08:33 – It was 69F (20.5C) when I took Colin out at 0645, sunny and clear.
The septic tank situation is resolved, in the sense that we can again flush toilets and use the sinks, washing machine, and so on. There’s still a big hole in the back yard. The guy is showing up this morning to pump out the tank, which he says most people have done every 7 to 10 years. The backhoe is still parked out there. After the tank is pumped out, the backhoe guy is supposed to be back to fill in the hole.
I drew a rough map of the tank location. The septic tank is easy enough to find now that we know where it is. From the SW corner of the house on the exact line of the side wall of the house, it’s 14 feet, 2 inches to the center of one of the hatches on the tank. That’s the near-side hatch of the divided tank, on the side where all the solids are supposed to accumulate.
It is a newish tank, which we finally found the records for. It was installed in May 2006. It did indeed have that damned filter, which was a bright yellow coiled thing that was entirely plugged. It’s lying on the ground. They’re going to wash it off and leave it for us, although I can’t imagine we’d ever want to re-install it.
After Larry had popped the hatch and cleared out enough of the mess to let water run again, he had us flush toilets and run water, which promptly backed up through the downstairs toilet. Obviously, we had a plug somewhere between the downstairs toilet and the septic tank. So he dug out more dirt toward the house until he located the main drain line and a buried access port. (He’s going to extend that up so that it pokes above ground level.) The water was flowing freely into the septic tank from that access port, so the problem was obviously under the concrete floor of the basement.
So Larry called Shaw and asked them to bring out an industrial size drain snake. I finally got to meet Elaine, after talking on the phone with her literally a hundred times or more, because she’s the one who brought out the snake. Not only that, but she helped Larry run it into the main pipe from the septic tank into the house to give it a straight shot. Elaine’s job as office manager obviously covers a lot of tasks.
I wasn’t out there while they were doing the snaking, but Barbara was. She says the snake cleared the plug and a flood of water came running into the septic tank, so it appears the clog is no more. At any rate, we’re operational again.
I hadn’t mentioned it, but Winston-Salem got nailed around 1730 Tuesday afternoon with extremely heavy storms–60 MPH (96 KPH) wind gusts, hail, and 2.5″ (6.4 cm) of rain in 20 minutes. Frances’ and Al’s house was in the middle of the worst-affected area. Their power was off until the following morning. Fortunately, they suffered no damage to their house or vehicles, although (I am not making this up) most of their tomatoes blew off the vines and went rolling across their yard and down the street.
Frances called Barbara soon after the power failed, and of course Barbara told them to come on up if they needed somewhere safe to shelter. They decided not to come up, although even if they had they might not have been able to. All of the traffic lights were out, there were millions of fallen trees blocking the roads, every intersection had become a parking lot, and so on. One friend of Frances said that her usual short drive home from work took her three hours.
As it turned out, of course, Frances and Al would have been no better off up here. When Barbara made the offer on Tuesday afternoon/evening, all was fine here. It was the following morning that the sewage backed up in the basement.
Email from Kathy. She decided to take a vacation day today to give her the long weekend to work on food repackaging and so on. If things go well and it looks like they’ll have time, they plan to make another Sam’s Club run tomorrow to stock up on more stuff, including toilet paper, paper towels, and similar stuff.
Kathy said she wished she’d been keeping track of toilet paper usage and asked if I had any ideas. I told her that, statistically and overall, an average American used about one roll per week, with women and girls, particularly those of menstrual age, averaging between two and three times as much as men and boys. Her guesstimate was that the four of them average maybe five rolls/week total, which sounds reasonable, so a year’s supply is roughly 250 rolls. She set her initial goal at 300 rolls, although it may take multiple trips to haul that much home.
Of course, all rolls are not the same. They vary in thickness, size, weight, and number of sheets per roll. I suggested that she go by weight because that’s the best indicator. People use roughly the same weight per usage, no matter how many sheets that totals. If it takes twice as many of the thinner, lighter sheets to make up the same weight, that’s what an average person will use.
For example, we’ve been using Costco toilet paper for ten or fifteen years, both the Signature (425 sheets/roll) and Ultra Soft (231 sheets/roll). Both cost about the same per roll, and also weigh about the same per roll, so there’s not a lot to choose between them. We buy whichever is on sale at the time.
Back in early May, I decided to check the recycled Georgia-Pacific Envision, so I ordered an 80-roll pack from Amazon. It’s bit smaller dimensionally, but not so’s you’d notice. Although they contain 550 sheets, the rolls are a bit lighter than the Costco Signature stuff. IIRC, those 80 rolls of GP Envision were equivalent to something like 72 rolls of the Costco product on a weight-to-weight basis. Barbara tried it and said it was fine with her. It didn’t feel like sandpaper or anything. And, at the time, it cost about $0.38/roll (about $0.43/roll on an equivalent weight basis), or roughly 60% of Costco’s non-sale price.
That doesn’t sound like a big difference but if you’re buying 250 or 300 rolls it’s maybe $80 less for the GP product. I was going to mention it to Kathy, but I checked prices first. When I bought a case in early May, Amazon charged about $31 delivered. When I checked yesterday, their price was up to $46. Walmart has it for the same price. Costco has it for $50. At that price, there’s just not enough difference to make it worth buying the recycled institutional-grade GP stuff.
I also suggested to Kathy that she buy a few dozen hotel-grade washcloths as personal cloths and some granular calcium hypochlorite (AKA HTH or Pool Shock) to sterilize them between uses. I keep an adequate supply of these, just in case the toilet paper ever runs out. Better than a handful of leaves.
We use about a roll a day. Me, wife, and 2 little girls. I buy whichever nat’l brand is on sale this period at costco, and I buy enough to get to the next sale, plus a bit. They usually limit 1 on the TP at the sale price though.
Since TP is a staple item, the groceries all use it to bring in business. I’m pretty sure every single store has their own packaging for every major brand, that is unique to them. This makes it very hard to do apples to apples comparison. (IE 8 rolls to a pack, vs 6 or 10, double rolls vs single.) VERY time consuming to do the math to get them all to a common denominator, and to me, not worth the effort.
I noticed the trick too when they made the rolls less wide. Then they returned them to normal size and made a big deal about the ‘wider roll’.
n
Better than a handful of leaves.
You ain’t lived until you have used corn cob. Tried that once on the farm. I think that people using those things was nothing more than a myth. Of course maybe I was just a wimp and did not know if I was using them properly. I also tried a horse drawn plow, pulled behind a tractor. After 200 feet I was beat. Same issue as I was obviously not using it properly.
Never use TP made in Texas. It won’t take crap off anybody.
Ray, you’re supposed to WIPE with the corn cob, not shove it in…
I’ve been chastised more than once for buying cheap toilet paper. I think lately I’ve bought Northern at Walleyworld. Passes the wife test and reasonable in large quantity package.
24 double rolls at $11.47
(now which way to hang it)
Over the top – so the cat has something to play with.
I don’t have a cat.
The original TP patent shows it over the top, which is good enough for me.
BTW, Walmart currently has Keystone 28-ounce canned chicken for sale at $5.58/can rather than the standard $6.28. I just ordered another dozen cans. I would have ordered four or five dozen, but Barbara would freak.
While I was at it, I ordered a 36-double-roll pack of GP Angel Soft TP for $15.97. I’ll weigh a roll when it arrives to compare it against Costco and other types.
76 w/light breeze and chance of t-storms.
We should probably get back to FLASHLIGHTS because there is just too much room for bad jokes with TOILET PAPER.
Wife’s wunnerful paymasters in Mordor did in fact Fed-Ex her check and it got here around 10:15 AM. Two take-aways: they really were desperate to get somebody for the NJ gig, and they had that check ready to go anyway. So there is no reason they can’t get the checks out in TWO weeks instead of three or four or five.
Back to the application paperwork, kitchen and porch cleanup operations, etc.
Another exciting day in northern Vermont.
Government work MUST always take time. Otherwise someone might realize they have only 5 minutes of work a day and spend the rest just jerkin’ off.
I made chili with a can of Rotel that was three years past expiration, the other day. Checked product and can before stirring in other ingredients. All is well…
Somewhat surprising with such a corrosive product.
So I’m sitting here, trying to link to a new (to me) pouch meat that we had for Taco Tuesday that was really tasty. It’s the same brand as some of the other pouch meat, and is flavored pork chunks (carnitas). I KNOW HEB stores carry it, because I bought it there. I also know they carry at least 3 varieties of US branded other meats in pouches.
This little story illustrates why it’s important to go LOOK and see what’s in the stores. HEB’s website is fairly comprehensive. They offer a ‘order online and pickup at the store’ service, as well as online ordering and home deliver, and worldwide shipping. You are (theoretically) searching all of their stores, or you can limit it to one store.
Anyway, there is no way for me to find the product I tried and now want more of.
Drilling down thru to ‘canned meat’ only brings up 2 of the flavors, and none of the US pouches. Searching by “pouch” only returns ONE of the Chata brand meats, and no US pouches. Searching on “chata” brings the 2 pouches but not the third new variety, and that assumes I remember the brand.
If I wasn’t in the store, I’d not know about either the US brand, or the new variety of Chata brand.
I heartily recommend taking the time to walk every aisle at least once in a while at your biggest/nicest grocery store, and also do the same in your local ethnic markets. A lot of food prepared for the rest of the world is packaged so as to not require refrigeration, and a lot of the exported “home food” is packaged for long term storage so as to get to market and stay there for a while in good condition. You may find some stuff you actually prefer as well as stocking variety to prevent appetite fatigue.
n
“spend the rest just jerkin’ off.”
sometimes literally, just google ‘government employees watching porn at work”
n
They surf porn sites, play online poker, order chit from online stores, email with family and friends, open dubious email attachments routinely still, and generally don’t give good value for what they get in pay and bennies compared to the rest of us poor slobs out here. There are exceptions, sure, but my impression of both state and Fed gummint prole-cube drones is as described. Hack away for thirty years and then retire to someplace they consider “nice.”
And a good chunk of time is also spent in endless and worthless meetings and meetings about meetings and the usual, often vicious, office politics and backstabbing and climbing.
Wife says “No more cheap TP” All new purchases must have two ply.
The last batch I bought for her was so fluffy and huge it wouldn’t fit on any of our roll holders. I try keep at least 100+ rolls on hand stacked on the high shelving in the garage. This stuff takes LOTS of spce and I am thinking of using attic space but worried about rodent destruction. Not that I have proof of rodents, we have 2 hungry cats, but I just like to worry. On the other hand, keeping a lot of TP in the attic may help the insulation values. Not all stored TP meets wifes demanding standards but in a SHTF situation she can make do.
My father told the tales of using old Sears catalogs in the outhouse to clean up but I never tried such to see if it really worked.
I’d guess with the 79 rolls of GP Envision remaining and the 36 rolls of Angel Soft I just ordered from Walmart, we’re probably up around 150+ rolls. Barbara MAY tolerate me getting that up to 200 or 250 rolls, but probably not much more. I’d like 500+ rolls in stock, but I do see her point.
Assuming the Angel Soft is okay, I’ll probably order two more 36-packs of it to take us up to about 225 give or take and then just re-order periodically to maintain stocking level of at least 200 rolls.
Larry just finished up backfilling and grading the direct, so we no longer have a hole. Barbara went into town to buy some grass seed and other stuff.
I told Larry he was more than welcome to leave his Kubota KX161-3 midi-excavator parked here, because I wanted to learn how to run one.
http://www.ritchiespecs.com/specification?type=con&category=Midi+Excavator&make=Kubota&model=KX161-3&modelid=93076
“I told Larry he was more than welcome to leave his Kubota KX161-3 midi-excavator parked here, because I wanted to learn how to run one.”
Why not? A potentially very useful skill for The Aftermath. I like “The Aftermath” better than “SHTF.” It may not actually be as bad as S hitting the F, simply a long drawn-out hot mess like we have going right now. The aftermath will be known once it reaches a certain point and our culture and civilization will have undergone a fundamental change of some kind. The Glorious Sixties was one such, and we’ve been living in the aftermath of that for half a century now.
And a belated commiseration for your septic tank and plumbing disaster down there; speaking of hot messes. We gotta get up-to-date with our own ASAP, as I have reminded Mrs. OFD.
The septic tank issue is resolved, I hope for a very long time. Between the first downstairs flood two months ago and this, we’ve had about as much as we can take.
there are several places where you can pay to play with large earth movers in giant dirt piles. Kind of summer camps for adults.
https://www.extremesandbox.com/
https://www.diggerlandusa.com/2016/posts/diggerlandxl_pr/
https://www.digthisvegas.com/
A bit more than I want to pay, but them seem to do a good business.
Aesop has a way to turn a phrase:
” I can hardly wait to see what the third wondrous thing will be to complete the Hat Trick Of Fate.”
http://raconteurreport.blogspot.com/2017/07/justice.html
n
I wasn’t out there while they were doing the snaking, but Barbara was. She says the snake cleared the plug and a flood of water came running into the septic tank, so it appears the clog is no more. At any rate, we’re operational again.
So, was the septic tank actually full ? Or was it just a clog between the basement and the septic tank ?
When we got the addition built two years, we had to run a new sewer line from the back of the house to the front of the house where it joined onto the house main sewer line (about 90 ft of new sewer line). I had the plumbers put in access pipes at the very back, the middle, and the front. We haven’t had to use them yet, thank goodness. And we have tested the new line very well.
It did indeed have that damned filter, which was a bright yellow coiled thing that was entirely plugged. It’s lying on the ground. They’re going to wash it off and leave it for us, although I can’t imagine we’d ever want to re-install it.
You’ve got a trash can, right ?
I just noticed something. My septic tank at the office has four access ports. Three concrete lift off and one screw down blue plastic (the chlorine injector). All are two foot in diameter. I need to ask the septic tank guy why there are four ports.
And a belated commiseration for your septic tank and plumbing disaster down there; speaking of hot messes. We gotta get up-to-date with our own ASAP, as I have reminded Mrs. OFD.
Mr Hardy, I would get your septic tank pumped out posthaste. Unless you know when it was last pumped out. The problem is, you don’t get an alarm, you just get a flood of the nastiest stuff there is (the floating biohazard layer).
Actually, my septic tank does have an alarm on it. The control system will ring a 100+ db alarm buzzer when the aerator fan fails (pops the breaker) or the sprinkler pump fails (pops the breaker and/or a ultra high level). But no high level alarm on the intake tank. I wonder why not ?
Re Eclipse Glasses: whichever ones you get, make sure they meet the standards (see here https://eclipse2017.nasa.gov/safety ).
I got some from Amazon: links http://amzn.to/2tnFmNC and http://amzn.to/2gQFNOU (different quantities in order) for me and family members.
The only question I haven’t seen answered is if it is safe for you (and your phone) to use the phone’s camera to view the eclipse.
I told Larry he was more than welcome to leave his Kubota KX161-3 midi-excavator parked here, because I wanted to learn how to run one.
http://www.ritchiespecs.com/specification?type=con&category=Midi+Excavator&make=Kubota&model=KX161-3&modelid=93076
I want one too. And the wife says no freaking way, just an unneeded expense and another way to kill myself.
From the Backlash Against the “Community” Threat Department:
http://conservative-headlines.org/what-happens-when-the-races-are-reversed-in-a-police-shooting/
Somebody gimme a heads-up when white mobs begin pillaging and burning down Somali musloid “communities.”
there are several places where you can pay to play with large earth movers in giant dirt piles. Kind of summer camps for adults.
https://www.extremesandbox.com/
https://www.diggerlandusa.com/2016/posts/diggerlandxl_pr/
https://www.digthisvegas.com/
A bit more than I want to pay, but them seem to do a good business.
Cool ! You left out:
http://www.drivetanks.com/
I love living in Texas.
I was semi-surprised to hear several years ago that TP is Costco’s #1 seller (behind memberships, I assume). Of course, I don’t know what I would have guessed it to be. I saw some kind of profile on CNBC about the store and its founder a year or two before he retired. One of the segments showed someone from the company at the TP production plant giving them the what for on some quality control issue.
In the category of ‘know thyself,’ I recognize that I can easily get bogged down in details to the point of paralysis, so I try to avoid the detailed cost comparisons on stuff anytime I can. When I can, I find something I like and stick to it. We exclusively used Charmin Extra Strong until we decided to try the Costco stuff. I like it maybe 75% as much as the Charmin – the extra width was a welcome bonus though.
This topic seems to have generated almost as much interest as FLASHLIGHTS.
Can we devise a list of the top three in each category via accrued consent?
I am willing to do the same for works of literature needed to comprehend Western civ, forex…
Or my top three recommended poems.
Or top three chili or burger recipes.
Whatevuh.
Just wait. My plan is next to start on feminine hygiene products. I can already see all of you guys slinking from the room…
A couple of ppl recently mentioned landline phone service. About 18 months ago, we switched both home and office to Ooma. Personally, I would never have a VoIP service tied to either a phone or cable company. Now, all I need is a pipe to the internet and I have phone service on our ‘landline’ number – all for less than $5/mo. I bought both Telo devices used on craigslist (although I think I can refer someone for a discount on new units). And the features are nice vs. POTS – we get a text and/or e-mail when a message is left at either phone, can use an app for free internet calls (although never tried), have our office fax on a satellite device, have access to the NoMoRoBo database and much more. FYI & YMMV…
“So, was the septic tank actually full ? Or was it just a clog between the basement and the septic tank ?”
There was definitely a clog upstream of the septic intake. Whether or not the tank was full, I couldn’t say. My understanding is that one expects it to be pretty full of water, with a mat of solids floating on it. We definitely had that. When Larry stuck in a probe, the mat snarled at him and tried to yank it out of his hands. At any rate, the tank is empty now.
“My septic tank at the office has four access ports. Three concrete lift off and one screw down blue plastic (the chlorine injector). All are two foot in diameter. I need to ask the septic tank guy why there are four ports.”
Ours has three ports. The intake side has a square manhole-type cover a couple feet on a side. Then there’s a baffle dividing the two halves of the tank laterally. Supposedly, all the solid stuff stays on the intake side, and only liquid goes across the baffle to the outgo ports (the field lines). In reality, everyone tell us, both sides end up with both liquid and solid mat in them. The third port is a bit smaller and in the middle of the tank between the in and out access hatches. They tell me it’s a vent.
Tim sucked out both the in and out hatches. When I looked down in, I couldn’t see anything left. He used something that looked like a Godzilla gasoline weed-whacker stuck down the hatches, I’m guessing to knock stuff off that was adhering.
I was fine until the word “adhering”.
gak
n
Ray, you’re supposed to WIPE with the corn cob, not shove it in…
Well there’s the problem. Who would have thought? I guess that is where the expression “You walk like you have a corn cob up your ass” came from. Me, I just figured those where the instructions.
I also tried a horse drawn plow,
Why would you wipe with a plow, Mr. Ray? That’s some crusty shit you got.
Why would you wipe with a plow, Mr. Ray?
Because the hay baler was broken.
I saw “Valerian” at the movies last night. An over hyped, over animated, over green screened, hot mess. I can’t see this going anywhere. There were 10 people in the theater with me. The lead male actor has these weird dark pouches under his eyes and talks like Keanu Reeves. The lead female, Cara whats-her-name, delivered her lines OK, but has no on-screen presence. The chemistry beween the two leads, supposedly in love, was non existent. The visuals were cool, but way over the top. Luc Beeson did “The 5th Element” and doubled down on the futuristic Blade Runneresque future. I didn’t like it.
“Battle of the Billionaires: Poll reveals Zuckerberg would TIE with Trump if he ran for 2020 election as speculation mounts he will run for president after his heavily-publicized tour of the USA”
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4717930/Zuckerberg-TIE-Trump-ran-election.html
“UTI for everyone” will be his campaign slogan. Wait, wait, wait, that is “UBI for everyone”.
UTI = urinary tract infection
UBI = universal basic income
Hat tip to:
http://drudgereport.com/
Toilet paper, corncobs, septic tanks, Faceberg; yep, I can see the trend here.
@SVJeff; maybe a short summary in the other prepping thread where Mr. nick posts stuff? I’d like to know more. Ooma, Telo devices, how it all works together, etc. WRT your other question elsewhere about how the supplements are working:
Only a few days into it; I’ve lost a bit more weight, but the back and mobility stuff is not much better; I was gonna say “worse than ever,” but I’ve had much worse, and not that long ago. Bad enough so I wondered how great it would be at making people confess to anything under interrogation. I can stand and walk for short distances and all the chores and tasks around the house take me three times longer than normal.
I wouldn’t figure on seeing anything different for a couple of more weeks; I’m taking six vitamins/supplements plus the Gabapentin and BP med.
Did Frances and Al have to discard the contents of their fridge?
“I would have ordered four or five dozen, but Barbara would freak.”
Don’t tell her.
David Hardy wrote:
“So there is no reason they can’t get the checks out in TWO weeks instead of three or four or five.”
As I learned in first year anthropology…
It’s all about control.
Did you have to ditch many books? Were any of them ones you would rather have kept?
Lynn wrote:
“And we have tested the new line very well.”
You never mentioned that you had the Clinton Crime Family as guests down there… 🙂
I think Barbara discarded maybe 100 hardbacks, but I have no idea which they were. She just wanted them out of the house and was piling them into black plastic contractor bags faster than I could look at them.
“She just wanted them out of the house and was piling them into black plastic contractor bags faster than I could look at them.”
Been there and done that, thanks to two separate flooded basements at our house back in Montpeculiar years ago. Best not to know what got tossed, but I do know I lost a bunch of family and mil-spec pictures, my stamp collections, and of course, books I’d rather have kept.
“Just wait. My plan is next to start on feminine hygiene products. I can already see all of you guys slinking from the room…”
hehehe…
I’m not the least bit embarrased by that topic.
In 1976, in my first year at Adelaide University, one of the local feminists suggested in the student magazine using natural sponges for dealing with menstruation, rather than tampons and panty liners. Presumably to save money and be kinder to the environment. The suggestion was NOT well received by some of the female students, who thought the topic should not be discussed in a magazine that men also read…
I heard of a woman who dropped a box of tampons on the bus. Tampons went EVERYWHERE! What did our heroine do? Nothing. No way would she admit that the tampons were hers…
When I played Spades on the Internet back in about 2001 one day I was partnering a woman against two other wimminz. One of the opposing wimin said “Can we have a break at the end of this hand? I’ve been on a diet for a month and I think I’m getting my period, so I want to get some chocolate.” My partner went apeshit, “WE DID NOT NEED TO KNOW THAT!!! Sorry partner (to me)”.
I’m not disgusted or embarrased or horrified by this stuff – it’s just part of nature.
Re: Ruined Books. That’s why restaurants are not allowed to store anything on the floor; minimum 8″ clearance. And the drains are supposed to have an air gap.
[snip] I’m not disgusted or embarrased or horrified by this stuff – it’s just part of nature. [snip]
I agree, as necessary and natural as urination, defecation, and sex drive. Those who preach shame of such things do no one any good.
hehehe…
Most wimminz don’t see it that way. The first time I saw an ad for tampons or pads was in 1982 while I was watching TV with my sister. She just said “wimminz don’t like ads like this.”
The time I was playing Spades on the Internet my “partner” said she thought I was very broadminded. “Most guys freak out” when it gets mentioned.
I got talking with another woman about this. At first she wouldn’t even use the words “tampon” or “panty liner”. She called them “girls things”. Eventually she relaxed and used the proper terminology. This sort of embarrased reaction fascinates me.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-07-22/minneapolis-police-chief-resigns-over-justine-damond-shooting/8733932
While we get to watch ads for tampons, pads, panty liners, Midol, and douches….all claiming how great they are, none should be on TV… but hey, they are so where are the ads for condoms?
Since we are almost in the gutter do include specs for “this” brand fits “that” size.
And DON”T put that on TV.
Sheesh, I can cuss like a sailor. I suppose. My dad was a Marine, so…. but I don’t buy t-shirts with witty sayings if they cuss. Why would one wear a shirt in public with the f-bomb or #hit or … you know what I mean…. words you would not say in front of your mother unless you just smashed your thumb with a hammer. There are kids in public and hopefully they can read.
While growing up saying “darn” got ya a bar of soap in the mouth and probably a beating, too. Along with a lecture for being vulgar and taking the Lord’s name in vain (eye roll, he made the words, right?).
Anyway. 105F for the high today, down to 102F. Summer in Texas!!!!
@SVJeff; maybe a short summary in the other prepping thread where Mr. nick posts stuff?
Fine by me but I’m unfamiliar with the thread of which you ‘speak’
My last actual post was http://www.ttgnet.com/journal/2017/07/17/nick-post-quick-response-to-article-becomes-a-post-about-selling-stuff-online/
and more about selling than specific prepping.
Put your good idea in any comment, and the search feature should find it. If the moon is in the right spot…
n
i’ve had vonage for years and it’s not cheap. Started cheap, but then the feds got involved.
Aw, consarndablangit, that was supposed to be a secret thread that only the cool kids knew about. And now someone’s told SVJeff.
i’ve had vonage for years and it’s not cheap. Started cheap, but then the feds got involved.
The Feds didn’t do as much damage as the Telecom Co-Dominium suing and winning patent infringement cases against Vonage.
The Co-Dominium nearly let the old Bell Labs building get torn down for condos, but they’ll enforce every single one of the patents which came out of the place for as long as possible.
Eating the seed corn. Catabolic collapse. Sell the steel mills for scrap…..
n
Cool ! You left out:
http://www.drivetanks.com/
I love living in Texas.
I’ve wondered about DriveTanks.com. They advertise fairly heavily during the conservative talk programs. If you go, be sure to post pictures.
Public service: I-35 will be a mess this weekend at the Oltorf (South Congress) exit in Austin, closed in both directions from 11 PM until 10 AM on Friday and Saturday nights. What fun! Thank you TxDOT.
[snip] but hey, they are so where are the ads for condoms? [snip]
Around here, on giant banners being tugged slowly through the air by small planes, up and down the beach. But I’m told the ads can be found on television, too. I don’t know if the conventional over the air broadcasters will take them, but the cable channels will.
[snip] While growing up saying “darn” got ya a bar of soap in the mouth and probably a beating, too. [snip]
My dad would have been a multiple time gold medal winner, were cussing an Olympic sport. I don’t fly nearly as much as he did, but there were no repercussions in my household.
WRT highway closings and hassles; an annual summer fun sport up here; warm weather is the only time they can get a lot of this stuff done, supposedly, so roads all over the state are getting fixed or re-paved. Plus the five-year bridge projects underway at any given time. Oftentimes we find out it’s going down to one lane or that anything at all is going on ahead in the last hundred yards before hitting it. Lots of assholes like to keep speeding in the fast lane until the last possible second and then cut in.
And the classic scene as you pass it: ten guys sorta just hanging out and lounging about and one guy on a jackhammer or running some other machine. A dozen big vehicles parked, maybe one is lit up and might be moving. They got this whole routine dicked. Can’t even imagine what the pay is, like on a weekend or overnight?
Back to the five-day kitchen cleanup project tomorrow, I guess. I suspect if I wasn’t messed up, I could have had it all done in one day. But I keep my mouth shut, as discretion is the bettah paht of valluh. With the other sex, they’re always late, w/o fail, and everything always takes longer, often a LOT longer.
Now that I’ve triggered half the human race, I’m off to my own safe space.
Well, SteveF, how do I find the words to thank you for making sure *everyone* on the interweb now has access to the fact that I’m not considered one of the cool kids?
From the General in the White House Department:
“I’d actually go further now than the “soft coup d’état” scenario that has Trump run over by the 25th amendment. It will happen, of course, but it will not satisfy anybody. Mike Pence will prove to be as ineffectual and unpopular as Trump, and he will be drowning in financial and fiscal problems, and he will get no help from the legislature in resolving any of it, and before too long there may be a general in the White House — or attempting to run things from someplace else, if he can. The whole nauseating spectacle will be attended by violent popular revolt of region against region and tribe against tribe in a great civil explosion of long-suppressed angst.”
http://kunstler.com/clusterfuck-nation/meow/
I’d actually go further now than the “soft coup d’état” scenario that has Trump run over by the 25th amendment. It will happen, of course, but it will not satisfy anybody.
Take Kunstler with a grain of salt. He wants to sell his SHTF fiction.
2/3 of the House would have to vote Trump out under the 25th amendment, and there would be hell to pay for many of the Republicans when they got home. The #1 goal of those guys is to be reelected.
Mike Pence will prove to be as ineffectual and unpopular as Trump, and he will be drowning in financial and fiscal problems, and he will get no help from the legislature in resolving any of it, and before too long there may be a general in the White House
No general wants to sit in the White House. They want the freedom to fly down to JB Mac Dill, play a little golf, have a steak with a bottle of wine at Bern’s, and get their kink on with Muslim Brotherhood sleeper cell agents (paging Jill Kelly) in a mansion on Bayshore. All “official business” at taxpayer expense, no Secret Service agents watching their every move.
Yes, that is true of Kunstler; wife has met him and wasn’t too impressed. He lives in, or did live in, Saratoga Springs, and had a recent marriage to another writer that seems to have ended. Short one, too.
I hear ya on the generals; officers are not only not liked but actively hated by my vets group. If I was in charge I’d reverse-decimate the flag ranks and probably most of the colonels, too. tRump oughta hit them even harder than he’s hit the VA bureaucracy so far.
Back in Nashville to help the son get closet doors installed. Another long day. Came in Friday to go to Home Depot to get the doors. Web site said there were 10 doors in stock, on sale for half price. Could not find them. Store clerk could not find them. Manager could not find them. The manager finally called someone at home who told the manager where the doors were located. Top shelf, in the plywood department, still in the shipping boxes. Took an hour and a half to get that all done. Worth it for a price drop from $98 for each set of doors to $50 for each set of doors. Needed 9 sets of doors so the discount was substantial. Also used my VA status to get an additional $53 off the total price.
Damn hot in Nashville. After arriving at son’s house got out of the truck and the cooling fans for the radiators were screaming at full speed. I have never seen, or heard, that happening before. Thought something was wrong. Nope. Just two fans maxed out. Lot of stuff to cool, coolant, inter-cooler, oil and transmission fluid. That involves moving a lot of air.
Supposed to be hotter today. But will be working indoors. This should be the last major project in the house for awhile. All that is left is trim painting and some touch up.
No thanks needed. It’s all part of our usual stellar service.
After arriving at son’s house got out of the truck and the cooling fans for the radiators were screaming at full speed. I have never seen, or heard, that happening before. Thought something was wrong. Nope. Just two fans maxed out. Lot of stuff to cool, coolant, inter-cooler, oil and transmission fluid. That involves moving a lot of air.
Your F-150 has electric radiator fans ?
officers are not only not liked but actively hated by my vets group.
Hey!
“Hey!”
Especially the quiche-eating aviator types.
Youse guys are mental midgets compared to quiche eaters.
“‘officers are not only not liked but actively hated by my vets group.’
Hey!”
So it’s been since at least WWII and probably WWI. I remember my dad (a navigator on a B-17) saying that whenever he and his buddies encountered ground pounders who’d been pulled off the line and given a rest in Britain, the infantry guys harrassed the aviators mercilessly, and only partially in jest. The resented the fact that the aviators came home every night, ate in a formal mess rather than a field kitchen, etc. etc.
The aviators would point out that they also flew into Germany on every mission and faced both FlaK and swarms of fighters, while a typical infantryman never saw a live German soldier. There was some real resentment between the groups, even though at the time both were US Army.
OTOH, I’ve heard infantry guys sing the praises of the Air Force guys flying P-47’s, A-10’s, and other ground-attack aircraft. They’re always happy to see those guys show up,. whether they’re carrying rockets, napalm, or 30mm Gatling guns.
Oh, yeah. How could I forget the chopper pilots and crews? They’re heroes to the groundpounders, whether they’re flying gunships or dustoff runs or medevac.
So long as they fire on the correct target. American aviators and artillerymen are notorious for shooting anything they see. I was never fired upon by nominally friendly aircraft, but have come under artillery fire when there was no nominal enemy anywhere near.
“American aviators and artillerymen are notorious for shooting anything they see.”
All nations’ aviators and artillerymen are notorious for shooting anything they see.
FIFY
Your F-150 has electric radiator fans ?
Yep. Two big fans that have adjustable speeds.
Back in my day and currently, I’ve heard ground guys say “Make it rain” WRT ground-support/attack aircraft. They sure loved Spooky and Puff. I reckon they still do.
Young sergeant OFD got to ride and fire from this bad boy a few times thanks to General Attrition:
http://warfarehistorynetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/The-AC-130-Gunship-and-the-Vietnam-War-3.jpg
The other enlisted scum crew members were E-7s and up, vets of previous deployments there and in Korea and WWII. I was the baby-san.
American aviators and artillerymen are notorious for shooting anything they se
Tuco
Your F-150 has electric radiator fans ?
Yep. Two big fans that have adjustable speeds.
Cool ! I did not know that. My 2005 v8 5.4L Expedition has a big ass motor fan. No idea how much hp it draws but I am betting a lot.
No idea how much hp it draws but I am betting a lot.
I would wager your fan has a thermal clutch and at highway speeds there is very little load on the engine.
Most are going to electric fans. It is easier to regulate the temperature by controlling the fan speed. At highway speeds the fans never come on as there is enough airflow. The fans also allow for more space under the hood as they don’t consume as much space as engine driven fan. And at low speeds it is possible to still move a lot of air through the various radiators. Belt driven fans are becoming a thing of the past.
[snip] All nations’ aviators and artillerymen are notorious for shooting anything they see. [snip]
My dad, a Korean War vet, used to say “Friendly fire isn’t.”