09:00 – It’s currently 11F (-12C). The forecast high today is to be right at freezing, so the frozen mess on the roads won’t be melting off. Barbara is driving the Trooper again today. Not that 4WD is much use on ice, but at least she’ll be in a vehicle that weighs two or three times as much as the average car on the road.
Thursday, 30 January 2014
23 Comments and discussion on "Thursday, 30 January 2014"
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Democrats in Tiny Town are certainly more responsive than Republicans. There is a one-lane street that runs alongside Tiny House. For a number of years, it has been one-way. Due to the direction of the alternating one-way streets around here, those residents who live behind me either have to go the wrong way for about 500 feet to reach their houses, or take a circuitous route around red robin’s barn to get home. They have always taken the shortest way, which is against the posted direction. Those neighbors have complained to the city about their plight, but they fell on deaf ears during the just-ended Republican mayoral term. Yesterday, the new Democratic regime took down the “Do Not Enter” signs.
And Republicans are shocked that they cannot get elected.
“….but at least she’ll be in a vehicle that weighs two or three times as much as the average car on the road.”
The pseudo technology of “Risk Management”, this is a method of risk mitigation called “risk transfer.” That is that one is transferring the probability of getting accidentally injured to another.
Stu
Who will never buy a Smart car. (As Geoff used to finish his posts.)
Chuck, I thought you had a Republican mayor who was defeated, say, two years ago, who had run a tight ship, with mechanized garbage collection. The Democrats got in and immediately went back to manual labor, at higher cost. Have I got it right?
Well, the mayor changed during the past year, but the rest of the administration was solidified as Democrats (elected offices like Sheriff, Assessor, Treasurer, Street Commissioner, and a whole lot of others) during the November past. The new mayor got everything he wanted (and needed) in November. He did return to the old garbage trucks with 3 guys per truck, instead of 1 per truck with the robot arms, within weeks of being elected and expanded trash pickup from 3 days to 4 days. He also immediately reduced the hours of local government offices from 8:00am to 5:00pm to 9:00am to 3:00pm. Not sure whether there was a commensurate reduction in working hours and salaries connected with the reduction in office hours, but I imagine not.
Snow plowing of streets was practically non-existent with the Republican mayor, with my street often never getting plowed no matter how bad the snow was. Plowing of streets is a priority with the new regime, and a truck just plowed down the street and through the ‘alley’ (technically it is a street with a name), even though the last snow was days ago (however, no melting at all with the extreme cold). This is the first year I have ever seen the alley getting plowed.
Tiny Town Democrats still play old-time politics with patronage jobs and a political machine that operates down to the precinct level. One thing that really turned me off, was that—after the election—the old Republican mayor wrote a series of articles in the local dying newspaper, publicly telling the new mayor how to do his job.
Yep, and I don’t feel the slightest guilt about that transfer. If we had an Abrams tank, I’d have Barbara drive it to work when the streets are dangerous.
In multi-vehicle crashes, all other things being equal, the single biggest factor that determines likelihood and severity of injury is the relative masses of the vehicles involved. If a 4,500 pound Trooper hits a 1,500 pound compact car, the car loses every time.
It is currently 43 degrees and overcast here in Portland. We are leaving tomorrow morning for Hong Kong where it is currently 64 degrees and has been in the 70’s during the day and 60’s at night. After a week in warm southern China, we’re going to Beijing where it has been about 20 at night and 40 during the day.
I got a 4 port 36 watt USB charging device for the trip. Two of the USB ports are 2.1 amps and two are 1.5 amps. Input voltage is 100 to 240 volts, 50 or 60 hz. That will allow me to charge our three cell phones and one tablet at the same time. It used to be that you needed a voltage adapter when traveling in other countries. Now almost all of our portable devices are universal voltage and frequency. The only things we might bring that aren’t are my wife’s hair dryer and our electric toothbrush. We’ll leave them at home.
Our flight across the Pacific (Vancouver to Hong Kong) is about 14 hours. Groan.
Rick in Portland
I got a 4 port 36 watt USB charging device for the trip.
Link please. I may be interested.
“Our flight across the Pacific (Vancouver to Hong Kong) is about 14 hours. Groan.”
I did Houston to Bangkok and return a while back. Change of planes in LA and Japan. Took about 24 hours.
Robert, re two to three times the average car. While your point about mass remains valid, I too have had trouble keeping up with the weight of average cars, which has grown considerably since I bought my 2000 lb Cortina GT sedan in 1968. The Smart Car, US curb weight, is 2094 lbs; closer to average I think would be in the range of the Focus (2448-3223 lb) or the Tarus (3964-4455 lb), reaching the bottom range for my Explorer (currently 4448-4921 lb).
I got a 4 port 36 watt USB charging device for the trip.
Link please. I may be interested.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EI8SS4U/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I did Houston to Bangkok and return a while back. Change of planes in LA and Japan. Took about 24 hours.
We’re scheduled for 18.5 hours start to finish, with the one plane change in Vancouver. It’s the one flight with little opportunity to walk around that I dread. I will get up and move around as much as they’ll let me.
Do you access to line power all the time that you need it?
I use an Anker USB battery for charging my cell on the road:
http://www.amazon.com/10000mAh-Smartphones-USB-charged-Adapters–Lightning/dp/B009USAJCC/
Here is the newest generation of it with multiple USB outlets:
http://www.amazon.com/12000mAh-Portable-Worlds-Fastest-Triple-Port-Highest-Energy-efficiency/dp/B00CEZBKTO/
In multi-vehicle crashes, all other things being equal, the single biggest factor that determines likelihood and severity of injury is the relative masses of the vehicles involved. If a 4,500 pound Trooper hits a 1,500 pound compact car, the car loses every time.
The catch is “all other things being equal”. All other things are rarely equal. Newer vehicles with crumble zones, multiple air bags and other enhancements are going to be safer in a crash than an older vehicle of the same weight. The other factor that is rarely mentioned is that older vehicles in areas where they use salt on the roads are likely to have been seriously weakened by corrosion. That’s why I won’t buy a used car that spent time in areas where they salt the roads.
They don’t salt the roads around here. They sand them and use a less corrosive liquid on the roads when there is a likelihood of ice. We have an AWD Subaru with studless traction tires for snow and ice. However, if the roads are icy, we stay home as there are too many idiots who think their four wheel drive pickups who think that they can stop faster because of they have four wheel drive.
Rick in Portland
Rick
“Yep, and I don’t feel the slightest guilt about that transfer. If we had an Abrams tank, I’d have Barbara drive it to work when the streets are dangerous.”
HUGE Roger That! And that is why soccer moms drive Ford Excursions and mpg be damned!
Do you access to line power all the time that you need it?
The airplane will have power. I have two spare batteries for my phone. The world won’t end if I can’t use my toys for a few hours.
A 10 out of 10 on my commercial rating index. The commercial is about a Subaru dog family driving down the road.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x698U8vd_WE
There are more.
If a 4,500 pound Trooper hits a 1,500 pound compact car, the car loses every time.
My Nissan Leaf weight 4322 pounds. Depending on the type of crash, the Trooper might not win.
Go see your doctor. I have a friend that’s a large guy and traveling coach/economy is a nightmare for him, so he goes to his doc, tells him the horror that is flying for a guy his height and weight, and the doc gives him two pills. One for the flight(s) there and one for the flight(s) back. He says after he pops one you could cram him in an overhead bin and he’d be comfy. I wonder what he’s prescribed.
I usually settle for just drinking heavily. I aim for that fine line between being inebriated enough to not care and sober enough to be let on the plane.
You must have added the optional sound system or something, because that’s about a thousand pounds heavier than Nissan lists. I wonder how much the battery weighs.
I got the number from one of the car web sites. I should have checked it.
The world won’t end if I can’t use my toys for a few hours.
14+ hours with no toys would test my sanity. It was bad enough when the batteries ran out at 4 hours of 6 between the US and Europe, but more would have been terrible. Kindle did help fill that void.
Do planes have power for computers now? They did not the last time I flew 4 years ago, but the KLM people said it was requested by over 75% of all flyers buying tickets.
“Do planes have power for computers now?”
There are some planes, especially for long flights, that have power outlets in first/business class. Not sure about coach.
I was fine for entertainment on the IAH/BKK flight. I had a Kindle, an iPod, a couple of big paperbacks, and the planes had in-flight entertainment systems. The LA/Narita leg had on demand movies and TV shows, so I had plenty of options to stay entertained.
Getting up and walking around is a good idea – helps prevent DVT and throwing a clot. I kept myself hydrated and when I got up to pee I did a couple of laps around the plane.
Network Solutions Tries To Auto-Enroll Users Into Its $1,850/Year Domain ‘Protection Plan’:
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20140126/18041126005/network-solutions-tries-to-auto-enroll-users-into-its-1850year-domain-protection-plan.shtml
“You’ve got a nice domain here, be a shame if anything happened to it”.
Hmm, I’ve got seven domains right now. I think that I will pass and stay with pairNic.