, as is weight. Why hire a fit 170-lb white man when you can employ a 280-lb crippled POC for the same money?
Launica Restaurant- Who knew you could “elevate” Mexican food to that degree…and we all know chef elevated food is “in the plating”….with prices to match. Now I won’t be able to look at my favorite spot the same again; big plates, beans, rice, and a monster burrito, all for $15.
—-
(Ps. Had no trouble reading the blog, have my handy dandy ‘wonky blog’ decoder ring…worked like a champ.)
Yes, I f-ed with it and got everything but graphics to work. Tomorrow’s blog was pre-done and has graphics. Unless I can get the programming sorted out, it’s text at best after that. I have hired people to get the programming sorted out, so we’ll see.
*
The lobster tacos were quite good.
Shrimp tacos elevated, what else is there…heh.
Identify the Armor:
No pictures showing on either Firefox or Chrome. Methinks further tweaking necessary.
I can’t get any graphics to load at my end – but tomorrow there will be graphics because I patched an old post I worked on before the big crash.
There was an interesting discussion on those 17 ships yesterday at Bunkerville with some pretty informed comments.
https://bunkerville.wordpress.com/2024/08/27/another-buttigieg-failure-merchant-marine-manpower-deficit-sidelines-17-support-ships-for-wartime/
No Navy expert here. What I read was many of these ships being mothballed had a mixed crew of civilian and Navy personnel; that the civilians no longer want to work on these ships due to bad working conditions and worse pay.
“She’ll thank you” pairs nicely with a side order of “Guys, understand that there are places you can’t go” if you know what’s good for you.
—
Certainly not true of all of them, including my Mrs., who prefers Jimmie John’s to Subway, but we all know the type.
Luckily the better half actually likes both Subway and Chipotle. Only Subway is found locally.
When women are on diets, they turn into leaf eaters, meaning the salad bowl at Subway is substantially the same as a salad at a place with a white tablecloth and candelabra.
“Happy, Doc, Grumpy, Dopey, Bashful, Sleepy, and Sneezy” – You really have to commend the “not going there” boys and give them high marks…considering the setting they had excellent situational awareness to avoid the man-eater trap. Gotta be on your toes at all times these days.
Women are sly, cunning, and bear considerable watching.
Proverbs says as much…must be a reason….yet we enter the fray regardless because when it’s good, it’s good.
The Gambler’s advice (Kenny Rogers song) applies to women as well as cards:
“If you’re gonna play the game, boy
You gotta learn to play it right
You’ve got to know when to hold ’em
Know when to fold ’em
Know when to walk away
And know when to run.”
—
I should have run after Swedish Girl did her thing. But we worked in the same office and I figured to tough it out. Highly suboptimal decision. I wish someone had slapped me upside the head and growled “Walk. The. Fuck. Away, boy. Just walk away.” If someone had done that (and if I’d have had the sense to take the advice), it’d have spared the both of us a LOT of pain and trouble.
—
Life is not a Hallmark movie with second-to-last-act tearful reconciliations followed by the last act of happily ever after. And the sunk cost fallacy applies to relationships too. Probably especially to relationships.
Yeah, Hallmark…”What are you doing here?” (don’t ask me how I know) — Life is real, movies are not, especially the Pollyanna versions. (Juss sayin’ it out loud to assist my fellow man in the slim chance some do not already know this.)
Tell me you guys aren’t watching the Hallmark Channel?
@Klaus: watching the Hallmark Channel is how people GET goofy, unrealistic ideas about romance and true luuuurve.
Beautiful, accomplished, highly successful Manhattan publishing executive Rachael Von Hellonwhielz must travel to her picturesque but totally Hicksville hometown of Elk Butt, Montana after her widowed mother Greta takes ill. Rachael learns that a handsome neighbor man, Tristan, has been taking care of Greta for three years now, by shoveling snow, mowing her lawn, and taking her grocery shopping when it’s too icy for Greta to drive.
—
Although she has been “too busy” to look in on Greta apart from the monthly rushed phone call, Rachael finds herself resentful of Tristan’s role in her mother’s life. She learns that Tristan runs an eclectic used bookstore in what passes for downtown in Elk Butt. The store is not prospering because Tristan keeps odd hours. The resentment becomes hatred (or so she THINKS #foreshadowing) when Greta lets it slip that Tristan has a doctorate in Anglo-Saxon from Dartmouth, and that he graduated summa cum laude in Chinese literature from Harvard undergrad. Rachael was waitlisted at Harvard and eventually attended the University of Colorado (Go Buffs!) followed by an MBA from Wharton.
—
Everything Tristan does infuriates Rachael. He has no ambition! She runs a $24 million (gross) publishing empire, and he cuts lumber as a sideline to keep his money-losing bookstore open. He knows more about Greta’s likes and dislikes, her childhood, her regrets and unrealized dreams than Rachael knew even existed.
—
Greta is not getting better but refuses to move to assisted care in Missoula, much less move to New York. Rachael is at her wit’s end. Then Greta has a stroke that does not impair her cognitively, but leaves her wheelchair bound. She still refuses to leave. Tristan, who turns out to be be an excellent carpenter, builds a ramp for Greta from sustainably harvested local hardwoods. As all this is happening, Rachael’s ambitious and devious assistant Rodney stages a palace coup and ousts Rachael from her own company. Greta takes a turn for the worse. Rachael feels trapped and without options. Devious Rodney has stolen her professional life’s work, and saddled her personally with $5 million in debt. Rachael will be wiped out even if she sells her Upper West Side townhouse. She feels guilty for having neglected her mother for nearly two decades. And that damned Tristan is there every night with home made cookies, or fresh scones and wild honey he personally harvested. It’s all too much for a Manhattan girl!!!
—
Rachael conceals Rodney’s treachery from Greta, so as not to worry her. But she gets crabbier and shorter tempered by the day. She and Greta have a screaming fight. Tristan hears them from next door, heads over, and is nearly knocked down by a furious, weeping Rachael as she storms out of the house. It starts raining cats and dogs as Rachael drives off in her rented Jeep Cherokee. Tristan and Greta talk. She reveals that she overheard Rachael on the phone and she knows about Rachael’s plight, but doesn’t know how to help without wounding Rachael’s pride. Poor Rachael. She seemingly had everything except a lasting relationship with a good man. And now the money and the business are gone!
—
Hours pass. Night falls. Past midnight and still no Rachael. In her head-down, teary rush out of the house, she forgot her phone. Greta is now very worried. Tristan heads out into the rain to find her. Sure enough, thirty miles down the road at Deadman’s Bend he sees skid marks and a damaged guard rail. Rachael went off the road! Tristan clambers down into the gulch. There’s the Jeep! Rachel is alive but has broken her tibia (closed fracture) and cannot walk. There is no cell coverage. Tristan has to carry her out piggy back.
—
Doc Jenkins at Elk Butt Clinic treats Rachael’s leg. Under the influence of the Vicodin for the leg pain, Rachael pours her wounded heart out to Tristan. He assures her everything will turn out right. “How can you SAY that?” cries Rachael. “I’ve been terrible to my poor mother, and I’m sure she hates me. And I can’t blame her! Rodney has stolen my business, my good name, my IDENTITY! And I’m going to have to sell the townhouse! Where will I go?”
—
Tristan comforts her as Doc Jenkins looks on with a benign smile. “Rachael, I was keeping it a secret, but I’ve translated Beowulf into Mandarin, and written a screenplay for a retelling of the epic but set in Han Dynasty China. How about we start a media company and sell it to the Chinese?” Rachael sniffles, then looks deeply into Tristan’s blue, blue eyes. “You’d do that for me?” Tristan smiles warmly. “Of course I would. I fell in love with you before I even met you, from Greta’s stories about you.”
—
They sell the screenplay but retain significant residual rights. The movie is a huge success in China and they are able to clear Rachael’s debt. She has enough left to take back her company. But she decides to become a bookstore owner’s wife in Elk Butt.
—
In the credits there is a cut-scene showing that Greta was healed from the residual effects of her stroke by Traditional Chinese Medicine in Heilongjiang province while attending the premiere in Harbin with Rachael and Tristan. A second cut-scene shows Rachael, Tristan, and Greta hiking with two lovely toddlers who have Rachael’s luminous chestnut hair and Tristan’s blue, blue eyes.
—
The End 🥰
—
So what makes you think I watch Hallmark Movies, eh? Them’s fighting words!
Hahahahahahaha…that was epic! Perfectly scripted…altho I would add that Tristan wears skinny jeans and Thursday’s Boot Chukka’s, is buff, has a 3-day neat scruff, but his t-shirts are a lousy color and two sizes too small that further infuriates Rachael yet intrigues her as he flexes his biceps. Also, you gotta have the Rotten Rodney show up in Elk Butt in his too small suit with short pants wearing tassel loafers and always on his phone texting…thus surprising her to say “What are YOU doing here?”
—
Another epic Mike_C short, might even the best one yet. I’m calling Hallmark tomorrow, they need to pick this up so you can retire to Sweden (or some such place).
Klaus…you haven’t lived until you have…(heh)
Ps. Mike_C…and Elk Butt may be a 1-streeter, but it does have an incredible bakery/coffee shop that also does hot chocolate beverages and is filled with patrons all day everyday…except for church on Sunday’s. The shop owner always seems to be delivering her special pastries, muffins, and cakes to the one hotel/B&B.
The bakery-cafe is a must. I think that’s how Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney met in that wedding movie. Thank you. You get a co-writing credit. Whether you want it or not!
I’m on the Amtrak, have three manuscripts to (peer) review, and one of my own to submit. But clearly I’m avoiding work. Now the best part is: diagonally behind me a pretty brunette girl is babbling on about a novel she is planning to write. Featuring herself as a grumpy old woman, but whose life is reflected in flashbacks revealing her tragic life as a young lesbian “at an elite women’s college in the 1930’s.” Her love is forced to marry a man (ick) then dies of … probably cancer. (It’s not worked out yet.) “Anyway, that’s when I turn dark.” The seatmate is another chick, but clearly wants into novelist-girl’s pants. “Uh huh. Yes! Uh huh. Now THAT’s very interesting!” Ahahaha!
—
Novelist girl was on about Dante, her semester at Oxford, youth unemployment in medieval Italy, and I think Herodotus. I hope the seatmate gets her into the sack, and the sex is mindblowing, because she’s really earning it listening to this rich co-ed’s stream of consciousness with a straight face.
No Sweden, thanks. For, oh, no reason at all.
So a couple months after the Swedish Girl debacle I decided to pick up a used AWD wagon. Went to the Subaru dealer. There was a metallic gold Volvo XC among the used cars, no price. “Hey, how much for the Volvo?” Salesman says, “That’s not for sale. We just took it in as a trade.” Great, another blonde thing from Sweden I can’t get into. “Pardon me?” Oh. Did I say something out loud? I was just thinking “story of my life.” The salesman looked at me very oddly indeed.
The looks on their faces….
Priceless…BUT…also a ProTip for the yungins’
Congratulations to Admiral Franchetti. Lost 17 ships as CNO without engaging in a single battle. Extra kudos for making flag rank while having less sea time than I had in only two tours (almost 1/3 being nuclear power school and C school). Trump should reward the USSS for their DEI efforts by putting all the elite (read that as handicapped) agents on Biden, Clinton, and Obama’s details. And cut off their kids and fauci too.
“I’ve pissed more salt water than you’ve sailed over” would not be part of your path to promotion in the new socially homo/DEI/African Liberation Theology/ American Navy. Never having gone to sea, you could devote more time to studying Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI) inclusivity training programs, which would prepare you to lead the fleet.
More Navy. This line stood out to me: “…and the USS George Washington will remain in San Diego until the crew and equipment swap from USS Ronald Reagan is complete”. Cross-decking on steroids?
https://voxday.net/2024/08/28/no-carriers-in-the-pacific/
——
Subway. There was a time when I liked to eat there. Then one day they moved the condiments to the other end, adding them last. When they closed the sandwich, the mayo and mustard just mushed out onto the paper. Haven’t been back since.
—-
Elevated eggs in Ft. Bragg, CA (unless they’ve decided to scrap that name too). Eggheads restaurant. Pricey, but very tasty. Admittedly haven’t been there since our kids were in grade school.
I haven’t eaten at a Subway in at least ten years. That’s not how I roll.
Jules is engaging in village life. https://www.julessmith.co.uk/blog/village-art-and-horticultural-high-jinks/
Interesting. I send an online “Midweek Update” to the Missions, a parochial newsletter with “bullet points.”
It’s good to see your virtual ministry growing.
I went to Subway, once.
I rode on subways, which are called underground or tubes in some places. It was not great, but more satisfying than the sandwich.
How about Quizno’s? Liked their sandwiches. Then there’s Jersey Mike’s, newish one in Laramie…yup…pretty darn spot-on for a Philly level cheese steak or Italian hoagie…fresh sliced meats and cheeses from the deli cabinet. Get the Giant and have 2 meals, or three.
I like both Quizno’s and Jersey Mike’s