Warmish and damp. Probably. [71F and 99%RH with moisture condensing on the ground]
I did get some things done yesterday but no work outside. Didn’t think I could leave the sisters un-supervised. Especially after the slapping each other nonsense… School’s back today, so Hurrah!
This is a crazy week for me though, short because of the holiday, then two mornings of volunteer work, and then it’s basically over again. Jeez.
But enough of that. I’ve got stuff to do before the plague gets here. One case in Beaumont confirmed. 7 transited through on their way to BL-4 in Omaha… Anyone else notice that the one single cruise ship now has more cases than the whole rest of the world ex-china? Wait for Africa and India to start checking in with what MUST already be there. Then central and south america- there’s no shortage of chinese there either.
Lots to do, but only if the rain holds off. If we get rain today and tomorrow, I’ll have to shift gears.
Keep stacking folks.
n
Greater Idaho?
The map pretty much sums up the political situation in Oregon, but the SW corner already has a much older political movement to merge with NW CA to form the state of Jefferson.
The other problem with the map is that the Progs end up unable to defend their Columbia Gorge and Eugene-to-Canada I5 Corridor stronghold unless they control La Grande. Even lefties up there hunt and know these things.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/02/17/oregon-idaho-border-petition-secede/4789936002/
That was weird, I was halfway through a comment and – poof – it evaporated. Browser brainfart, I suppose.
I was meandering around two ideas. First, Bloomberg seems to want to find out whether or not you can buy an election. I wonder if the sheer quantity of his advertising may piss people off. If that starts to happen, even the most oblivious voter could start to turn on him.
I also wanted to – wait for it – praise Bernie. The man at least appears to sincerely believe what he says. A sincere politician is a rare thing, and surely should be in a museum somewhere. Which is part of the problem of modern politics: too many politicians are so ancient that they really ought to be in museums, and not in office. Bernie, Trump, Hillary – heck, who remembers Strom Thurmond? Seems to me that an upper age limit, or at least a mandatory cognitive test, would be entirely appropriate.
Hmmm…mandatory cognitive test. That might also be useful to eliminate the truly stupid, like Maxine Waters, before they ever get elected.
I also wanted to – wait for it – praise Bernie. The man at least appears to sincerely believe what he says.
Please. He doesn’t believe it any more than Mao, Stalin, or Castro did. While everyone is watching Bernie, no one is paying attention to Mrs. Bernie stashing the payola checks as the campaign’s designated media buyer.
During the last run at the Presidency, this racket made Bernie a millionare, somewhere in the tens of millions. This time, Bernie and frau are shooting for “tres commas”. Hundred-millionare at a minimum.
Bernie Bros are the classic Useful Idiots.
Keep in mind the timeline for the wuflu, the cruise ship is in it’s 13th day of quarantine.
O to
500542 infected in 2 weeks.n
From yesterday:
You have said that before. I will take this into consideration as I work on my heat pump design. Totally unacceptable if I can’t use a thermostat of my choice.
You have said that before. I will take this into consideration as I work on my heat pump design. Totally unacceptable if I can’t use a thermostat of my choice.
Not the 20 SEER units from Carrier or Trane.
Comfort Link isn’t the problem nearly as much as Nexia. You can buy a non-Nexia Honeywell-designed ComfortLink II thermostat on EBay, but good luck getting a Trane dealer to install it properly.
Trane and Carrier get away with it because people have gadgetitis and want the ability to run their AC from their phone binkies.
Also, here in Texas, I believe an incentive is involved from Oncor to push the Nexia thermostats since they could be retrofitted to allow centralized control of home temperatures from ERCOT, the non-profit in the state who runs the power grid and handles settlements of money flows in the deregulated energy market.
Sunshine, calm winds, 21°F.
There has been a discussion about HVAC systems for the past few days. In the 41-years we have been in this home we have been Lenox (add in 20 more years Lenox years from when I was a kid). Our current system is 10-years old (heat pump with multispeed compressor and fans, goes from 1/2 to 3-ton rating). We have planned service done every 6-months that costs $18/month. As long as we keep it the original warranties remain in effect. Our Lenox dealer has been in business for 35-years and most employees are well seasoned. He likes to hire kids from programs at the local community college, apprentices them and pays them well. The service people are honest and don’t try to upsell the latest gadget. Most of our neighbors have switched to Lenox because of our experience. The only ones who haven’t are mainly the homes owned by rental managers who go cheap and it shows by unhappy renters (turnover) and constant (well frequent) presence of, particularly Trane, service trucks.
WA State Department of Health says they have 712 people under “supervision” for the coronavirus. No explanation of what “supervision” is or where these people are, just a “statewide” mention.
In further WA State looniness, the Legislature has a bill, expected to pass, that will not allow cities with greater than 15,000 people to require that areas zoned “single-family” only allow single-family dwellings. The proposal has backed off totally requiring all zoning be multi-family.
The dumbocrats/socialists in our Federal and State Gooberments are really pushing for the elimination of private single-family dwellings of any sort.
Think you own your home? No, you don’t, even if it is paid off. This frog has long boiled because of property taxes, eminent domain, and “it ain’t fair”. Also applicable along this line is all of your assets.
Be afraid, be very afraid. It is no wonder that the sheeple are voicing their support for Bernie Sanders.
Think me crazy, well I hope to be proven wrong but the current direction and group-think indicate otherwise.
Wishing you all fair winds and following seas.
Yeah, Bernie is a fraud. Remember he has three houses. Flys private because that’s the only way he will save the FUSA. Wifey destroyed a college. Career politician. Old. White. Decrepit. Commie, but only if he is in charge for life.
This was inevitable. Darden knew they wouldn’t get away with the change, and it was part of the decision making process to get rid of Red Lobster. The labor cost of making and serving the biscuits in unlimited quantities was getting out of control.
Biscuits and crab legs. Automation of the preparation isn’t possible with either one, and, even if it was, the serving is still a manual process. With $15 minimum wage becoming increasingly standard in the country (even FL is considering it), any manual process in a restaurant is under intense scrutiny.
https://wyrk.com/red-lobster-changes-their-policy-on-cheddar-bay-biscuits/
Think you own your home? No, you don’t, even if it is paid off. This frog has long boiled because of property taxes, eminent domain, and “it ain’t fair”. Also applicable along this line is all of your assets.
Imputed income tax will resurface the next time the Progs return to power. Obama had to get Porkulus and Obamacare through before he lost Congress.
In further WA State looniness, the Legislature has a bill, expected to pass, that will not allow cities with greater than 15,000 people to require that areas zoned “single-family” only allow single-family dwellings. The proposal has backed off totally requiring all zoning be multi-family.
Seattle’s quainter neighborhoods experiencing gentrification spring immediately to mind, but sooner or later, Oregon will succeed in pushing Portland’s light rail fiasco into Vancouver, and developers would probably love to have density increase along corridors where light rail would be easiest to build in the city, specifically in the old quarries off 14 which were recently opened to development for single family density but no one can develop profitably with that zoning.
Knock on effects–
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/supply-chain-chaos-unfolds-major-chinese-ports-frozen-meat-containers-pile
Anyone think the companies SHIPPING the product will be paid? What next order effect will that have?
n
(Or maybe they’ve already been paid, we wouldn’t ship anything to china without 100% payment upfront when I worked for Bigcorp. In that case, the effect will be on the NEXT -missing- order.)
(Or maybe they’ve already been paid, we wouldn’t ship anything to china without 100% payment upfront when I worked for Bigcorp. In that case, the effect will be on the NEXT -missing- order.)
We’ve had really sketchy meat a few times from Sam’s and HEB in the last couple of months, especially pork products as “pig ebola” caused Smithfield to divert more output to China. Instead of being diverted overseas, the product will stay in the US.
I suspect the cheap pork is producers slaughtering ahead of any possible pig ebola infection. Kill them now and get what you can vs. wait too long, they get sick, and you get nothing.
Somewhere there are hog reports that would tell one way or another.
n
You have said that before. I will take this into consideration as I work on my heat pump design. Totally unacceptable if I can’t use a thermostat of my choice.
Not the 20 SEER units from Carrier or Trane.
Comfort Link isn’t the problem nearly as much as Nexia. You can buy a non-Nexia Honeywell-designed ComfortLink II thermostat on EBay, but good luck getting a Trane dealer to install it properly.
My 3 ton Ruud air conditioner 16 SEER with a natural gas furnace and ductwork cost me $8,000 for my home addition in 2015. Parts, installation, everything. The Carrier contractor was $500 more.
Knock on effects–
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/supply-chain-chaos-unfolds-major-chinese-ports-frozen-meat-containers-pile
I didn’t notice the Tyler Durden byline until I went back to that window just now. I wonder who really wrote that article.
Geesh. I don’t keep up. When did Dell buy RSA?
https://www.zdnet.com/article/dell-technologies-sells-rsa-to-symphony-technology-group-consortium-for-2-075-billion/
At one point, RSA’s salespeople tried to have me fired from the Death Star when I caught them building BSAFE — a library for which we paid $1 million a year for support and upgrades — by wrapping OpenSSL functions. The Freshers who did the “work” forgot to make the original OpenSSL functions static, and the symbols from libBSAFE conflicted with our own build of OpenSSL linked into the application.
$2 billion seems a bit high for that outfit.
My systems are 20 years old and still running. A friend owns an AC company, and he tells me truth about issues. I’ve had motors, capacitors, and evap coils replaced over the years.
I’m sure I could get a much more efficient system (and might have to soon if one dies completely) but for now, not making a payment wins over lower efficiency.
Commie, but only if he is in charge for life.
I would be Commie if I could be in charge.
Remember, Uncle Joe said it did not matter who voted for whom, but it mattered who counted the votes.
Think you own your home? No, you don’t, even if it is paid off. This frog has long boiled because of property taxes, eminent domain, and “it ain’t fair”. Also applicable along this line is all of your assets.
Imputed income tax will resurface the next time the Progs return to power. Obama had to get Porkulus and Obamacare through before he lost Congress.
Nah, we are going to get Federal Property Taxes from President AOC in 2025.
I know, I know, despair is a sin.
Re pork prices – I’ve been speculating for several years that the relatively low pork prices except for premium cuts are directly related to the popularity of bacon, bacon, everything – that’s only a small part of the pig for which they charge a premium price, they’ve got to move the rest of the animal somehow.
Nah, we are going to get Federal Property Taxes from President AOC in 2025.
Imputed income could arguably be taxed under the 16th Amendment. That was what Gore’s lackeys argued in 2000 when debating the merits of the approach vs. a VAT or wealth tax.
A wealth tax/property tax would arguably require another amendment … unless John Roberts decides to teach another lesson to voters about making foolish choices.
We’ll see if Shot Girl survives her primary challenge this year. The Congresswoman isn’t bringing home the pork, and even if she survives to re-election, she’s on the bubble when NY loses 2-3 House seats after the census results are tabulated.
If Schumer retires (big *IF* with the ego there), Shot Girl could go for that seat in 2022, similar to how Obama went for a Senate seat two years before running for President, but a *lot* of Dems, most with a proven track record of bringing home the Federal/state/city budget bacon, have that ambition in NY.
Speaking of pork, I just broke down and vac sealed 3 pounds of bacon for the freezer, along with 3 pounds of center cut pork loin chops, 2 pounds of beef tenderloin, and almost 3 pounds of lamb roast. (I did 3 pounds of bacon yesterday for the fridge for this week’s breakfasts.)
I’ve still got to break down the 10# pork loin into chops and roasts, but I have to get to the bank and the post office.
I’m trying to decide if I should make sausage, or carnitas from the pork butt I have in the fridge. It’s not quite enough for my sausage recipe, and that’s a lot of work anyway.
I’ve got several pounds of ground chuck that I’ve decided to brown before freezing in one pound lumps. That will save some time on the dinner end of things later.
I buy the thick slice Hill Country Farms hickory smoked bacon (HEB house brand) at 24c / ounce. That’s vs. 38c or more per ounce for the premium brand. Not enough difference in taste to justify 1/2 more cost in the quantities we eat…
n
Nah, we are going to get Federal Property Taxes from President AOC in 2025.
Imputed income could arguably be taxed under the 16th Amendment. That was what Gore’s lackeys argued in 2000 when debating the merits of the approach vs. a VAT or wealth tax.
A wealth tax/property tax would arguably require another amendment … unless John Roberts decides to teach another lesson to voters about making foolish choices.
Nah, President’s AOC’s second new tax will be federal CO2 tax in the USA. The receipts in the first year will be $500 billion. The second year will be $1 trillion. The third year will be $2 trillion. The federal CO2 tax will double each year since it is a sin tax. I was presented this in a engineering seminar a decade ago, nobody in the crowd believed it at the time.
There’s no analysis like static analysis! Individuals’ and corporations’ spending and other decisions never change because of the tax or regulatory environment! Taxing inter-bank transfers at .1% won’t affect money flows and will generate trillions in revenue for hard-pressed governments everywhere!
There’s no analysis like static analysis! Individuals’ and corporations’ spending and other decisions never change because of the tax or regulatory environment! Taxing inter-bank transfers at .1% won’t affect money flows and will generate trillions in revenue for hard-pressed governments everywhere!
Ah, Doomberg’s new federal financial transaction tax.
https://thehill.com/policy/finance/483453-bloomberg-proposes-financial-transaction-tax
Are there any dumbocrats not proposing new taxes ?
“Why Trump has already secured a second term — no matter who his opponent is”
https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/483344-why-trump-has-already-secured-a-second-term-no-matter-who-his-opponent-is
“Obviously, anything can happen, and I am not suggesting that those who support other candidates shouldn’t bother to vote. But as Democrats narrow down their array of personalities and preferences, I think Trump’s path to a second term has far more to do with him than with them.”
“Here are seven ways I think Trump has already secured a second term”
The financial transaction tax is one of those bad ideas that keeps coming up, and will probably keep being proposed until it’s passed, at which point it will be permanent and unquestionable.
It was being pitched twenty years ago, when I was working in financial cryptography, and it probably wasn’t new then. I didn’t know that Doomturd had brought it up but it doesn’t matter. It keeps coming up and the face of the idiot proposing it isn’t important.
“Why Trump has already secured a second term — no matter who his opponent is”
If the Dems dumped the wheezebags and presented a clear contrast as they did in 1992, I could see Trump being a one term President. Otherwise, he’s headed towards reelection.
My local Home Depot has N95 masks! I checked at the weekend and the shelves were empty.
“Trump commutes sentence of ex-Illinois Gov. Blagojevich, pardons ex-NY police commissioner Kerik, ex-49ers owner DeBartolo — and Michael Milken”
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/18/trump-expected-to-grant-clemency-to-rod-blagojevich-bernard-kerik.html
Looks like Trump is cleaning out the federal prisons today.
Hat tip to:
http://drudgereport.com/
My local Home Depot has N95 masks! I checked at the weekend and the shelves were empty.
The Snake Flu (WuFlu) is not serious here in the USA. Yet.
Buy them at your own risk. And what was the cost ?
I already had some, and I bought a single 5-pack for $7.49. It’s been a year since I bought any and I don’t remember the price.
I got the job, BTW 🙂
I have a comment to make about the recruiter’s contract terms, but I think I’ll wait on that until after I’m settled in to the position.
I got the job, BTW
Congrats !
“Trump commutes sentence of ex-Illinois Gov. Blagojevich, pardons ex-NY police commissioner Kerik, ex-49ers owner DeBartolo — and Michael Milken”
Eddie DeBartolo was always questionable. Thank You Johnny Reno.
The 49ers are on the rise again, and DeBartolo is probably involved with the Tampa effort for next year’s Super Bowl. Prior to the criminal charge (not reporting a felony), he was the model for the modern NFL owner.
Hopefully making room for Hillary and her entourage.
Currently in Jackson MS on the way home. Stopping for the night after 8 hours of driving. Only 7 more hours driving (more like 8 with stops) to get home. Will leave by 8:00 AM to hopefully arrive by 4:00 PM. So far 2,800 miles on this trip with about 490 miles to go on this journey. Room was only $18.00 with our rewards from Hotels.com. Holiday Inn Express so I should be something better and slightly brighter than the dimmest bulb in the chandelier. At least according to the advertisements.
The HVAC estimator came by today. We’ll be replacing the whole system (heat pump plus air handler, themostat, and whatever else) with a 3-ton Trane XV20i and the ComfortLink thermostat. Total cost will be about $14K, less some local utility rebates and a credit for the $120 after-hours diagnostic last evening. Work will start on Friday, and should only take one day.
Original system is 21 years old. Air handler fan is drawing too much current, causing a thermal timeout/reset – which probably also caused the starting capacitor to start to fail. Outside heat pump (with R-22) has a very slow leak; had to replace 1-2 gallons of refrigerant two years ago, and R-22 is not going to be available much longer.
We could have replaced the air handler fan for about $1K, but the age of the system is such that replacement is the better option. New system has 2x efficiency of old system (up to 21 SEER; old system was about 10SEER), so expect some energy savings long term.
In the meantime, hunkered down in the den, which has a door, so we can keep the heat from the space heater at a comfortable level. It gets moved to the bedroom at night. So temps in the den are about 68-72F. The rest of the house is currently at about 58F.
The company putting in the system is well-established in the area; they put in the original system 21 years ago when the house was built. Other than the expected end-of-life failure and the slow leak, the system has been OK. Hoping that the new system will provide more efficient heat (and the occasional AC during our ‘hot’ summers of up to 85F). Remote access to the thermostat will be nice after the trips to see the grandkids – we can get the house warmed up by the time we get home after leaving it at 55F while we are gone. Don’t expect problems with the new thermostat; the technician told me that Trane has gotten the bugs out of the thermostat system.
I will do my own control system, because the HP will have to work with an existing solar thermal system. I will buy the equipment on line or through a friend who is a local HVAC dealer, and do my own installation. Warranties beyond manufacturing defects don’t mean much to me.
I probably don’t need a high SEER system, because it won’t see outdoor temps, and will be used as supplement to the solar system. Hopefully, the lowest temperature the “outdoor” unit will see is around 40F. I need to dig out my thermal calcs I did when we built the house. Those, plus operating data, will tell me if this will be practical.
Don’t expect problems with the new thermostat; the technician told me that Trane has gotten the bugs out of the thermostat system.
The bugs don’t bother me nearly as much as the Nexia system deliberately probing the ports on everything else connected to the network. I run ZoneLabs on a couple of the PCs around the house, and the firewall went bonkers on one machine the night after the Nexia was innstalled.
WiFi has been off on the Nexia ever since.
I have a comment to make about the recruiter’s contract terms, but I think I’ll wait on that until after I’m settled in to the position.
I think I get what happened. I won’t do a third party recruiter again. I currently make exactly what I made a decade ago at the Death Star.
That too. I’ll mention this again in a few weeks.