Shacknews LoL

Do we have an Xmas dinner thread? My kids demanded Beef Wellington… spoiled little scamps. I tried doing individual welleys this year instead of one big one. I think it turned out great:

https://i.imgur.com/QY5yuya.jpg

The sauce was just a simple reduction of beef broth, red wine, scallions, and sage. I strained the broth through a mesh and then finished with some butter. Quite smooth!

Ollie Update 😺

After taking him in for a second round of x-rays they don't think the obstruction is anything to be worried about, so I just am going to be keeping him down here with me for a few days so he doesn't get into the other cats' food and I can monitor his intake and give him his prescription stuff.

For right now, though, he seems to be happy and is just sleeping after getting some food in his stomach. Thank you all so much for the well wishes yesterday, hopefully this means he's going to be all right!

Ollie on his chair very upset at his new medicine:
https://i.imgur.com/DyYCaFf.jpg

Politics

Massachusetts passed a 4% millionaire's tax last year. Now every public school student is going to get free lunch.

https://www.businessinsider.com/massachusetts-millionaire-tax-gets-kids-free-school-lunches-2023-8

State House News Service, an independently owned news wire, reported that $1 billion of the state's record $56.2 billion fiscal budget for 2024 came from the state's new 4% tax on millionaires. Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey signed the budget on Wednesday, making Massachusetts the eighth state to adopt a free school lunch plan since federal free school lunches which started during the COVID-19 pandemic ended.

Turns out you actually can tax rich people. Go figure.

I just bought tickets to see Marc Rebillet on October 28 here in Vegas.

So my new boss surprised me with a gift this morning, a brand new steam deck! What are the go to games on this fucking beast for all my fellow deckies?

The lunch went great. I was a little awkward at first, but they were very welcoming and warm. I met my two half-sisters, one of my step-half sisters (not sure if that’s a thing, but she was really sweet), and my birth father’s wife, and of course my birth father.

Honest to God, on the way down there, I was wondering how I get out of meeting them. I don’t know how to describe it adequately, but my anxiety shot through the roof. Went straight through the Celexa I take every day to calm my nerves. Initially, I was just glad that I didn’t drool or forget to zip my fly. But they made me feel very at-ease.

I’m glad I went and I am glad to have met them. It’s kind of strange finding out I had a father and sisters that lived their lives while I lived mine, only to meet 57 years later.

I’m still sort of processing this.

RAGE IS BACK

Rage Against the Machine started their new tour yesterday, and had some commentary for our times.

Full Concert
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=901wskvIUWk

“Forced birth in a country that is the only wealthy country in the world without any guaranteed paid parental leave at the national level. Forced birth in a country where Black birth-givers experience maternal mortality two to three times higher than that of white birth-givers. Forced birth in a country where gun violence is the number one cause of death among children and teenagers. Abort the Supreme Court.”

Shack Finance

I paid off my mortgage. Now what? Put my salary into NFTs?

Hey, the thing I've been working on since 2018 has finally been announced!

Here is my very short exposure tonight of M81, M82 and NGC 3077.

I will try more exposure tomorrow to get rid of the gradients.



https://i.imgur.com/5fqG1kk.jpg