Hot hot hot. Humid. So humid.
Saturday was both kinds of miserable, hot and humid. So of course I had outdoor work to do. I picked up the pecans in the back yard- all waste from the squirrels eating them before they’re ready. And the dog bombs. Then cut the grass. With breaks, that took a couple of hours.
I hung a new solar motion light on the back of the garage. LED and lithium batteries are huge improvements over the one it replaces. The old one will get a new battery and be redeployed somewhere else, even though it’s lead acid an incandescent light bulbs. This will be the second battery replacement.
I also made ready a new motion LED light to replace my current incandescent floods in the back yard. They’re about to fail, and I don’t see the benefit of putting two new incan lamps in them. I did have to cut out the motion sensor, as I just want these lights to be switched. Since I got them super cheap at auction, there’s just a bit more work to do. It’s a simple matter of clipping 2 wires, and it’s done now. Unless they aren’t bright enough, or cause flickering in the cams, or noise in the RF band, I’ll put them up soon. Maybe today. I’ll save the incans for a bit until I’m sure I like them. They’ll be a bit cheaper to run at 40 watts total, instead of 200w, which was down from the 600w the fixtures came with.
Speaking of auctions, I won a couple of big batteries for my solar system last night. They are 12v 65AH SLA batteries and I got 2. They are supposed to be new, sitting on the shelf. Before fees I paid $40 each. They should be a good match for my big inverter, and will motivate me to get some panels up, and a charge controller for them. I missed a bunch more because I was eating dinner and not watching the bids. (4, NIB, at 12v and 55AH went for $35 each. I was crying when I realized I didn’t get to raise my bids.)
I also got some really heavy wire that should be good for battery connections, and some other industrial stuff like a lifetime supply of wire wheels for the benchtop grinder. I clean up a lot of rust, so I use up a lot of wheels. I should be good for a long time now.
Today I’m hoping to get a few more things knocked out around the house and garage. I’m sure it will be hot, so I’ll need breaks indoors to cool off.
The insurgents in Portland, Chicago, Atlanta, and elsewhere aren’t cooling off, in fact the conflicts are heating up with some people starting to push back. CWII could be about to go hot. What do you think the elections will look like if there is martial law in a dozen cities?
Keep stacking. Keep training. Keep your head on a swivel.
nick
And there goes Turkey…
Had their purchasing power cut in half in one year. If that doesn’t say “GET OUT!!” then what would?
How much money did the Fed print?
The media know we are one medium Gulf hurricane from serious ugly in Texas or Florida.
So, if Global Warming and sea level rise are a real thing, why do all the celebrities seem determined to not only live on the beach but skirt environmental laws designed to prevent erosion and limit public money used for disaster cleanup as well.
Obama is an extreme example, but I see similar stories in Florida papers regularly.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8631723/Planning-loopholes-bypass-coastal-protection-laws-Hawaii-compound-tied-Obama.html
I guess we know which TV show Obama watched obsessively in the early 80s. Don’t tell me that had nothing to do with the selection of the property.
We rented a home there several years back, long before Obummer’s time of fame. I think it’s the one you see in the upper left corner of the first picture. Yeah that sea wall was an annoyance as the beach just ended right there at the rocks. The whole thing was fenced and had thick foliage around it. The worst thing about that rental was they had peacocks on the property. You think roosters are bad at dawn.
I spoke too soon yesterday about the humidty here. Very hot and clouds built up all day resulting in 100+ temps with thunderstorms. Not much rain but good light and boom show. Not common here this time of year but they do happen. Hot 82f with high humidty at 6am. Predicted 110f but no rain they say.
We rented a home there several years back, long before Obummer’s time of fame. I think it’s the one you see in the upper left corner of the first picture. Yeah that sea wall was an annoyance as the beach just ended right there at the rocks. The whole thing was fenced and had thick foliage around it. The worst thing about that rental was they had peacocks on the property. You think roosters are bad at dawn.
I’m familiar with the sound. You’ll hear peacocks in less-developed coastal towns in FL, descendants of escapees from poorly-conceived farm schemes going back a century or more.
One farm sat on the site of what eventually became a perpetually dead mall in Clearwater, FL from the time it opened until the structure was demolished. We joked that the peacock connection, including being prominent in the mall logo, cursed the place, but the bad anchor tenant mix and Scientologists on the opposite corner probably had more to do with the eventual demise of the place.
http://skycity2.blogspot.com/2011/03/clearwater-mall-clearwater-fl.html
Nick, I probably don’t have to say this, but when you get those SLA batteries, check them for sulfation. Date of manufacture is a clue, and might be easy to see, but testing is better, especially if they were stored in your hot climate. Start with measuring the voltage. If the charge is low, the battery is likely sulfated. SLA batteries are very hard to desulfate, and some people say impossible. It won’t hurt to use your super smart high end charger (sorry, not meaning to be sarcastic, just not fully awake yet) as soon as you can.
While using that charger, take some break time to watch this guy:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLdImEedbzeWTzrv0s4-tvQAPtbWN_6IX2
Full playlist on his stationary batteries.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lozwGAFSsjg&list=PLdImEedbzeWTzrv0s4-tvQAPtbWN_6IX2&index=4&t=0s
Part 3, start here. This and the next two videos pretty much cover his methodology. Part 5 covers desulfation.
He is a bit long winded, and sometimes digresses (bug spray is somewhere in there,) but he is very thorough. This is the best video series I have found. I used to recommend Battery University, but it is falling out of date, and it can actually take longer to read several chapters there than a video or two.
@JimB, thanks for the links!
The auction was some sort of ship’s chandler. Giant ropes went for crazy cheap. I kept trying to figure out a way to use one, maybe as an obstacle course or climbing rope, but I wasn’t paying attention and 2″ or 3″ mooring lines went for ~$12. All kinds of specialized brass hardware went for pennies on the dollar. There were marine radios, safety gear, cleaning supplies, machine shop things, all kinds of stuff. Even luffa sponges.
n
There are a couple of pocket neighborhoods in Houston that have free roaming peacocks. They are protected by covenants in those areas. Not something I would like.
n
The auction was some sort of ship’s chandler. Giant ropes went for crazy cheap. I kept trying to figure out a way to use one, maybe as an obstacle course or climbing rope, but I wasn’t paying attention and 2″ or 3″ mooring lines went for ~$12. All kinds of specialized brass hardware went for pennies on the dollar. There were marine radios, safety gear, cleaning supplies, machine shop things, all kinds of stuff. Even luffa sponges.
High grade sextants are desirable. Most of the plastic ones are junk *except* the lowest end Davis, the Mk III, which can be used for either learning the practice or accurate coastal navigation by reference points.
German names are best, but Astra, a Chinese name, has developed a good reputation.
The books too. HO-229 are $30 new in paperback — a decked out big yacht will have the leather bound hardcovers on a shelf. Annual almanacs not so much unless they are current year.
I used to play with sextants and calculations on beach vacations, but after 9-11, it attracted too much attention.
Funny you should mention that. During the week there was a sextant in an estate auction. It had been disassembled, but it looked like all the parts were there. Unfortunately, I didn’t win it.
I think that’s the second sextant I’ve seen in the last few years.
The weirdest thing in this auction was “magnetic compass fluid.” They had it by the quart. Who knew that needed to be changed or refilled?
n
The Symbionese Liberation Army makes batteries? I thought the feds shut them down!
The S in SLA is for Seal, so SLA must be Seal Lovers Anonymous. It’s surprising that they make batteries, but I guess donations weren’t covering their costs.
Jenny, I’d be glad to tell you what worked on cleaning our kitchen cabinet doors, but so far all I’ve got is a list of things which didn’t work.
My current plan is to take them to a woodworking or paint place, as someone suggested a day or two ago, and see what they suggest.
Marcelo (I think) I would love to have formica countertops and painted wood cabinets and tile around the range. But no. This is a “luxury” home, with features sold to the gullible as “improving resale price”. We have goddamn granite countertops and goddamn stained cedar (?) woodwork in the kitchen. Everything is high maintenance. As an added kicker, a lot of the “in” features from eleven years ago are no longer popular, probably because they’re a pain in the ass to keep in good shape or they make the house less useful while adding no value.
I may have mentioned that I was a bit peeved when my wife bought this house while I was working out of state and living like a pauper and sending most of my paycheck to her so she could pay off the mortgage on the old house. If she’d done what she’d said she would, we’d have been debt-free for the past seven or eight years.
But back to the grease on the kitchen cabinets: as a last resort, there’s always fire.
Fire! Fire! Fire! /beavis voice
Thermometer just changed from 107 to 108F
Lagging a bit behind yesterday actually. Practically cool out.
n
Since I get some of my news from the tabloid press, I see a LOT of pix of B and C list women in bikinis. They all have a lot of random tats, usually the kind that will be hardest to remove later, dark black text. The two trends I’ve noticed are lines of text lengthwise on an inside forearm, and horizontal text, either a single line or a whole freaking stanza, on the side of the ribs, aligned with the bottom of the breast.
Since I’m literate and a voracious reader, I find it very hard to NOT read something that crosses my visual awareness. So I find the text tats, that you can’t quite read, to be very annoying.
It struck me today that those lines of text will most likely become the “tramp stamp”, or in german “porn horns”, of the Forlorn ’20s.
Makeup, body shape, and tats are all “fashion” and “fashion” changes. Don’t do anything permanent to follow “fashion” or you’ll likely live to regret it.*
n
*permanent makeup anyone? Blue eyeshadow?
“My current plan is to take them to a woodworking or paint place,”
@steve, what you want is a furniture refinishing company. They have big ‘dip tanks’ that will strip off just about anything.
Although, many high end cabinets were finished with something called a “catalyzed finish” which is very hard and durable. Because it’s basically a two part epoxy, it’s very difficult to remove. I don’t think that’s what you’ve got though, because it’s generally hard and smooth and the grease would wipe off.
Just replacing the doors might be cheaper overall after adding in labor, especially if you have ‘euro’ style frameless cabinet boxes, and ‘euro’ hinges on the doors.
n
…we’d have been debt-free…
Check current mortgage rates. I only have hearsay, but it seems they are almost renting out money for free. And, the risk is all theirs. A re-fi might be in order.
I don’t want to start any arguments, but being debt free means taking all the risk. Prudent use of debt can be a wise strategy. For those who worry about losing a home to foreclosure, if things turn really ugly they could lose the land it is on, even though they “own” it free and clear. This has been mentioned here before. The only way to be totally safe is to rent, but that is another story.
Don’t believe me. Read some of Ric Edelman’s books. Actually, read various real estate moguls’ strategies. HOWEVER, (and you knew this was coming) nothing is perfect. Take no risk, lose to inflation, guaranteed certain.
And, there are other priorities besides economics. Family matters always take precedence, and can be complicated.
My father, great though he was, grumbled that the rich have opportunities we don’t. He was right, but that misses the point. Everyone has opportunities waiting to be harvested. Making money is simply a matter of dedication and drive.
Since I get some of my news from the tabloid press, I see a LOT of pix of B and C list women in bikinis. They all have a lot of random tats, usually the kind that will be hardest to remove later, dark black text. The two trends I’ve noticed are lines of text lengthwise on an inside forearm, and horizontal text, either a single line or a whole freaking stanza, on the side of the ribs, aligned with the bottom of the breast.
When my wife was in private practice, she used to have people roll in all the time asking her about the mythical ointment that urban legend says is available by prescription and used to remove tattoos.
Funny you should mention that. During the week there was a sextant in an estate auction. It had been disassembled, but it looked like all the parts were there. Unfortunately, I didn’t win it.
I think that’s the second sextant I’ve seen in the last few years.
The weirdest thing in this auction was “magnetic compass fluid.” They had it by the quart. Who knew that needed to be changed or refilled?
The practice went away to a large extent for a while with modern systems being increasingly reliable and convenient, but the Naval Academy restarted teaching celestial nav out of concern that something could happen to the GPS network in the future, either jamming or the satellites being knocked out of commission.
We used to visit Fort Lauderdale annually in February for a conference, and servicing big yachts was a huge economic engine for the area around the hotel where we always stayed. The last time we visited, though, a few years ago, about half of the service businesses were gone and the big nautical map/book store I liked to browse had been relocated into an industrial park on the other side of the highway, away from the marina.
I had a cousin who was a mostly freelance engineer. He also sailed the world several times with two sailboat partners. Some time in the early 1980s, he designed a calculator looking device that calculated any location on earth with a star shot (or two, my navigation skills have been long forgotten.) It had an accurate internal clock. He patented it and sold the rights to GE Europe. ISTR they put it into production. Their market could not have been very large, but they have deep pockets.
Of course, all that is history, since GPS has taken over. I remember when we thought GPS was too expensive to ever be implemented. Oh, but the US debt financed it. Then, we worried it could be sabotaged by various means, so mil stuff would never use it. Wrong again. Still expensive. Still vulnerable. Very convenient.
Check current mortgage rates. I only have hearsay, but it seems they are almost renting out money for free. And, the risk is all theirs. A re-fi might be in order.
The Fed ultimately buys most of the mortage paper and assumes the risk right now. If they didn’t, even a reversion of market-driven interest rates to historic lows of 6%, similar to what they were when FL went real estate crazy 15 years ago, would crater the housing market.
3% 30 year fixed mortgages are not a sign of a healthy economy.
re furniture refinishing company, got it. Thanks.
re living debt free, understood about letting others take some of the risk, but that comes at a high cost in interest. In the case of this house, we’re also paying something over $5000/year more in property taxes because the house is assessed much higher. And there was a lot of effort and expense in working on the house and yard because “ready to move in” doesn’t equate to “ready to live in”. Plus new furniture because of course you can’t put old furniture in a new house. etc etc etc, all conveniently purchased or contracted while I was 1400 miles away and didn’t know it was happening. Conservatively this house has cost an additional $200k in taxes, mortgage interest, landscaping and so on.
As for “Family matters always take precedence”, that ship has sailed. And sunk. And I’m not the one who sank it.
The insurgents in Portland, Chicago, Atlanta, and elsewhere aren’t cooling off, in fact the conflicts are heating up with some people starting to push back. CWII could be about to go hot. What do you think the elections will look like if there is martial law in a dozen cities?
Democratic State House candidate suggests Minnesota suburb be burned down: ‘I didn’t come here to be peaceful’ :
Bingo.
I have everything paid off. Monthly bills are electricity, groceries, and two credit cards. The cell phones, ISP, and Roku stuff hit a credit card (because Cash Back!). I have enough in surplus that hitting a CC with an extra grand to have the a/c repaired in the Jeep is not a big deal.
I’m cool. Not “buying a brand new car cool” but cool enough. It nice to have some extra at the end of the month… and I don’t miss DirecTv at all.
Oh. And my SS starts in a couple of weeks. 4th Wednesday. That’s going right into savings. How much exactly? Not sure. When I applied on-line the amount was $x and when they called and wanted to talk to me, the amount was a couple hundred more. Ok… but it’s not going for a car payment.
Dude needs a lamppost.
Yesterday, some comments here about not shooting criminals in the back. Yes, I agree in principle; however, here in Orange County, SoCal, two very rare occurances of criminals shot to death in the back with charges not be imposed on the owners.
Case 1: Big rig, 18 wheeler, truck driver parked the tractor he owned on a city street overnight. Next morning he noticed attempts to enter during the night. Next overnight back in town, slept in bedding above in the back of the cab with rifle. Early morning, heard rattling at the door, grabbed rifle and got down to seat. Thief saw gun, turned and started to run. Driver got out and shot thief dead in the back. Prosecuter talked about wrongful death while driver said he was preventing third robbery attempt. Local newspaper came out with strong support of driver in editorial column. A number of agreeing citizens had there letters to editor published. What was prosecutor then to do, file murder charges and the ask for change of venue. Charges not filed.
Case 2: Very similar, homeowner heard noise at window. Got rifle and went back to window. Burglar saw gun, turned to sidewalk and run away. Shot burgler in back causing death. Told cops he had every reason to assume thief would continue attempting burglary until he was successful. Therefore, he was protecting his neighbors and sparing their lives. Same newspaper support and prosecuter could see honest, law abiding private citizens not voting guilty as jurors.
Over The Hedge: Zooming Over The Hedge
https://www.gocomics.com/overthehedge/2020/08/16
Oh yes, I have been on Zoom sessions like this.
Too hot to spend time outside. Even with the PortaCool running. A pool would be nice. Hey, Penny wants out and turns on a dime to come back in. The cats are panting while they beg for food…. come on, I just fed you!
I put the trickle charger on the truck. Can’t hurt. My last trip anywhere before Friday past was to the hardware store on July 3. I have a trip to Tractor Supply for cat chow in a couple of days. Wednesday at the latest.
Soon enough we’ll start complaining about the cold. 🙂
I bought a new car battery charger after some friends and I went to our favorite Mexican food restaurant. The wife is still in Lewisville with her dad in the hospital, they tried to throw him out yesterday and could not wake him up. He did wake up in the late afternoon. He may be heading back to the nursing home today to be locked down like some animal.
So anyway, I am trying to get the 2005 Honda Civic started to I can move it from the single bay to the double bay in the garage. The battery is totally dead so I may be buying a new battery too. My old battery charger disappeared in the move back in Feb. I think. That may be the last time I ran the Civic.
Tomorrow, a contractor is widening the single bay garage door from eight foot to ten foot for me. Then I can park my F-150 4×4 truck in the single bay garage. We are reinforcing the corner of the garage and replacing the top header and side boards before mounting the new 10 ft door.
Such a charming fellow–and so well-spoken!
Dude needs a lamppost.
Yup.
You know, in some places, if a man is out in the street yelling about burning your house down with a mob, that is a justifiable shoot.
Yesterday, some comments here about not shooting criminals in the back. Yes, I agree in principle; however, here in Orange County, SoCal, two very rare occurances of criminals shot to death in the back with charges not be imposed on the owners.
Yup, here in Texas also. Man disturbs two burglars breaking into his neighbors home. One of them tells him they will be back tomorrow for his house. “Joe Horn shooting controversy”. He shot both in the street, killed both.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Horn_shooting_controversy
@Steve:
I actually do not like Formica countertops… Had those only once and they were replaced by granite. I like granite but it can get chipped.
At least you did not get marble. That is soft and porous…
There is now an option for something like a composite “rock” material. That is what I prefer. I have it in white and it is great.
Re the comment someone made a couple days ago about tires made in Korea. The best tires we’ve ever had were TelStar/Jetzen, a mid-price Made in Korea brand. It took me a year or more to stop wishing they’d been installed with brand name to the inside, but we finally replaced them 7 or 8 years later purely out of nervousness over the age. I put a new set on the Jeep, but when I wanted then for the Dodge last year I learned they are out of business, and the previous dealer did not have a similar alternative. 🙁 So I went to Discount Tire. But I will look back to find the name you gave and remember it for next time.
@Pecancorner, that was me, and the brand is Kumho, but be careful. Some of their tires are very pricey. Go to their US web site and look for tires to fit your car. You can then see scores for dry traction, wet traction, noise, snow suitability, UTQG ratings, and a lot more. Find what you think you might like, and THEN look for them at a shop. If the shop tries to sell you something else, move on, or at least read up on that model. For pretty good reviews, try Tire Rack. They have a lot of reviews.
Tires are now made for many purposes, and some cars use sizes that are only available from a few brands. For instance, I have always wanted to try Toyo tires, but they don’t make anything in the sizes I need. Also beware that one size tire might be totally different from another size of the same make and model. They are made on different equipment, sometimes in different countries using different materials.
I have also read that the best time of the year to buy new tires is April and October. Not sure why, but I have seen sales during those months.
For some reason a post today reminded me of a joke I have in my collection.
A man called 911 and said a burglar was attempting to break into his shed. He was told to lock his door and wait. Ten minutes later, he called again and said the same burglar was trying to break into his house. He was told to turn on some lights and wait. Frustrated, he called back again and said he had just shot the burglar dead, and his dogs were eating the body, so never mind. A minute later, six police cars, three fire trucks, and a SWAT team zoomed up, sirens blaring and people with guns everywhere. See, calling 911 works!
Re: tires:
Over in various RV discussion groups, most owners don’t really like the tires that come on RV’s of any size/type. The common name used is “China Bombs”, because they are prone to overheating and blowouts.
Most owners suggest replacing them with US-made tires. Many have recommended using Discount Tire, with a bit of research, as they have a good selection, good warranty/service, and can handle replacing tires on big motorhomes and trailers.
RV owners also recommend replacing tires after 7 years, no matter what the treadwear looks like. And proper inflation through out – many owners add remote tire pressure sensing devices.
heres a challenge for the hive mind…
My NVR software runs as a service on windows now. you access the video streams and any settings from a web browser pointed at Localhost:8090
my problem is, many times a day the browser loses the connection to the server. I don’t know if there is a problem with the server (up to date, no mention of loss of connection issues in the readme) or windows. Problem occurs on chrome and firefox. Chrome is the developer’s recommended browser.
Just now I watched it happen with resource monitor open and the server (agent.exe) showed as terminated, and CPU dropped from 80 to 6%. Windows problem reporting was just below agent in the list and also showed terminated.
There must be some sort of watchdog because agent started right back up and I could reconnect the browser.
Any ideas if windows might be doing something? I don’t think it is the agent software because there aren’t any google results or anyone complaining on their site.
n
Quartz countertops are hot, too. Probably a fortune. I’ve always wanted to try the poured concrete CTs. I think you can add color when mixing.
I added that to my trailer tires. Screw on to the valve stems. Remote transmitter, which receives data from the sensors, fastens to the front of the trailer hooked to the 12V battery. That is now transmitted to the display unit. The actual display then is put into the tow vehicle. Interesting to see the pressure rise from 60 psi cold to about 66 psi after pulling 50 miles in the summer. In cold months a psi or two change. The sensors do have replaceable batteries. Coin cell.
A lot of RV tire failures are due to UV exposure and long periods of sitting. I tend to change my trailer (boat prior to this) about every 5 years. Need special trailer rated tires with stiffer sidewalls. Generally cheaper than car tires as handling and wet traction are not as critical as auto tires.
Really a pain to change. I have to jack up one side of the trailer at a time. Jack up an axle on one side, use a jack stand, then jack up the other axle on the same side. Take those to the tire dealer. Reinstall. Then repeat for the other side.
Just now I watched it happen with resource monitor open and the server (agent.exe) showed as terminated, and CPU dropped from 80 to 6%. Windows problem reporting was just below agent in the list and also showed terminated.
The problem sounds like it might be some kind of memory leak causing the program to crash, and Windows is restarting the service automatically.
JimB, thank you very much for all the info about Kumho tires. It will (I hope) be several years before I need a new set on either vehicle, but I’ve emailed both posts to myself with a ‘Tires Made In Korea’ subject so I will be able to find the info when I need it.
Speaking of…. the site comment search works GREAT! Finding Jim’s original Kumho post was the first time I have used it.
True story. Managing a 50 unit apartment house downtown many years ago, I saw a lot of human behavior. A pair of new guy residents quickly proved themselves to be active imbibers with a side order of domestic abuse. Late one Wednesday afternoon, the younger had returned from an earlier in the day trip to the cop shop. I had guests when the younger resident found himself loudly locked out of the apartment by the older resident. Both drunk all day, but out of sight of my door on that floor.
I called 911, as I did NOT want to have to open their door as I was required to do if the younger found me. The dispatcher told me “Sounds like what you have is a noise complaint”. Previous experience showed that to be a non-starter for any type of timely response. So, I said: “If you won’t come fix my problem, my shotgun and I will take care of it.” And hung up.
I buzzed the officers in within a very few minutes, the younger was taken away and an officer asked to speak with me. Stepping into the hallway, he asked if I indeed owned a shotgun. Admitting that was true he followed up with a request to see it. I said “no” and he gently commanded that I not tell the dispatcher such things. I agreed but remarked that it had gotten him there. The guys were invited to find new lodging by the end of the month.
I used to have GoodYear on my Holden Wagon (GM down under) and at some point in time when they had to be replaced, they were not available and it got fitted with Kumho. It was day and night.
My old Beemer had Continentals and those are very pricey. They got replaced by Kumho. Worked even better than the Continentals. I have had very good results with Kumho. They ride nicely and have considerable better wear than the replaced tires.
Starlink initial beta speeds:
https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2020/08/spacex-starlink-beta-tests-show-speeds-up-to-60mbps-latency-as-low-as-31ms/
We were discussing latencies and speed the other day. Better than guessing is actually having some test reports.
The reported speed range was was from 11mbs to 60mbs. Allegedly, many rural areas struggle to get 1mbps: what’s not to like? I think there are a lot of people in rural areas that are going to like this a lot.
” I think there are a lot of people in rural areas that are going to like this a lot. ”
–doesn’t have to be too far out of town to be ‘rural’ here. My client is 26 miles from my house, only about 8 miles outside the outermost ring highway around Houston. He’s lucky to get 700mbps down and 512 up. He and some of his neighbors are willing to pay $50K upfront to get someone to get them a wISP setup but no one wants to.
As the area in between town and his development fills in, ATT is pulling fiber. It’s closer now than it’s ever been, but that ‘last mile’ is a b!tch.
n
n
I think there are a lot of people in rural areas that are going to like this a lot.
Me!
It’s a start. Still wondering what, if any, data caps there will be.
Thanks, Marcelo.
Well, good thing I bought that new fridge/freezer.
I noticed that my garage fridge temps were coming up. 50F is not good. Freezer was melting too. I’m done. I can’t trust it anymore.
So out it came, and in went the one from the driveway. I have had it running in the sun for a couple of weeks and it was fine so [fingers crossed, touch wood] hopefully we’re back up and running.
Had to move some stuff and take the doors off to get the old one out and the new one in. It’s surprising how similar they are. Same dims, same adjustable system in the door. Different setup inside, as the new one can be a freezer or fridge, so it has wire shelves and no drawers. I may keep a couple of shelves from the old one to swap out.
It’s currently cooling down. I’ll move a bunch of stuff back tomorrow.
It sucked but would have been a lot worse to have it happen this week when we’re not here.
n
added- I found a spare circuit in the garage and plugged the A/C unit back in. It was cooling the 101F air to 84F but it wasn’t making a dent in the overall temps. I’ll let it run overnight and see what it does.
n
Starlink initial beta speeds:
https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2020/08/spacex-starlink-beta-tests-show-speeds-up-to-60mbps-latency-as-low-as-31ms/
We were discussing latencies and speed the other day. Better than guessing is actually having some test reports.
The reported speed range was was from 11mbs to 60mbs. Allegedly, many rural areas struggle to get 1mbps: what’s not to like? I think there are a lot of people in rural areas that are going to like this a lot.
Awesome !
Some questions come to mind:
1. what will be the saturation bandwidth when there are ten million users across the USA ?
2. what will the cost be ?
yeap, but I wish to read somewhere if the latency is constant (minor hassle) or random, worst, maybe TDRSS has data about this somewhere.
Nobody remembers Transit?
https://www.wsj.com/articles/companies-start-to-think-remote-work-isnt-so-great-after-all-11595603397?shareToken=stc74e5537c6454510b17cb619417caa30&mod=ffgua
Shocked. Really.
as, I have a kind of motto
IT is an eternal deja vu
someone working at Bell Labs or IBM invented it eons ago, for SAGE
https://www.theregister.com/2017/02/08/ibm_no_more_telecommuting/
suuuuurprise