Week that is. I really can’t believe how fast they are going by.
70F and light misty drizzle. We are on the edge of a big system according to NOAA so whether we get weather depends on where the edge is exactly. I’m not gonna strain myself trying to figure it out. If it rains, it rains.
Prepping this week included continuing work on my second income stream for retirement (rent house.) I pretty much have to do the work myself at this point, having waited so long that if I pay a contractor, I’ll be net zero for the year. Lack of motivation and lots of other stuff to do got the best of me.
Other preps- picked up a grundig Yacht Boy shortwave radio for $6. Estate sales have been few, and yard sale season is just getting started. My sales have been slow on ebay, and the surplus auctions have been slow and with fewer good items for me. Competition for items has increased too. I’ve got ‘inventory’ I need to list and sell stacked up everywhere, so I really don’t need to buy.
Garden is growing. Blueberries are coming in. Grapevines are green and growing, maybe I’ll get grapes this year. I guess I missed the lime trees when they were in the store… stuff is only in stock for a few days. Stores seem reluctant to stock much or keep it in the store for long. Hmm. Another sign of the real economy?
My thrift stores seem to be running down their inventory too. Could be hangover from Harvey, with everyone just throwing out stuff, could be fewer people are willing to donate. It would be interesting to hear from the rest of the country if thrifts are low on stock…
Found my first flashlight destroyed by leaking kirkland batteries. One of the costco $5 specials that I keep in the console of the truck leaked, and completely destroyed the 3-battery holder. Without the holder the flashlight is parts. It gets high heat and no use, but it’s still disappointing. Time to go thru all the stored and deployed battery stuff and check and update….
Ordered and received 3 tourniquets. Prepped and put them with my first aid kits. Better to have a real TQ, than to improvise one from a bungie cord (although, hooray for the guy who did.) I wonder how many fire extinguishers have been needed at yahoo hq vs. traumatic bleeding control in the last month… I know, the preceding months, and the following months will be different than this month, but– doesn’t it make sense to have some bleeding control handy?
March 31 was StopTheBleed day. If you didn’t follow the links I posted previously, do a quick search and learn something. You could be sitting at Carls Jr and suddenly need the skills.
What have y’all done this week?
n
If you want reliable batteries in an emergency light, one you know you need to rely on for working, skip the alkaline batteries completely. All brands will suffer leakage. Instead get some lithium AA batteries and install those batteries. They do not leak and have a very long shelf life. More expensive but a decent trade off for reliability. This is especially true for the expensive lights. Although my Surefire lights require CR123 batteries which are lithium.
34º and snowing now.
Preps: Not a darned thing beyond keeping current with upcoming work. It’s a job and a half, but it’s a job.
I shouldn’t say that I did nothing – I do have plenty of prep with the wife. Teaching her to do the 2nd-income job I do. It’s not terribly difficult, but you do have to pay attention and be able to deal with things as they come up. She’ll be fine.
I don’t recall seeing any of my batteries being bad lately. This surprises me, because some of those flashlights sit a long time. But thanks, Ray, for the recommendation. I’ll put Lithiums in the truck, trailer, wife’s car, and other places where the “we need it” flashlights are stored. We don’t use them much.
Oh – “and another one gone. Another one bites the dust.”
‘..hey hey…’
n
I recently bought a Fenix FD30. Can’t remember who now, but someone on this forum recommended that brand to me about a dozen years ago. Bought one then, but unlocatable now. (I cannot admit to losing anything.)
Creating CO2 as fast as they can by burning thousands of tires:
When are Gov. Moonbeam, Obamanous, and AlGore going to ask for the entire elimination of Hamassholes?
I’m reading a book which has somehow escaped my notice over the last 40 years, Philip Wylie’s _Generation of Vipers_. Writing is dense, wonderful, poetic and at times, hysterically lugubrious (on purpose): at one point he covered half a page with a single sentence!
Absolutely required reading for gentle skeptics or cynics, and his theses are just as valid to day as they were in 1942, or moreso.
Seeing as OFD probably read it prior to his conversion, I probably won’t send him a copy, but he’d love it anyway. Despite poking fun at all religions in general, it’s rather a pro-Christian book, in the same way Monty Python’s _Life of Brian_ was, though that fact escaped most people’s notice. Come to think of it, it might work as an audible… his prose scans well and trips off the tongue in places.
Despite poking fun at all religions in general, it’s rather a pro-Christian book, in the same way Monty Python’s _Life of Brian_ was, though that fact escaped most people’s notice.
For all the controversy it generated, “Dogma” was a love letter to Catholic doctrine.
I always figured that was why the flick seemed to upset Pentecostal types the most. A soft spot for Catholicism … and Chris Rock as the “lost” apostle, Rufus.
Thanks Greg, I’ll look for it. Chris Rock is funny.
One thing I noticed last night while reading _Generation_ was that JEP never mentioned him to my knowledge, and I read JEP from the olde days. Very odd, because they share many of the same views AND Wylie also wrote sci_fi.
Thanks Greg, I’ll look for it. Chris Rock is funny.
I almost forgot about George Carlin as a Cardinal seeking to bring Catholicism into the modern era.
And, yes, you can buy a “Buddy Christ” from Kevin Smith’s store.
(Watch the movie)
“The space race is over and SpaceX won”
https://www.cringely.com/2018/04/06/the-space-race-is-over-and-spacex-won/
“The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) recently gave SpaceX permission to build Starlink — Elon Musk’s version of satellite-based broadband Internet. The FCC specifically approved launching the first 4,425 of what will eventually total 11,925 satellites in orbit. To keep this license SpaceX has to launch at least 2,213 satellites within six years. The implications of this project are mind-boggling with the most important probably being that it will likely result in SpaceX crushing its space launch competitors, companies like Boeing and Lockheed Martin’s United Launch Alliance (ULA) partnership as well as Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin.”
Impressive, very impressive. However, I think that Cringely is a bit premature. The space race will be ongoing for many years, nay decades, to come.
“Communication with a geostationary satellite has a minimum theoretical round-trip latency of no less than 239 ms, but in practice, current such satellites offer latencies of 600 ms or more. Starlink satellites would orbit at 1/30 of geostationary orbits, and thus offer a practical latencies around 25 to 35 ms, comparable to currently existing cable or fiber networks.[39]”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starlink_(satellite_constellation)
Wow, Starlink is actually going to be usable. a 1 gpbs connection with a 35 ms latency is very usable.
and I won’t have to wait for fiber in front of my house. The 100+ strands in front of my house that I can’t have. grrr…
C’mon, Elon! Get it done already. Give Spectrum some competition I can rely on. Get broadband speed out to the middle of BFE and show ’em how it’s done!
… AND Wylie also wrote sci_fi.
The Disappearance
The back-cover blurb describes it best:
“The female of the species vanished on the afternoon of the second Tuesday of February at four minutes and fifty-two seconds past four o’clock, Eastern Standard Time. The event occurred universally at the same instant, without regard to time belts, and was followed by such phenomena as might be expected after happenings of that nature.
“On a lazy, quiet afternoon, in the blink of an eye, our world shatters into two parallel universes as men vanish from women and women from men. After families and loved ones separate from one another, life continues in very different ways for men and women, boys and girls. An explosion of violence sweeps one world that still operates technologically; social stability and peace in the other are offset by famine and a widespread breakdown in machinery and science. And as we learn from the fascinating parallel stories of a brilliant couple, Bill and Paula Gaunt, the foundations of relationships, love, and sex are scrutinized, tested, and sometimes redefined in both worlds. The radically divergent trajectories of the gendered histories reveal stark truths about the rigidly defined expectations placed on men and women and their sexual relationships and make clear how much society depends on interconnection between the sexes.
“Written over a half century ago yet brimming with insight and unsettling in its relevance today, The Disappearance is a masterpiece of modern speculative fiction. ”
Highly recommended.
I hope Airborne Wireless Network makes it. It could be operational much sooner, because it does not need satellites.
Impressive, very impressive. However, I think that Cringely is a bit premature. The space race will be ongoing for many years, nay decades, to come.
I think it is all over but the navel gazing for SLS, but Congress will find a way to protect ULA and, possibly, Blue Origin. I wouldn’t count out Orbital either — they have a VAB high bay lease for something, and obviously, based in Dulles, VA, have the advantage of friends in high places.
“On a lazy, quiet afternoon, in the blink of an eye, our world shatters into two parallel universes as men vanish from women and women from men. After families and loved ones separate from one another, life continues in very different ways for men and women, boys and girls.
Nowadays, 48 parallel universes would be needed. Maybe more. LGBTQXYZABC …
Prepping this week included continuing work on my second income stream for retirement (rent house.) I pretty much have to do the work myself at this point, having waited so long that if I pay a contractor, I’ll be net zero for the year. Lack of motivation and lots of other stuff to do got the best of me.
Is your rent house rented out ?
In my 25 years of owning rental property, the number one problem with rental property is keeping a lookout for that next tenant.
“The space race is over and SpaceX won”
https://www.cringely.com/2018/04/06/the-space-race-is-over-and-spacex-won/
You know, the USA ought to help fund this just as an extension of the Voice of America. It would be perfect for the users behind the Great Firewall of China, Venezuela, North Korea, etc, etc, etc.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voice_of_America
“Michelle Obama: Barack Was “the Good Parent,” Hillary Wasn’t Perfect”
https://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2018/04/06/michelle-obama-calls-husbands-presidency-good-parent-home/
Michelle Obama is not even qualified to be my mother. I have a mother and she is awesome. Not perfect, just awesome.
“Microsoft reorg, a week later” – Windows is no longer a division
https://www.petri.com/paul-thurrotts-short-takes-april-6
“Last week, Microsoft announced a blockbuster corporate reorganization that was ostensibly about focusing on the cloud and AI. But it was really about something else: Demoting Windows in shocking, unexpected ways.”
This may be good for the desktop. No, this cannot be good.
TSA new rules for pre-Check: any electronics larger than a cell phone has to come out and placed in a tray. Through the generosity of their hearts, you can still where your shoes, keep you liquids and have the privelage of walking through the metal detector. Why did I pay for this. F**king goons.
Nick Flandrey wrote:
“One of the costco $5 specials that I keep in the console of the truck leaked, and completely destroyed the 3-battery holder. Without the holder the flashlight is parts.”
Replacement 3xAAA battery holders can be found on eBay for about fifty cents each.
It’s also the easiest way to store spare batteries and quickest way to load them.
Ohhhh, thanks for the tip DrWilliams, and thanks for delurking!
n
_The Infinite Sea: The Second Book of the 5th Wave_ by Rick Yancey
https://www.amazon.com/Infinite-Sea-Second-Book-Wave/dp/1101996986/
Book number two of a three book young adult alien invasion series. I read the well formatted and printed trade paperback. I am reading the third book in the series now.
This book is just about the most depressing SF book that I have ever read. About 98% of the human race are dead and the last 2% are not doing very well. Implanted humans are shooting all humans in their assigned areas. The others are putting bombs in children of ages 3 to 5 and letting them loose in inhabited areas.
We spotted the Alien spaceship when it starting braking at Mars orbit. Ten days later, it went into orbit around the Earth. It was the size of Manhattan and circled at 250 miles up. All attempts at communication failed. Then the waves started.
The first wave: an EMP blast worldwide destroyed all electronics and electrical system. A million people were killed in planes and such.
The second wave: the others dropped a rock a mile wide into the ocean. The resulting tsunamis killed half of the world’s population who lived within 60 miles of a coastline.
The third wave: the others infected birds with a highly contagious disease with a 97% fatality rate for humans.
The fourth wave: the others implanted many of their kind into humans who started killing unimplanted humans. Trust no one !
The fifth wave: …
My rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Amazon rating: 4.4 out of 5 stars (1,496 reviews)
“Last week, Microsoft announced a blockbuster corporate reorganization that was ostensibly about focusing on the cloud and AI. But it was really about something else: Demoting Windows in shocking, unexpected ways.”
This may be good for the desktop. No, this cannot be good.
Redmond has Amazon envy. They’re even re-designing the campus to look like South Lake Union, where Bezos has his “Day One” lair -er- HQ.
@lynn,
currently unrented, as the bathroom is torn apart. I found water under the cracked floor tiles. That’s drying out, and then new subfloor and tile. REALLY need to get it rented. but can’t rent without a bathroom.
n
Usually when the cells leak they are leave corrosive chemicals within the light itself. Over time those chemicals will cause issues.
For a $5.00 light (with batteries) I would just toss the light and be done with the entire issue. I would not even use the old light for parts.