The Underpants Gnomes' three-phase trade plan

Phase 1: Collect tariffs
Phase 2: ?
Phase 3: Profit

What are the most insidious YouTube videos in 2025?

OK can we officially flip the script on eggs?

Trump boasted he would "immediately bring prices down" on his first day in office (referring to groceries). He's had almost three weeks, to say nothing of the time he had as president-elect to make his phone calls. So, what gives? A dozen extra-large white eggs are over $6 in SC.

Two follow-up questions Bret Baier forgot to ask.

1) You've mentioned Musk finding fraud several times, can we expect indictments as a direct result of this investigation?
2) During your 2016 presidential campaign, you promised to eliminate the federal budget within eight years. Is this promise still in effect?

A good political interviewer will test claims and inquire about metrics for goals.

Cooked eggs on a stainless fry pan!

I'm not that skilled at cooking but purchased an All-Clad 11-piece D3 stainless 3-ply bonded cookware set last year which includes frying pans. I really like the set but have mostly butchered eggs on the frying pans. After watching a few videos I've settled in on a process which worked for me today:

Start the pan at low heat (1) and preheat for 3 minutes. Test with water. If the water simply evaporates, increase heat by one and repeat. Once the Leidenfrost effect is observed (water forms dancing droplets), the correct temperature has been reached. This occurred at level 3. I then seasoned the pan with butter and nothing else for maybe 10 seconds, so it didn't burn.

The eggs did not stick this time. I've randomly had success prior, but now I have a repeatable process. I don't need to start from 1 now, I know that level 3 is optimal and can preheat for 3-5 minutes straight from there.

This is probably old news for some, but it took me a while to get there. Eggs are too expensive to ruin these days!

Black Country Communion - "Red Sun"

Yellowstone Season 5 Part 2 *** SPOILER WARNING ***

This review is for Season 5 Part 2 up to episode 12 (episode 13 airs tonight). I'll start by saying that this is pretty much my favorite show, but I have to be a little tough here. Here are some of the character developments as I see them:

John Dutton: Part 2 has really suffered from Costner's exit. Dutton is hastily dispatched with by an apparent suicide. Costner is never seen. He couldn't be available for just one episode to allow for a more dramatic departure? While arguably not the most interesting character, he provided the cornerstone for everything else.

Beth Dutton: Beth is a great character, and Kelly Reilly really owns her. That said, Beth stomps around PISSED much of the time in Part 2. She's eternally PISSED at Jamie. She's not a fan of Sarah either. The writers wanted to show her soft side by having her comfort Finn Little.

Sarah Atwood: A pretty good character, the writers had to retcon her a bit as the mastermind of John's assassination. Apparently, this hit job cost $40 - $50 million. I wonder what the return on that investment is expected to be? Her death was quite unexpected and dramatic.

Jamie Dutton: Jamie has to be my least favorite character. Sarah came clean (mostly) about the assassination plot, and he doesn't really offer much of an opinion. Beth likes to camp out in his office and slap him across the face from time to time. You'd think an AG could instruct security to keep her out of the building. Sarah slaps him around a little bit too.

Grant Horton: This is the guy who spearheaded the assassination. He is a discount Gus Fring character who meticulously covers his tracks. Apparently, Horton isn't nearly as thorough.

Kayce Dutton: Mere window dressing last season, this season features a meaner, darker Kaycee who is single-handedly moving the plot forward. He takes over the investigation into John's death and steers the coroner's office to a proper cause of death with his lay opinions. He chokes out an assistant unnecessarily. He easily unveils the identity of Horton with a single phone call and sticks a gun in his daughter's face. He's BFF's with Mo now.

Monica Dutton: She is mostly window dressing again this season. She cheers for Kayce from the sidelines as he quarterbacks the whole game.

Jimmy Hurdstrom: Jimmy provided an interesting arc in the past with a lot of comic relief, but the Texas arc just seems to be a distraction at this point.

Rip Wheeler: Rip hasn't beaten anybody up this season. The writers had him reestablish his toughness by laying down the Cowboy Rules with a young couple asking to pet his horse.

There are only two episodes left, and it doesn't seem like things are coming to a close quickly enough. Many of these final episodes feel like filler, which is frustrating and similar to how Game of Thrones ended. This may be a trend now when there is a hit show and spinoffs are planned.

So, the 538 polls only got it half right.

Their final prediction for Trump was 46.8%, and he got 50.4% (error of 3.6%)

Their final prediction for Harris was 48.0%, and she got 48.0% (error of 0.0%).

538 seemed to overestimate the impact of third-party candidates as it all went to Trump. They are a bit vague about their margin of error (frankly I don't think it is knowable), but you hear the 3% number bandied about a lot. Well, they missed that for Trump. But they nailed the Harris result.

Biden should call on Trump to come clean about 2020

Trump won 2 out of 3 elections and even won the popular vote in the last one. He'd be 0 for 3 if the "deep state" really could rig these. Trump can't be shamed into doing the right thing but can at least be called out one more time. Maybe a little faith in our elections can be restored, there's no upside to kicking at those pillars now. Former American presidents should never nonchalantly refer to the current president as illegitimate.

Very light voter turnout in Fort Mill, SC

This is the suburbs in the greater Charlotte area just over the state line. There was literally no line and idle voting machines when I walked in. In 2020 the line went all the way down the driveway and down the street at the same polling location. I went at 3:30 PM which may be just the right time, or maybe it was the rain all day, or...?

Whatever the case may be, I Harris-Walz-ed right on through the process.