Yeah--- another one of these

8/3/26:

There are things that can be done around the house, so there's that.

One thing comes to mind today: If you get stuck in a rut, try something different.

Sermon/off

8/1/26:

Right after I wrote that I was getting the hang of it, I encountered a problem with this new version of the Construction Simulator.

The reason that I got stuck was so simple that it just blows my mind. I think that they may lose customers because of things like this.

The thing that I got stuck on was how to enter a building. This seems like it should be simple, and it is. But there's a little twist. In this version, you player can get out of a vehicle and walk around. All it takes to get in and out is to press a button. You'd think that it took only that in order to enter a building too, but no. You have to press the button for several seconds, and then you can enter the building. So simple, but it was enough for me to get stuck on it for a significant period of time. There are no hints to solve that problem. It seems that you have to figure it out for yourself. Same thing with the older version of the simulator. Just because it is a new version, that doesn't mean that there aren't little things like this that can trip you up.

Maybe I ought to have better things to do than this, but that's all there is.

7/26/26:

The more things change, the more they stay the same. It's been awhle since I fired up the old Xbox (bought in 2020). The Truck Driver simulator is missing, but the Construction Simulator is still there. But I've run that through so many times that it is a bore, so I actually bought a newer version of it.

It seemed to be bewildering at first, but that's how the other version was too. So I stuck with it for awhile and got the hang of it. It may turn out to be easier to use than the old version. One thing is certain already. It isn't the same game.

4/20/21:

For those who are wondering why I waste time on this, well the answer is that nothing else out there is interesting enough for me. So why not do this?

Look, we've beaten the absolute hell out of the conservative issues. People won't listen. I don't know about anybody else, but beating my head against a wall doesn't interest me. If they won't listen, then I am going elsewhere.

No, I'm not giving up. But when I find something that I want to comment upon, then I'll do it. But I won't join the "woe is me" crowd. Sure, things are bad. But when people get in the mood to listen, you may have better luck than right now.

This video is a continuation of what I posted yesterday. I wasn't satisfied with what I did. Maybe this will explain the issue with the Construction Simulator 3 on Xbox.

Starship recovery in the Indian Ocean

It's been over a week since the launch of Flight 13, and the Starship has not sunk. Evidently, there will be an attempt to tow it back to Australia. Here's a fellow that I've embedded a video on previously with respect to the Iran situation in the Strait of Hormuz awhile back. He's discussing what it may take to get it back to land in one piece. Not necessarily a piece of cake, I take it.

Starship 12 failure analysis

8/2/26:

How did my "analysis" go? I didn't check the official report, so I won't comment there. Flight 13 did happen shortly afterward. There's still some engine problems, though. The re-light problem is for the real steely eyed rocket men. Not in my pay grade, which is zero anyhoo.

6/12/26:

Not claiming to be a steely-eyed rocket man here. However, I can always give my two-cents as to what happened that caused the failure of the booster to perform as intended on flight 12.

In my opinion, the whole problem boils down to timing. The rocket engines in the second stage have to light up just at the right time. These same rocket engines have to be gimbaled so that the engines are pointed at exactly the right angle at the same time. These same rocket engines have to hit the top of the booster at exactly the right place. All of this is a complicated maneuver that depends upon exactly correct timing. If anything happens at the wrong time or wrong place, the whole process will fail. I think that is exactly what happened.

It's not an engine problem, in other words.

It is probably easily corrected, in other words. We should see flight 13 within a few weeks.

Jun 10, 2026:

This video is from Alpha Tech. (Update: WTF??? How did WAI get in embedded in there?? Was that a mistake?! Something odd here...) It is probably a bit too long, or I'm too impatient. Take your pick!

In my opinion (which nobody asked for), I think it is obvious even to a non-steely-eyed rocket man that it couldn't have been SpaceX's intent to have its Starship's plume hit the grid fin of the booster! Therefore, the booster was out of its expected position.

If the booster is out of position, then obviously something went wrong with the hot staging. Everything else follows from this important fact.

You don't need a twenty plus minute video to explain that.

I don't want to be too critical ( even though I am anyway ), it is mostly an informative video.

Interesting Post

7/31/26:

You really have to be enthusiastic about what you're doing in order to produce a thousand words a day.

I can tell you this, I am not very enthused by what's been going on lately.

Posts like this are just filler material in order to keep the blog going.

You have to cast about for something to get excited about.

Well, in that case, there's always Football!

Are you ready?

1/5/11: The original post follows below:

From Ace of Spades HQ.

I wonder what kind of people would read a blog like this.  The "mind" class or the "hand" class.  Is there enough intellectual heft to make it to the mind class, or it is definitely stuck in the hand class?  I know one thing:  to produce enough stuff for this blog takes up plenty of mental energy.  Plenty of my mental energy that is.

I've thought about that.  If you were to produce a thousand words a day, somebody could read that in a few minutes.  Then what?  There's nothing else to hold anyone here.  But to produce that takes a lot more energy than to read it.  And time.

This isn't an easy enterprise.  Not a complaint, just an observation.

Who does this look like?

7/29/26:

It's an old Ace of Spades post. The answer is that it was the anniversary of the Planet of the Apes movies. Can't place the person behind the makeup. This post seemed to get a lot of clicks. Why? A possible answer in the Ace of Spades post? If you "ax" me, there does seem to be a bit of monkey-business going on.

Update a bit later: As long as I'm mentioning theaters in Houston, I watched the Planet of the Apes at Garden Oaks, which still stands in the "Heights" region of Houston, perhaps a few miles away. (But maybe not for much longer) I dug a little deeper on the Yale theater. It was torn down in mid-sixties, which may explain why I don't recall going there during that time. By the time the Planet of the Apes movies started coming out, it was the late sixties. Garden Oaks wasn't necessarily larger, newer, nor better; but it stayed open longer. Note: It wasn't a theater when it finally closed. It might've been a church.

6/3/18: The original post follows below:

Somebody in the news lately?

source

Never underestimate the power of stupid

7/28/26:

This looks like the post in which I used the phrase in the title. It is being mentioned in connection with a Youtube channel that I've been visiting lately called "Mindplicit".

What is Mindplicit? It appears to be some sort of self-development channel. If this context, perhaps you'd like to avoid being dumb. There does appear to be the case where people do what another one of those expressions that I like to refer to from time-to-time: DON'T CHECK YOUR MIND IN AT THE DOOR.

The following video seems to combine these two ideas 1) don't underestimate the power of stupid, and don't be stupid yourself by checking your mind in at the door.

Check out the video to see what I mean.

Question: Should AI be shunned? The video doesn't exactly suggest that, but limits to AI's use is suggested in order to preserve a type of Devil's Advocacy, and to avoid GroupThink.



10/23/23: The original post follows:

Slick propaganda, or the truth?

Propaganda puts forth a view that isn't necessarily in line with the truth. In the case here, indicated by the link, I am suspicious. There are some derogatory things being said about Trump, and about those who defend and support him.

A point of clarification here: I do not blindly support Trump. The thing I most strenuously ( or a la AOC--- vociferously --- ) object to is the blind opposition to Trump. The fact is the opposition to Trump has never convinced me. I started out opposed to Trump. I figured that he wasn't a true conservative. That he might not be a true conservative may still be true, but the ways being used to oppose him are definitely OUT OF BOUNDS.

The link at the post give a number of reasons that someone who tends to be as fair and reasonable as possible, some room for doubt about Trump. It is true that the best place for him to prevent the fraud was before the election, but what Mr. Walsh fails to point out is that many in the GOP were going along with the Democrats with the shutdown mania. That's certainly true here in Texas, and it may well have been far, far worse in other states. This was the means towards the end to getting the fraudulent result that we got. For anybody critical of Trump to leave this out is a primary reason for SUSPICION.

They are also fond of using the Marxist paradigm of left-right-center. The truth is somewhere in-between goes the saying. But that conventional "wisdom" has a false premise. Neither the left nor the "right" nor the "center" could be right, and the ALL COULD BE WRONG.

It would be nice if people would stop lying, and embrace the truth and an honest attempt to follow the law and the Constitution. We don't need the tactics of the left and the Never-Trumpers to keep denying what should be obvious. That we are being lied to in a most aggressive and objectionable manner. Gas-lighting is no longer operable.

The Pearl of Great Price

Thus came to mind this morning because of a dream. The dream involved a danger. This video mentions a danger as well. But it wasn't the same thing as my dream. The video says you must use the power in the right way. In that sense, yes, it was the same as my dream.