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1 TB SSD Launched at $88
Patriot Launches P200 SSDs with Maxio and Silicon Motion Controllers: From $31.99
This is a launch of a budget line of SSDs. Not specified if it uses QLC NAND, but it has better rated endurance than Samsung 860 QVO (for the 1 TB models: 640 TB for P200, 360 TB for 860 QVO).
256 GB for $31.99 ($0.125/GB)
512 GB for $49.99 ($0.0977/GB)
1 TB for $87.99 ($0.088/GB)
2 TB for $189.99 ($0.095/GB)
That's newly released products, not sale prices.
A quick Slickdeals search finds:
$85: 1TB Intel 660p QLC 3D NAND NVMe M.2 2280 PCIe Internal SSD
$80: 1TB Crucial P1 3D NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD
$80.5: 1TB Samsung 860 QVO 2.5" SATA III Internal Solid State Drive
$80: Crucial 1TB BX500 2.5” SATA Internal SSD + F/S
Looks like $80 is a good sale price right now, with lower than $80 sure to come for drives like the Patriot P200 SSDs.
Even if you don't trust them as far as you can throw them, they might make good portable drives if you can insert them into an enclosure.
Oh well, so much for "Mayor Pete"
Eats the same slop from the same trough
Will we ever rid ourselves of republicans and democrats? Or the financial industry that supports them?
Nintendo Switch Followup
Following the Nintendo Switch Lite, they announced a refresh of the original. Same features, but longer battery life due to using a die shrink of the Tegra X1.
Someone somewhere speculated that it could improve performance a little bit by alleviating thermal limits.
You would have to wait for a "Switch 2" or "Switch Pro", but maybe that's a good thing.
Nintendo Announces New Version of Switch with Longer Battery Life
Nintendo Switch Delivers On Promises Of Streaming, Doug Bowser Says
Trump Epstein BFF Tape
Tape shows Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein discussing women at 1992 party
The November 1992 tape in the NBC archives shows Donald Trump partying with Jeffrey Epstein at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, now a private club, more than a decade before Epstein pleaded guilty to felony prostitution charges in Florida.
The president says he hasn’t spoken to Epstein since, and that his relationship with him was no different than that of anyone else in their elite circle. “I knew him like everybody in Palm Beach knew him,” Trump said last week. “I was not a fan.”
But on the tape, Trump gives Epstein plenty of personal attention.
Bruh momentum.
FULL Morning Joe [6AM] 7/17/19 | MSNBC News Today July 17, 2019
30:07: Pre-commercial break teaser
32:28: Segment starts
33:35: Footage from tape starts
34:13: Trump greets Epstein and 2 other guests
34:33-35:12: Trump totally not vibing with Epstein
39:41: Segment ends
The ‘Lady of the House’ Who Was Long Entangled With Jeffrey Epstein
One former employee of Mr. Epstein’s mansion in Palm Beach, Fla., referred to her as the “lady of the house.” Euan Rellie, an investment banker who attended dinner parties that she and Mr. Epstein hosted in New York, said she “seemed to be half ex-girlfriend, half employee, half best friend, and fixer.”
One of Mr. Epstein’s accusers, in court papers, used another word: madam.
Jeffrey Epstein had cash, diamonds and a foreign passport stashed in safe, prosecutors say
Epstein's lawyers argued that the passport acquired in the 1980s was only used "for personal protection" in connection with Middle East travel because Epstein is Jewish.
[...] "Epstein - an affluent member of the Jewish faith — acquired the passport in the 1980s, when hijackings were prevalent, in connection to Middle East travel," they wrote. "The passport was for personal protection in the event of travel to dangerous areas, only to be presented to potential kidnappers, hijackers or terrorists should violent episodes occur."
"The government offers nothing to suggest — and certainly no evidence — that Epstein ever used it," his lawyers argued.
How Jeffrey Epstein Lost $80 Million in a Hedge-Fund Bet Gone Bad
Real Hedge-Fund Managers Have Some Thoughts on What Epstein Was Actually Doing
Remembering the Time Jeffrey Epstein Rode on Donald Trump’s Plane
^ Mentioned in MSNBC segment panel discussion.
Previously: Jeffrey Epstein Settles Suit
Jeffrey Epstein Plea Deal Must Stand
Epstein Charged Again
There is no such thing as chance
One is chance.
We say; 'When one flips a coin, there is an equal chance that it lands heads or tails. This is a 50/50 or .50 chance.'
Now 50/50 is 1/1, but no one seems to remember their fractions these days, and it's not important, so I'll let it slide.
The main thing is, this is nonsense. When one flips a coin, it will either land heads or tails. One or zero. There's absolutely no chance involved.
We think of it as a 50/50 chance, because the two possible outcomes appear to approximate equality, and the longer our test run, the closer the approximation comes. All very rational. Except, again, there's no chance. It's going one way or the other. We just don't have any way that we know of to tell which, ahead of time.
Doesn't mean there's a bit of chance involved though. With good perception and a lot of practice, you can throw a head, or a tail, nearly every time. I knew a guy that made a lot of money in tiny bets at parties proving this. In the case of someone without that skill, the outcome is still contained and determined by the flip, no less. It's just that they aren't consciously in control of the factors.
Einstein famously protested that G_d does not not play dice with the universe. I would add that if He does, it still not be random, as He would clearly be able to throw any numbers He wanted.
Cow Cuddling Therapy
Move Over Therapy Dogs. Hello, Therapy Cows.
Even without a psychology degree, Bella’s natural talents made her an excellent therapist: She is calm and accommodating of a range of personalities, with the patience to listen to endless problems without so much as a judgmental moo.
From a lush, secluded pasture on the Mountain Horse Farm, a 33-acre bed-and-breakfast in the Finger Lakes region of New York, 3-year-old Bella and 2-year-old Bonnie are the highlander-angus crossbred cows that provide animal-based therapy.
Cow cuddling, as the practice is called, invites interaction with the farm animals via brushing, petting or heartfelt chats with the bovines. The experience is similar to equine therapy, with one game-changing difference: Horses tend to stand, but cows spontaneously lie down in the grass while chewing their cud, allowing humans to get even more up close and personal by joining on the ground and offering a warm embrace.
[...] Each session is overseen by two human counterparts: an equine therapist, usually Ms. Vullers, who can read the animals’s moods to ensure a safe, positive interaction with their new human friends, and a second handler, who keeps a watchful eye on the other animals in the field.
Neither has a psychology degree, which is kind of the point: “Whatever they’re going through, they don’t have to talk about it,” said Ms. Vullers. “It’s not like therapy, right?”
Tell me moo about your problems.
Related: Alaskan Ranch Offers "Reindeer Yoga"
shopping for toolboxes
A lot of us use tools, daily. It can be difficult, or even unpossible, to work out of a stationary toolbox. Whether you're a home mechanic, hobbyist, a DIY'er, professional auto mechanic, aviation mechanic, or whatever, you often need to bring your tools and/or your workstation to the work. Rollaway tool chests and their kin are the solution for that, often enough.
For all of my life, Craftsman has been the standard for this type of tool storage. There are far more expensive brands, and there have been many cheaper brands that have come and gone, but Craftsman has always provided a baseline, by which to judge the quality of other boxes.
Unfortunately, Craftsman is tied to the fortunes of Sears. Sears seemed to be the exclusive distributor of Craftsman for most of my life. More recently, other stores have begun carrying Craftsman tools, but they often don't offer bulky toolboxes. Unlike Sears, of yesteryear, you can't walk into the store, and put your fingers on dozens of toolboxes, to see how they work, or judge the quality. Craftsman has always had reasonable quality, and better quality boxes after all. Now that Sears has closed down, shopping for a new box has changed drastically!
So - hit the internet. Try to locate Craftsman boxes, and as often as not, the box is only available for pickup. Or, you get a message, "We do not ship to your area", which amounts to the same thing. Most of Sears stock has been sold to Lowes, which is pushing that old stock in their stores, all around the country. Key words, "old stock". Worse, my local store doesn't have the models I'm interested in.
Hit the internet again. How DOES a person comparison shop items that he can't reach out and touch? True, I've done this to some extent in the past, but I've always had some sample at hand, by which I have already judged quality and suitability of a product. Here, I'm attempting to evaluate products that I cannot touch, cannot measure. How to start?
At work, I get out a set of calipers. Measure the thickness of the metal on my ancient Lumidor rollaway, then my slightly less ancient Kennedy. Both were high-value tool boxes, when new. But, I didn't purchase them new. Both were purchased from other people when they upgraded to better and/or larger boxes. Then I measured the thickness of the metal of Craftsman, US General, Sunex, and several other brands around the plant. Put the calipers away, get out a tape measure, and start measuring height, width, and depth of all these boxes. Then, I measured the inside dimensions of those boxes to which I have access. It is revealing that sometimes the larger box has less usable space than a smaller box!
Further examination reveals that some of these boxes actually have frames on which they sit, while US General and Craftsman have their rollers bolted directly to the 22 and 20 gauge bottom sheet metal. Ugh. The difference between friction slides and roller bearing slides on the drawers is more than obvious. Friction slides are alright when new, but after years of use, they all go to crap, while roller bearings remain easy to use after decades of use.
Let us first dismiss the idea that I might spend $10,000 on a tool box. Can I afford to do so? Ehhhh - maybe. But, this is Runaway's journal. Runaway doesn't even spend $10,000 on his vehicles, he's not going to invest that much money on tool storage!! So, that rules out Mac, Extreme tools, Montezuma, and a number of other well known high value brands.
I've mentioned that I own a Kennedy. Visiting their site, they *could* still be a consideration, based on cost alone. Unfortunately, the Kennedy lineup is, and always has been, targeted at machinists. That is, the typical cabinet and chest has a couple dozen small drawers, designed to hold small, high value tools. My Kennedy is a good example, in that finding a place to stow a 24" crescent is impossible.
I really like my old Lumidor. Searching the internet, I can find offers of used boxes, but I find nothing new. Lumidor doesn't even have an internet site. Finally, I do the right search, to learn that they are no longer in business, so I guess Lumidor is out of the running.
The next brand to consider is Kobalt. I've had a sample of Kobalt tool boxes to look at in the past. The gentleman who owned it left long ago, so there are no samples around now to look at. No real problem - Lowes carries the brand. Visit Lowe's online, then physically. Yeah, they're pretty good boxes. Overall, they seem to be equivalent to Craftsman. Similar gauge steel, similar construction, similar dimensions. There is little to distinguish a Kobalt from a Craftsman, even with both brands on display, side by side. Kobalt is shiny steel, Craftsman is either red or black - otherwise, they sit right at the baseline from which I measure tool boxes.
Then someone asked me if I had considered Husky tool boxes. Nope, I've never seen one. Don't think I've ever even seen an advertisement for them. I've seen a number of Husky tools over the years, but never considered that they might make tool boxes. An internet search took me directly to Home Depot. There is a wide selection of boxes available, some of them available for immediate pickup at my local store. So, I start researching the quality, first from the comfort of my own desk, online, then in person. I like what I see.
Like Craftsman, their boxes come in higher and lower quality. Sorry, no 14 gauge steel, or we would be talking multiple thousands of dollars again. 18, 19, 20, and 21 gauge steel is available, and the prices reflect those gauges as much as anything else. The better boxes have channels under that bottom deck, to which the casters are bolted, while the lowest cost simply bolt cheaper casters to the bottom deck sheet metal.
Interestingly, Home Depot carries some Milwaukee branded tool boxes as well. These boxes are about equal quality, and slightly higher prices, to Husky, offering just about the same features. I suspect they are manufactured by the same company, then Milwaukee marks them up to capitalize on their name.
A couple of features jump out at me. The depth of the cabinets and chests vary, with the larger boxes being 24 inches. That is a huge difference from the typical boxes of yesteryear, most of which were only 18 inches deep. My Lumidor is 20 inches, and experience tells me that space is valuable! Then, there are full-extension drawers. That is, the drawer pulls all the way out, so that you can see the back wall of the drawer, directly. No more squatting down, to see if some little item has rolled out of sight inside the drawer!
I've spent many hours over the last three weeks, considering what I want. Now, I face a quandary. Do I want a roller cabinet with a chest, or do I want a more basic work station? How long do I want this thing to be? There is a beautiful 80" storage option, complete with a side locker, where I can hang a change of clothes, ark flash gear, and a a small handful of very long tools. Moving that thing around would be a pain, though. It appears to be well worth $1300, but I just can't quite see me pushing this thing, or carrying it on a forklift from one end of the plant to the other.
Next consideration is their Industrial model at $900. At 52" long, it's still pretty big. The bottom cabinet section will hold everything currently held in both my Lumidor and Kennedy boxes, and probably a little space left. The top drawers would be less than half filled when I transfer all the goodies in my Craftsman mid- and top-chests. All that space in the very top section, or "hutch" as some manufacturers call it, would be available for various tools that I now store in a 4ft x 2ft x 2 ft Jobox. Battery operated drill/driver, two-way radio, chargers, clipboard, meters, etc. Most of my large tools would have to remain in the Jobox.
There is a 56" model, similar to the Industrial that compares favorably at $1100. More but slightly smaller drawers - otherwise it looks very much the same.
Work benches are appealing, though. The most appealing is 61" long, a full 24 inches deep, and has a hardwood work surface, AND a pegboard at the back. The downside to this bench is, I'll put things on the pegboard, and people will just help themselves to whatever is there. For storage space, it's almost right. Again, everything in the Lumidor and the Kennedy will fit in it. The Craftsman chests won't all fit though - and there really is no room left in the Jobox to store the leftovers.
Oh yeah - honorable mention goes to Gear Wrench branded boxes. No, they aren't manufactured by Gear Wrench. They look like Extreme Tool boxes, with GW branding. They have some "sex appeal", I guess. When I spotted them, I got a little excited. But, again, I can't justify the price tag attached to them. Still, they are nice boxes. If I weren't a cheapskate, I'd be buying them, instead of Husky.
Another honorable mention goes to Masterforce, sold exclusively by Menards. Quality, features, and pricing seems to be about equal to the Husky boxes I'm looking at. Unfortunately, there is no Menards near me, so I don't get to put a finger on one before I can buy it.
Decision time. I'm giving myself another week to think about all this, then I'm going to order one of these Husky tool boxes. I'm satisfied that Husky's better boxes sit just above my baseline established by Craftsman, all those years ago. Husky's lower end boxes sit just below that same baseline.
I found a Big Lou's
Not bad at all. I was afraid 1 7/8" at the nut might still be too narrow, but no, it's enough.
Pickups aren't great but I've definitely heard worse. The geometry is nice, very comfortable.
Didn't buy it, I think they have it rather overpriced. It's this model: https://www.biglouguitar.com/product/el-dorado/
It's not badly worn, though you can tell it's been played, it's pretty near new. Action is reasonable, all frets work, no buzzing. But the whammy bar and the tip of the three-way switch are both missing. And they're asking $320!
If you used that link you may have noticed this model is available brand new, with the missing parts, for $380.
So of course there's no way I'm buying it at that price, but I want to see how low they'll go on it. This same store had advertised the same guitar at the same price or very close, back in the spring, but by the time I got over there to take a look it was gone. They have several locations, so I'm pretty sure they just bounced it around to the other locations, where it didn't sell, and now it's back where it started.
The big boss wasn't in today, and the guys that were there couldn't bargain it down below a floor of about $270, which frankly I still think is a bit high. So I took numbers and I'll call the big boss himself on Monday and see what he can do. If they've really been bouncing this thing between stores for several months they should probably be willing to come down a good bit further... I hope.
Ah well, if not at least I learned something to go forward.
So anyway, the question for anyone that cared enough to keep reading and get here; what do you think would be a good price on this?
Trump Labor Secretary Resigns; R. Kelly Arrested
Trump Labor Secretary Alex Acosta resigns amid pressure from Jeffrey Epstein sex traffic case
Labor Secretary Alex Acosta said Friday he will resign amid controversy over the way he handled a sex crimes case against wealthy businessman Jeffrey Epstein a decade ago when he was U.S. attorney for southern Florida.
Acosta made the announcement to reporters while standing next to President Donald Trump outside the White House. Trump said Acosta had called him Friday morning and that it was Acosta's decision to quit.
R. Kelly Arrested on Federal Sex Trafficking Charges: Law Enforcement Officials
Singer R. Kelly has been arrested in Chicago on federal sex crime charges, according to two law enforcement officials.
The 52-year-old was arrested by Homeland Security Investigation agents and NYPD Public Safety Task Force Thursday night on sex trafficking charges, officials tell News 4, and it is expected he will be brought to New York.
The 13-count indictment includes charges of child pornography, enticement of a minor and obstruction of justice, U.S. attorney spokesman Joseph Fitzpatrick tells The Associated Press. Further details on the case are expected to be announced Friday out of the Eastern District of New York.
They were trapped in the closet.
See also: R. Kelly is arrested by feds on new charges while walking his dog in Chicago
Previously: R. Kelly Contracts Ligma
R. Kelly Exposes Himself
R. Kelly Meltdown
Previously 2: Epstein Charged Again (Southern District of New York)
Euphemisms
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isMm2vF4uFs
