I didn’t post because I think all is fine and dandy, but what I’m gathering is the issue is local moreso than aggregate. People are up in arms in Temple over planned bit barns.

I tend to trust Ars. Consider the source. Though I fully expected a response like this.

I totally forgot about McSweeney’s. Good to see it’s still up. Also, great piece.

This is a threadbare sensationalized piece that draws on a KSHB article that was linked at the bottom. In the future, please post the original source, not a blogger’s reaction. A good rule of thumb is if any part of a hed is IN ALL CAPS, you don’t have reported news on your hands.

Temple, Texas.

I got up with the alarm at 4:55 a.m. today, having not made it to bed until 1:30. The final outcome of the past three years was 60 miles away. I’d resurrected my starter batteries Saturday, and one of the bartenders from the brewery I park near came by Sunday to flip up my liftgate, then biked off (I really need to regain upper body strength – I was flipping that thing up daily while building out the van.).

After which I canceled my internet service and returned my 5G hotspot.

So, nothing left tying me to Austin, plenty of diesel in the tank from when last I drove in August 2024. And without A/C, it was imperative that I do the drive at the coolest part of the morning.

I got here at about 6:30, having gone on an accidental minor excursion before arriving at my new home. Then the malaise set in after getting on the bed. I’ve been mostly useless all day, but I managed to scarf down some Hamburger Helper one of the parents had cooked. This is the first time since 2023 that I’ve had fixed housing and all my possessions in tow.

By 11 a.m., the heat index was already 99F, so I think I timed this well.

Sure you’ve got the right canal, there?

I would not consider that a truism. As soon as “demands” comes up, ask yourself: Demanded by whom, and for what purpose?

Of course sharing a meal is enjoyable. It doesn’t need to happen on rigid timeframes dictated by others.

Food is fuel. It can be enjoyable fuel, but that’s what it is. No one is going to the gas station and continuing to try to pump gas into an overflowing tank.

I don’t view this through the lens of food shortages so much as that “three meals a day” was drummed into our heads by capital in the first place. It’s unnecessary, but we spend more on food by strict adherence to these expectations, which is always the goal.

I had a wildly different experience growing up in the '80s, although anecdotally, it was socioeconomic. There were dogs who were pets and inside most of the time, and then there were guard dogs people tried to slap a veneer of love on.

I hate the way the pendulum has swung all the way to “Pweshus needs to be in the produce aisle with Mommy.” And then dogs shit on the floor in grocery stores. I’d much rather have them in someone’s yard for 20 minutes than where I’m trying to buy fresh foods.

The “furbaby” phenomenon is marketing and gaslighting at its finest. The only reason people have gotten to the point that they think it’s appropriate to take a dog everywhere is that the endless growth machine saw lowering birthrates and figured recasting pets as children would partially offset slowing revenue on the human baby end.

Absolutely no one in the '80s thought it appropriate to bring a nonservice pet into a public place, and it’s not like people individually came up with the notion that this was now fine. But people don’t realize they’re being manipulated … it feels much better if you’re convinced that’s just who you are, and that’s all it takes.

This is, of course, the way a lot of things have gone in the past 40 years, but I generally don’t run into other such issues at HEB.

We were talking (there will be more to come on “we” elsewhere) today about planning locations for raised beds in the yard, but as this is Texas, the window for a summer harvest is closed, so there isn’t much of a rush.

Ideally, we could get in a fall planting and see what winter crops fare decently. I’ve been out of the gardening scene for over a decade, and I don’t even know what zone we’re in locally. There’s going to be a lot of remedial learning before I’m anywhere near what I once knew.

My main goal is always New Mexican strains of C. annum, followed by crucifers and Allia. And of course some herbs. I’ll happily put the effort into whatever else others would like, but here we get back to colocation and amendments, which I’m rusty as hell on.

Still, it’s fun to be thinking about such things again.

So it was an income stream.

It goes to the greater question of how many red flags are enough to call time out?

You’re begging the question. What proof do you have that this particular incident is a red flag? I want quotes before I’m willing to accept that. It’s a funny thing called journalism, and you’re falling for the framing where the practitioners failed.

If tomorrow, Gertner says she was deeply hurt and it nearly tore the marriage apart, I’ll readily accept that this was infidelity. To claim otherwise before that is unfounded moral judgment.

The Nazi tattoo is irrelevant to this revelation. It’s a further attempt to frame this as “because he did X and Y, clearly, Z must be a violation.” The presented facts do not lead to this conclusion. I’m not saying the other things he did were a good idea, nor were they bereft of harm to others, but leave the moral conclusions about sexting while married to the opinion page, and report the facts in the newshole.

They’re always a bad idea, but feel so good.

This said, those are the relationships one learns from. It appears we shall have to do this as a country. I was on a choir tour in 1993 where we saw a lot of Nazi symbolism having been blown up.

The only time you want manic is that relationship with an alt chick in college that burns hot and fast.

I’ve been in Texas for 11 years, and I gave up on voting. City Council? Whenever we vote progressive candidates in and they do something progressive, Abbott calls the Legislature into special session to make those laws illegal at the state level.

A good example is when the City of Austin implemented a ban on single-use plastic shopping bags, which given the production of said bags set the O&G lobby into overdrive.

County? Well, my vote doesn’t really count there, as Travis is overall aligned with my political views. State? Nah, gerrymandering split the city into I think now five districts at the federal level of unusual shape to dilute Austinites’ voices by including sparse areas 10s of miles away. Federal? We just redistricted. Senate could be interesting

There’s a reason I chose journalism. Voting harder clearly wasn’t going to help even in college.

It also helps if your dad were, say, a senator. True of both parties, though.

It’s Paxton’s competition that makes the ground game a bit different. Soft-spoken young male Protestant pastor. Trump lost when he ran against a man. He only had success against women. (unintended double entendre, but fuck it, I’m keeping it)

Months is just trying to optimize your first run. Then, you discover mods.