Fri. Aug. 28, 2020 – School’s back in session

By on August 28th, 2020 in decline and fall, march to war, WuFlu

Hot and humid.  Sunny and bright.  Probably.

Yesterday was hot, but also very nice when I wasn’t dripping sweat.  I chose to leave all the covered stuff covered.  We were forecast to get some of the trailing weather from Laura Friday or Saturday.  I guess we’ll see about that but it left me some time to work on the portable generators.

Neither was running at the end of the day.  Neither had the issues I thought they had.  Parts are ordered for the older one.  I’ll be exploring issues on the Honda today.

That wasn’t a lot to get done, but I am beat up and needed a ‘recovery’ day.  Sore in places that I’d forgotten about.  I really need to work on this actively.

The civil unrest and lawlessness is increasing.  People in general seem to be closer to violence than previously.  I don’t see that getting better anytime soon, and I can think of a lot of scenarios where it gets a whole lot worse.  Add politics and the election year, and we’ve got a mess brewing.

Consider what might happen in the next month, 3 months, and year.  Make some plans based on your thoughts.  Start working your plan.  And whatever it is, it’s likely to work better with a big stack backing you up.

Keep stacking.

 

nick

 

89 Comments and discussion on "Fri. Aug. 28, 2020 – School’s back in session"

  1. Alan Larson says:

    @alan, yeah, ad blocker is mandatory for DM and zerohedge and Gateway Pundit. Youtube too for that matter. I’m using uBlock origin based on recommendations here, and it works. I’ve laid out my reasons for reading DM several times here. They are at least consistent in their viewpoint….”

    It drives me nuts that The Daily Mail has better USA coverage than anyone in the so called mainstream media.

    It reminds me of a story that The Mail covered a few months ago about a lawsuit a local Jewelery store owner, Mr. Stern, brought against a Japanese Dance instructor/Cult leader for the wrongful death of his daughter. Having met Mr Stern at the opening of his Families Against Cult Teaching, or FACT, this story was of great interest to my wife and myself for reasons I will not get into here. There was ZERO coverage of this local story in South Florida, but The Daily Mail covered it extensively. (Mr Stern won the wrongful death lawsuit.)
    https://www.familiesagainstcultteachings.org

  2. brad says:

    how did they associate me with her dad who lives 200 miles from us here in Florida

    A lot of this is just random shots in the dark. Here, the most common game is still the “grandson in trouble” scam. All they do is look in the phone book for old-fashioned names. They then hope that those are actually old people, that those old people have a grandson, and that they sound vaguely alike. “Hey, grandma, guess who this is!” – and they have a name to use. If any of it doesn’t work, no big deal. On to the next number.

    I’ve never heard of ones doing any real research. Like the poorly-written spam mails, they’re looking for folks who are dumb or confused or senile. The lack of preparation is helpful, because the non-gullible immediately filter themselves out.

    A win for me. Finally.

    @JLP: Congrats. That was an adventure. Still is, but at least the end is in sight. That woman is seriously disturbed.

    She is so certain she is right she doesn’t even see the contradictions in her statements.

    Hey, that sounds like our crazy neighbors, the ones giving us such a hassle with our access road. Does this woman have a sister in Switzerland?

    Immunity, qualified or otherwise, of government employees needs to be removed.

    Absolutely. They need to carry professional liability insurance, just like a lot of other professions. Even if bad actors don’t get prosecuted, they will suffer civil liability, which will make them uninsurable, and hence unemployable.

  3. Greg Norton says:

    It drives me nuts that The Daily Mail has better USA coverage than anyone in the so called mainstream media.

    Just take the Daily Mail with a grain of salt and always keep in mind that they lost millions in a settlement of a lawsuit with the Trump family after blatantly slandering the First Lady.

    Like a lot of Brits, The Daily Mail editors also have a love-hate obsession with Florida so always go to another source if you see something really outrageous out of the state. Not that it wouldn’t automatically be untrue, but my guess is that their US operations are based in Miami or Orlando, and, as much of a freak show as the UK is a lot of the time (“I’m a Hugger”), bizarre stories out of Florida sell papers, particularly in early January when schadenfreude makes the cold and dreary just a bit more tolerable.

    Anything in The Independent merits even more scrutiny. They used to be just a KGB propoganda arm, owned outright, but the Saudis bought in recently.

  4. Nick Flandrey says:

    Perhaps losing the suit taught them a lesson?

    n

  5. Nick Flandrey says:

    “Anything in The Independent the media merits even more scrutiny.”

    FIFY

    n

  6. ITGuy1998 says:

    https://www.corvetteforum.com/articles/breaking-gm-commits-to-an-all-electric-future-and-shifts-corvette-engineers-over-to-autonomous-and-electric-vehicles-program/?utm_source=2020828&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=content

    I still can’t see wide adoption of electric cars until there is better battery technology, with much faster charging times, and much more charging infrastructure – all significant obstacles. I would consider an electric car for the work commute, but the extra cost isn’t worth it. Add on the fact that it’s a stupid choice for long distance travel, and why bother.

    On our trip out west a couple years ago, we were driving from Vegas to LA. I remember driving past an electric car charging station. The line was 15 cars deep. That’s a long wait at even 20 minutes per car…

  7. Nick Flandrey says:

    Infrastructure will solve itself if there is demand. There was a time when the country wasn’t blanketed in gas stations either.

    Whether the demand will ever materialize is another question. I think not, because of the alternative (liquid fueled IC engines) being widely distributed and cheap.

    The ‘range anxiety’ is a real thing and justified in the US where driving distances are longer. People do run out of gas all the time and it doesn’t seem to bother them in general, the exception being motorcycles which have a backup tank. So some aspects of that are simply cultural. However, if you run out of gas, someone can bring you a gallon and you can be on your way in minutes. No way to do that with electric.

    There have been electric cars since the beginning of cars. There are practical and engineering reasons that IC won that race, (as well as .gov meddling, and the network effect.)

    If they were simply “better” for whatever value of “better” resonates with the majority of the car buyers, they would dominate. All the artificial “betters” don’t matter, the only better that matters is one that means something to the guy/gal with cash for the purchase. So far, those “betters” are not compelling for most people.

    n

  8. Greg Norton says:

    Perhaps losing the suit taught them a lesson?

    I don’t think it taught the Daily Mail anything. The editors just doubled down on Trump.

    The senior staff at The Mail are going to be the punks from 35-40 years ago. F*ck Thatcher. F*ck Reagan. F*ck America. Better red than dead. Hail the People’s Poet Cliff Richards.

    “The Young Ones” was supposed to be satire. Too many people on both sides of the Atlantic took it as a way to live.

    My thirty-something manager cr*ps on Thatcher with no living memory of the woman being Prime Minister, just too much British media consumption at an impressionable age.

  9. Ray Thompson says:

    someone can bring you a gallon and you can be on your way in minutes. No way to do that with electric

    Someone with a petrol powered vehicle, towing a diesel powered generator with necessary connections and charging electronics would be able to accomplish that goal. I suspect it would not be a good business model as most electric vehicles are not driven long distances. They are great commuter vehicles.

    I considered a Nissan Leaf at one time when I was commuting. Problem was range. My round trip was 60 miles. Range was 100 miles. I don’t know if that included A/C in summer, heating in winter. That was a real downside. There was no charging system at the University (who prided itself on alternative energy sources). Thus it was questionable if I could make the round trip without getting stranded 5 miles from home. If the range had been 150 miles I would have bought one in a heartbeat.

    This was almost 10 years ago. Times may have changed since then. The charging station UT installed is a good mile walk to the office (not convenient at all). Limited number of stations and generally occupied by professors who get really butt hurt and vindictive if their spot is taken. (More liberals where they advocate something until it affects them).

  10. PaultheManc says:

    #Electric Vehicles
    I am not sold on the ‘Climate Change’ crisis – but I am in favour of reducing air pollution, particularly in areas of large population. For this reason I see the merit in electric propulsion. Personally I am anticipating my next (UK) purchase to be a plug-in hybrid. Aim would be a battery capable of electric only 30mile capacity – this would cover most of my (retired) daily driving, recharging overnight at home (off street). Normal hybrid mode when going long distance – relying on easily available petrol (gas). More generally in the UK, with many houses not having off street parking, this solution is limited across the population.

  11. JimB says:

    More generally in the UK, with many houses not having off street parking, this solution is limited across the population.

    Another limit is the fact that the trend seems to be toward all-electric and away from hybrid. Probably cost reasons. Another trend seems to be hybrid for high performance vehicles, where the battery provides bursts of acceleration.

    I agree with you. When I commuted, my round trip was about 12 miles. Now, I don’t go out much. Battery life in years is more important to me than range. I would be more interested in a light short range electric car with good economics. The trend also seems to be away from that.

  12. Alan says:

    phone book??

    Just another vestige my grandkids will only know about from Wikipedia.

    Rotary phone, beeper, floppy disk…

  13. MrAtoz says:

    I am not sold on the ‘Climate Change’ crisis – but I am in favour of reducing air pollution, particularly in areas of large population.

    This exactly. Everyone I know is in favor of reducing pollution and conserving energy. Yet, ProgLibTurds use the claim “Climate Change is not Anthropogenic” to say you are FOR pollution. Believe the scientists who make this shit up with fake data.

    CLIMATE CHANGE IS REAL (hi Mr. SteveF) /sarc

    4
    1
  14. JimB says:

    All-electric cars can be charged overnight. Trouble is, with many sunny places going PV solar, I could predict that nighttime excess electricity will not be adequate. Economics still has a place in auto choices.

  15. Alan says:

    Looking for a wireless keyboard and mouse for a new PC – recommendations?

  16. Greg Norton says:

    I released version 16.06 of our software today. Lots of bug fixes and a couple of small improvements in the last two months since version 16.05. As usual, I wrote 50+% of the code changes.

    I’m saddled with getting a new customer project going with the longest-tenured of our Senior developers this week. Despite being on the payroll for a year, the guy doesn’t know much about our system and isn’t really interested in learning.

    Complaints to management fall on deaf ears.

  17. JimB says:

    Another thought. I have room for cars, so have a car for local driving (usually the one with one tire on a banana peel,) one for out of town trips (reliability, comfort, space for stuff,) and a pickup (just because.) That doesn’t include the ‘fun’ cars that are hanger queens. I remember when I had one do-it-all car, but would never return to that by choice.

    Time will come when choices are limited by government. Those folks have a one size fits none mentality. As for an electric car, I am not in a hurry. I drove a friend’s Tesla, and it was nice, but neither economical nor enough fun to justify the initial cost. He bought it, ironically, because he had to drive on frequent trips for medical treatments, and wanted something comfy. He puts a lot of miles on it. That is not my use profile.

    Here in CA, there are so many interesting older cars out there, and some are selling for cheap. The fun per dollar beats anything newer. I watch Jay Leno’s Garage with an interest to some day acquiring something really interesting that I can afford. It’s one of my hobbies, so not much justification is needed. All the talk about commuting, congestion, weather, and other practical considerations leaves me cold. I had to do that once, but no more.

  18. Nick Flandrey says:

    @greg, the longest tenured… senior engineer has been with the company for only a YEAR?

    Holy cr@p that sucks.

    n

  19. ITGuy1998 says:

    If I had the money, I’d have a car collection to rival Leno’s.

  20. Greg Norton says:

    The ‘range anxiety’ is a real thing and justified in the US where driving distances are longer. People do run out of gas all the time and it doesn’t seem to bother them in general, the exception being motorcycles which have a backup tank. So some aspects of that are simply cultural. However, if you run out of gas, someone can bring you a gallon and you can be on your way in minutes. No way to do that with electric.

    Tesla infrastructure meltdown in San Luis Obispo last Thanksgiving Weekend. Hilarious. Roll out the diesel generators!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFSXDhBXUQg

    An old HoJos turned boutique resort? I don’t know the area.

    I know that Tesla has (or had) a critical infrastructure gap on I-5 limiting the ability of the vehicles to traverse Grants Pass in Oregon when temps dip below 40. That morning in San Luis Obispo looked cold on the video based on the clothing/movement of the car owners, but West Coast people seem to break out the North Face as soon as the temps dip below 70.

  21. Nick Flandrey says:

    “can be charged overnight”

    – other than not being in use, the reason for charging at night is lower rates. The lower rates exist because demand is lower. If demand increases, the lower rates will go away, and so will one incentive to own plug in electric.

    I’ve also previously posted links to the problems increasing demand at night are causing for the utilities, mainly that they undersized distribution counting on having reduced usage at night so it could cool off. They are spending money and upgrading as fast as they can (given their constraints) but they’ll be looking to recoup that expense too. Which is another reason nighttime rates will increase.

    n

  22. Nick Flandrey says:

    From FEMA

    Tropical Cyclone Laura – Response / Recovery
    Situation:
    Tropical Depression Laura is located 95 miles WNW of Memphis, TN.
    Moving NE at 13 mph.

    Lifeline Impacts:

    Safety and Security (FEMA NRCC SLB, as of 6:00 a.m. ET, Aug 28)
    • LA: 18 parishes under mandatory/voluntary evacuations
    Food, Water, Shelter (Spot Report: RVI, as of 3:39 a.m.ET, Aug 28)
    • TX: Salvation Army to serve 12.5k meals daily, beginning today

    • Shelters – combined congregate and non-congregate:
    o TX: 9 shelters and 3,133 hotel rooms with 8,463 occupants; LA: 24 shelters
    (includes hotels) with 2,609 occupants
    o LA: 2,609 occupants statewide

    Health and Medical
    • LA: 3 confirmed fatalities
    • LA: 23 (+2) hospitals sheltering in place; 7 closed, 9 (+4) evacuated; 11 (+3)
    nursing homes evacuated
    o 49 hospitals on generator power and/or without water; evacuations ongoing
    • TX: 7 (+3) hospitals evacuated; 20 (-45) nursing homes evacuated

    Energy
    • Customers without power: (Eagle I as of 6:30 a.m. ET Aug 28)
    o LA: 512k (-81k) (24%)
    o TX: 188k (-56k) (2%)
    o AR: 42k (3%)

    Transportation
    • LA: USACE ready to begin port assessments
    • LA: I-10 westbound closed due to I-10 bridge damage; I-10 cannot reopen until
    bridge is inspected

    Hazardous Material
    • Fire at Bio-labs, near Lake Charles, LA causing a chemical
    smoke plume (100k lbs. chlorine); shelter in place order
    o IMAAC activated for modeling at the request of the
    National Weather Service

  23. Ray Thompson says:

    Looking for a wireless keyboard and mouse for a new PC – recommendations?

    Logitech. Always works. Reliable. Durable.

  24. Greg Norton says:

    @greg, the longest tenured… senior engineer has been with the company for only a YEAR?

    Holy cr@p that sucks.

    Senior Engineer in my development group. I’m the 2nd longest tenured engineer, but they wouldn’t give me the senior title due to my Vantucky employment gap of four years being considered “risky”. Turnover pre-virus ran 100% every two years.

    The longest tenured engineer, also not Senior, beats me by only 30 seconds since she was in the door ahead of me on our first day.

    The point of having me spoon feed the Senior is that he develops some product knowledge ahead of a brutal install schedule we have coming up, but he isn’t interested in learning cr*p.

    Cars need to be running Monday, but we aren’t ready. I have a permission slip to quit today if they tell me to work the weekend without Senior around. The salary difference is $20,000 *minimum*, something I found out by accident … cruising Indeed looking for a new job!

    3
    1
  25. dkreck says:

    All this push for the all electric when most likely the best choice for many would be a hybrid.

  26. Greg Norton says:

    Time will come when choices are limited by government. Those folks have a one size fits none mentality.

    The point is to restrict the masses access to affordable cars and put everyone in some combination of public transportation, ride sharing, or all-in-one vehicle leases, vehicle, repairs, tolls, and insurance, for $700-800 a month.

    I’m regularly in meetings for one customer’s “congestion pricing” scheme — essentially tolling for surface streets. Don’t kid yourself that it is about anything else beyond restricting access.

  27. dkreck says:

    https://hotair.com/archives/jazz-shaw/2020/08/27/massachusetts-can-account-little-half-million-primary-ballots-mailed/

    Vote by mail – no problem. Mailing out a million ballots -maybe.
    California has yet to send out their promised ballot to everyone scam. I won’t be surprised if my mother gets one. She passed away last December.

  28. Pecancorner says:

    aw crumb… just after I insisted I never down vote, my hand slipped or mouse slipped or something went wrong and I accidentally hit the thumb down instead of thumb up on this post:

    Nick Flandrey says:
    28 August 2020 at 09:31

    Infrastructure will solve itself if there is demand. There was a time when the country wasn’t blanketed in gas stations either.

    Whether the demand will ever materialize is another question. I think not, because of the alternative (liquid fueled IC engines) being widely distributed and cheap.

    The ‘range anxiety’ is a real thing and justified in the US where driving distances are longer.

    Apologies, Nick. 🙁 Thumbs up!!!!

  29. CowboySlim says:

    California has yet to send out their promised ballot to everyone scam.

    Nope on the “yet”. I received mine about a week ago from the Orange County Registar of Voters. It is titled: “OFFICIAL BALLOT Presidential Primary Election March 3, 2020…..
    Precinct 32287”

  30. Ray Thompson says:

    I won’t be surprised if my mother gets one.

    Just one?

    Probably arrive with the Christmas mail. Well, just the republican ballots

    1
    1
  31. Mark W says:

    Trouble is, with many sunny places going PV solar, I could predict that nighttime excess electricity will not be adequate.

    If only there was a way to cheaply provide base load 247 without CO2…

    This is a good video on commodity reactors: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gtog_gOaGQ

    They can’t explode! Or melt down! Libs pay attention!

  32. MrAtoz says:

    If you can, please watch this Twitter video of antifa women getting beaned by a traffic cone. I can’t stop laughing:

    I can’t get enough of this

    11
    1
  33. Nick Flandrey says:

    Bonk!

    you can almost hear the sound it would make….

    n

  34. lynn says:

    All-electric cars can be charged overnight. Trouble is, with many sunny places going PV solar, I could predict that nighttime excess electricity will not be adequate. Economics still has a place in auto choices.

    Wind turebines make electricity at night. There are time that Texas is 100% wind turbines electricity from 2am to 5am.

  35. ITGuy1998 says:

    If you can, please watch this Twitter video of antifa women getting beaned by a traffic cone. I can’t stop laughing:

    I can’t get enough of this

    Pure awesomeness.

    And the troll who downvoted that post should be hit with a cone. Just sayin…

    6
    1
  36. lynn says:

    If you can, please watch this Twitter video of antifa women getting beaned by a traffic cone. I can’t stop laughing:

    I can’t get enough of this
    https://twitter.com/SpiceEssential/status/1299016632405307392?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1299016632405307392%7Ctwgr%5E393535353b636f6e74726f6c&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitchy.com%2Fsamj-3930%2F2020%2F08%2F28%2Fmooove-btch-commentary-makes-footage-of-antifa-rioter-getting-blasted-with-a-cone-the-funniest-damn-thing-youll-see-today-watch%2F

    THAT IS HILARIOUS ! ! ! !

    +1,000,000 ! ! !

    And the coner managed to get her to fall off the roadway ! ! !

    Thank you so much for that video, I am having a real bad day. The new software release last night went bad and I am in patching hell. That made my day !

    Note to self: carry a traffic cone in the truck and practice throwing it at a dummy.

    4
    1
  37. Harold says:

    I have an acquaintance who is needing ready cash and is offering me a Ruger LC9s for $300. I don’t really need another gub but am tempted. Anyone have experience with the LC9s or thoughts?

  38. ITGuy1998 says:

    I got the LC-380 for my wife. It’s too small for me, I can’t shoot it accurately. She doesn’t really care for it either. The Lc9 is the same frame size, I believe. Definitely a try before you buy item.

    Which reminds me – maybe I should sell that ruger now…

  39. Chad says:

    Looking for a wireless keyboard and mouse for a new PC – recommendations?

    Logitech. Always works. Reliable. Durable.

    I concur. I have a Logitech M525 wireless mouse. I use it all day every day and it works well. Battery life is good (uses 2x AAs). $25 on Amazon and 4.5/5 stars after 6,000+ reviews.

    I’ve not used any wireless keyboards. The wire on the keyboard doesn’t bother me like the one on a mouse does. I’ve used wireless keyboards in various conference rooms and whatnot, but I couldn’t tell you the brand or how they hold up.

  40. Rick Hellewell says:

    Re: wireless keyboards – I got this one for my wife’s computer in the ‘Scrapbook Palace’. Wireless, trackpad instead of the number pad. It doesn’t get heavy use, but it works well enough for her. Lightweight.

    https://amzn.to/2EAjqdb Wireless Touchpad Keyboard, RATEL Ultra-Slim 2.4G Wireless Keyboard with Easy Media Control and Built-in Large Size Multi-Touch Trackpad for Smart TV HTPC PC Tablet Google Laptop Windows Android

    As for wireless mice, agree with Logitech products. I use one daily, 6+ hours, and battery lasts quite a long time.

  41. lynn says:

    I have an acquaintance who is needing ready cash and is offering me a Ruger LC9s for $300. I don’t really need another gub but am tempted. Anyone have experience with the LC9s or thoughts?

    I have moved to revolvers since my wrists are so bad from pounding keyboards for five decades. The Ruger LC9s is apparently a single action version of the pistol ??? Does the firing of the first round leave the hammer cocked for the next firing ?
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruger_LC9

  42. lynn says:

    I got the LC-380 for my wife. It’s too small for me, I can’t shoot it accurately. She doesn’t really care for it either. The Lc9 is the same frame size, I believe. Definitely a try before you buy item.

    Which reminds me – maybe I should sell that ruger now…

    A female friend of mine is now carrying a .22 LR in a Ruger LCR. Her husband has her Ruger LCP now. The LCP just bucked too much for her and she had trouble racking it.
    https://www.ruger.com/products/lcr/overview.html?r=y

  43. ayjblog says:

    There is one and only one reliable multiyear supply of energy running 24×7, all others have less reliability. Do you prefer avalability?, same
    guess

    best regards

    Yes, I know about maintenance etc etc, I worked at every side of energy except fracking, one night with wind is not all the nights (And Patagonia is better than Texas for that), you could have water, but drought appears (Itaipu is THE example, on Amazonian basin, bah, near) and so on

    EV, simpler, IC against EV was settled in 10s because it is more simple to transport liquid that electricity, form Red One Express to desert on last wars, the send trucks, no lines, and trucks to generate electrity for oil turbines (and for cars too)

  44. Harold says:

    I bought the tiny Ruger LCP in .380 for my son who carries inside his pocket. It’s so small it doesn’t print and he often forgets he has it on him. I carry the SIG P365 myself.
    The wifes grip is too weak to work the slide on a semi-auto so she carries the S&W Bodyguard .38 revolver.
    As for the Ruger offer, I’m going to look it over tonight.

  45. lynn says:

    “Solar Panels Are Starting to Die, Leaving Behind Toxic Trash”
    https://www.wired.com/story/solar-panels-are-starting-to-die-leaving-behind-toxic-trash/?utm_source=pocket-newtab

    “Photovoltaic panels are a boon for clean energy but are tricky to recycle. As the oldest ones expire, get ready for a solar e-waste glut.”

    “Solar panels are an increasingly important source of renewable power that will play an essential role in fighting climate change. They are also complex pieces of technology that become big, bulky sheets of electronic waste at the end of their lives—and right now, most of the world doesn’t have a plan for dealing with that.”

    “But we’ll need to develop one soon, because the solar e-waste glut is coming. By 2050, the International Renewable Energy Agency projects that up to 78 million metric tons of solar panels will have reached the end of their life, and that the world will be generating about 6 million metric tons of new solar e-waste annually. While the latter number is a small fraction of the total e-waste humanity produces each year, standard electronics recycling methods don’t cut it for solar panels. Recovering the most valuable materials from one, including silver and silicon, requires bespoke recycling solutions. And if we fail to develop those solutions along with policies that support their widespread adoption, we already know what will happen.”

    Uh oh. You know, channeling SteveF, we just need to kill off about 99% of the people on the planet.

  46. lynn says:

    “Five Stories About Generation Ships That Don’t End in Disaster” by James Nicoll
    https://www.tor.com/2020/08/28/five-stories-about-generation-ships-that-dont-end-in-disaster/

    Two of David Weber’s Honorverse books talks about Generation ships that made it to their target safely. But both of them turned out to be long term disasters as the first planet was contaminated by heavy metals that altered the human genome from 50/50 male/female to 10/90 male/female. The second ship’s destination planet was beautiful on paper but had an 18 ??? month vicious winter cycle in which the colonists starved. In both cases the people barely survived but took hundreds of years to thrive.

  47. Greg Norton says:

    “Solar Panels Are Starting to Die, Leaving Behind Toxic Trash”

    Wind turbines also wear out and present a carbon fiber disposal problem of enormous magnitude

  48. Nightraker says:

    I have been using a Logitech K400 for years with my couch, big screen Living room PC. In fact, I think there have been 3 PCs with that keyboard. It has an integrated TouchPad…

  49. dkreck says:

    They are also complex pieces of technology that become big, bulky sheets of electronic waste at the end of their lives—and right now, most of the world doesn’t have a plan for dealing with that.”

    Must start collecting recycle tax now. Large slush fund like carbon credits. Too tempting for any politician to pass up.

  50. Chad says:

    Two of David Weber’s Honorverse books talks about Generation ships that made it to their target safely. But both of them turned out to be long term disasters as the first planet was contaminated by heavy metals that altered the human genome from 50/50 male/female to 10/90 male/female. The second ship’s destination planet was beautiful on paper but had an 18 ??? month vicious winter cycle in which the colonists starved. In both cases the people barely survived but took hundreds of years to thrive.

    I figure every virus. bacteria, and spore on another planet is “novel” to the human race. Not to mention all of the other pathogen types I failed to list here or that aren’t yet known to science. So, I assume you’d lose 90% or more of everyone to viral, bacterial, fungal, and unknown infections.

    Better put a shitload of mice and rhesus macaques on that generation ship, so you have something to expose to an alien environment from which you can develop vaccines/treatments. I suppose you could also use whoever is in the brig on those generation ships. lol

  51. SteveF says:

    You know, channeling SteveF, we just need to kill off about 99% of the people on the planet.

    Sooner or later, everyone comes to the Wisdom of SteveF.

  52. JimB says:

    This is a good video on commodity reactors…

    Yes. Two thoughts. This is a refinement of a concept we developed (and the presenter acknowledges it) back in the 1950s, but put it aside to develop compact reactors that could throttle up and down for submarines. Now, the Chinese are planning on something similar for their needs. They had plans to build 250 of them by the year 2050. Since Fukushima, I am not sure what their plans are. Meanwhile, they are putting one new coal plant on line per week, and we are selling them the coal we don’t burn.

    This concept of a sealed neighborhood reactor is a good one, and DadCooks will hopefully chime in with some facts. He has mentioned them before, and I remember reading about them in the 1950s.

    It is good to see so much activity in this area. California’s problem is aggravated by the deliberate decommissioning of baseload generation. These small, hopefully inexpensive life cycle, reactors definitely have a place in our power mix. I want my own. 😉

  53. lynn says:

    The wifes grip is too weak to work the slide on a semi-auto so she carries the S&W Bodyguard .38 revolver.

    Me too !

    And I really like my fancy new MD5 sticky holster for my S&W Bodyguard .357:
    https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007MQC6MU/?tag=ttgnet-20

  54. lynn says:

    “Rush Returns with His Take on the RNC: “It Lifted Me Up and Inspired Me””
    https://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2020/08/28/rush-returns-with-his-take-on-the-rnc-the-best-is-truly-yet-to-come/

    I am wondering if Trump has the guts to name BLM as a terrorist organization ? I certainly see it as one. And there are beginning to be rumors of connections between BLM and outside terrorist organizations.
    https://creativedestructionmedia.com/investigations/2020/08/28/what-does-black-lives-matter-blm-want-and-their-relation-to-isis/

    And I am worried that Rush is not going to make it.

    2
    1
  55. lynn says:

    “Baker Hughes: US rig count unchanged at 254”
    https://www.ogj.com/drilling-production/article/14182566/baker-hughes-us-rig-count-unchanged-at-254

    “The US drilling rig count remains unchanged at 254 rigs working for the week ended Aug. 28, according to Baker Hughes data. The count is down 650 units from the 904 rigs working this time a year ago.”

    The oil patch is dying folks. 2020 has been horrible and 2021 is looking worse. I just don’t know where to go from here.

  56. lynn says:

    Whatever you do, do not go look at the Ring front door animal videos, major time waster !
    https://tv.ring.com/detail/videos/animals-wildlife/video/5843003092001/a-beary-dexterous-thief?autoStart=true&page=1

  57. lynn says:

    “Rush Returns with His Take on the RNC: “It Lifted Me Up and Inspired Me””
    https://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2020/08/28/rush-returns-with-his-take-on-the-rnc-the-best-is-truly-yet-to-come/

    “It’s one of the most amazing transformations of a political party, and it’s taken place in less than three years. At this convention, George W. Bush was nowhere to be found. None of the old Republican elders. Romney was nowhere to be found. Not that they wanted to be there, but that’s the point. So I just… I think that there is a lot, folks, to be optimistic about, particularly if President Trump wins.”

    BTW, I am very disappointed in George W. Bush. Very disappointed. I thought more of him than this. And Trump did a solid for GWB by appointing his friend Brett Kavenaugh to SCOTUS.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brett_Kavanaugh

    Did I mention I was disappointed in GWB ?

    6
    1
  58. lynn says:

    “How Space City Weather weathered Hurricane Laura”
    https://spacecityweather.com/how-space-city-weather-weathered-hurricane-laura/

    “Our peak traffic day with Hurricane Laura was Tuesday, August 25, when things looked like they might go very badly for Houston. On that day, we clocked a smidge under 1.6 million views to about 520,000 visitors:”

    Great writeup on how the Space City Weather server weathered the 12 TB of demand last Tuesday.

    I have dedicated server also but nothing like the horsepower that they have. My Intel quad core with 16 GB of ram and a SSD drive costs me $300/month at Pair Networks in Pittsburg, PA.

  59. brad says:

    You know, channeling SteveF, we just need to kill off about 99% of the people on the planet.

    This

    Did I mention I was disappointed in GWB ?

    Was the Shrub ever anything but disappointing? Seriously, if there was ever a lousy example of RINO politics, he is it. Riddance couldn’t be gooder.

  60. Greg Norton says:

    Did I mention I was disappointed in GWB?

    In Florida, we were disappointed with Jeb! in the end.

    We knew Jeb! didn’t have the fire to run for President beyond being a speed bump for Hillary at the old man’s insistence.

    Jeb’s ex-Playboy Bunny girlfriend was an open secret in Tallahassee. It was accepted, however, because he was an effective Governor for almost two terms. The Clintons must have seen it in his FBI files when it looked like the younger brother would be the candidate to run for President in 2000.

    1
    1
  61. Greg Norton says:

    And Trump did a solid for GWB by appointing his friend Brett Kavenaugh to SCOTUS.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brett_Kavanaugh

    Didn’t GWB try to appoint Kavanaugh’s predecessor as White House Staff Secretary, Harriet Meyers, to SCOTUS?

    Ruth Bader Ginsberg was payola to Ross Perot for 1992 along with the Arkansas Medicaid processing contract that helped establish Perot Systems, his successor to EDS.

    And Bill Barr, Daddy Bush’s Attorney General, was General Counsel at GTE when the Bell Atlantic takeover -er- *merger of equals* was put together in 1999.

    It is still the swamp. And, to borrow a quote from Steve Spurrier, the Head Ball Coach, “Only the gators get out alive.”

    Spurrier used it to explain the nickname of the UF Stadium, The Swamp, but it applies equally well to DC.

  62. Greg Norton says:

    Ok, British tabloid, but the fact is that something weird is going on at Fort Hood as of late.

    https://www.the-sun.com/news/1384091/fort-hood-soldier-sgt-elder-fernandes-sexual-abuse/

  63. Greg Norton says:

    I always thought that we would see *one* SLS launch.

    Don’t worry about the space geeks’ incomes if NASA calls the whole thing off. Scraping all the tooling out of the VAB’s three high bays reserved for SLS will take at least 4-5 years. Then the three (!) launch towers will have to be dismantled, starting with the one left over from the Ares boondoggle.

    https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/08/nasa-just-announced-in-a-blog-post-that-sls-will-cost-30-more/

  64. lynn says:

    If you can, please watch this Twitter video of antifa women getting beaned by a traffic cone. I can’t stop laughing:

    I can’t get enough of this
    https://twitter.com/SpiceEssential/status/1299016632405307392?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1299016632405307392%7Ctwgr%5E393535353b636f6e74726f6c&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitchy.com%2Fsamj-3930%2F2020%2F08%2F28%2Fmooove-btch-commentary-makes-footage-of-antifa-rioter-getting-blasted-with-a-cone-the-funniest-damn-thing-youll-see-today-watch%2F

    THAT IS HILARIOUS ! ! ! !

    +1,000,000 ! ! !

    And the coner managed to get her to fall off the roadway ! ! !

    This is still hilarious ! ! !

  65. lynn says:

    someone can bring you a gallon and you can be on your way in minutes. No way to do that with electric

    Someone with a petrol powered vehicle, towing a diesel powered generator with necessary connections and charging electronics would be able to accomplish that goal. I suspect it would not be a good business model as most electric vehicles are not driven long distances. They are great commuter vehicles.

    Tesla has been doing this in Los Angeles for several years now.
    https://www.tesla.com/support/roadside-assistance

  66. lynn says:

    https://www.corvetteforum.com/articles/breaking-gm-commits-to-an-all-electric-future-and-shifts-corvette-engineers-over-to-autonomous-and-electric-vehicles-program/?utm_source=2020828&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=content

    I still can’t see wide adoption of electric cars until there is better battery technology, with much faster charging times, and much more charging infrastructure – all significant obstacles. I would consider an electric car for the work commute, but the extra cost isn’t worth it. Add on the fact that it’s a stupid choice for long distance travel, and why bother.

    On our trip out west a couple years ago, we were driving from Vegas to LA. I remember driving past an electric car charging station. The line was 15 cars deep. That’s a long wait at even 20 minutes per car…

    My cousin’s Tesla Model 3 with dual electric motors ($60K) and the 310 mile battery can smoke a corvette any day of the week and twice on Sunday. 2.9 seconds to 60 mph. And the main battery pack is under the rear seat, very low center of gravity (turns on a dime and gives change).

  67. lynn says:

    I released version 16.06 of our software today. Lots of bug fixes and a couple of small improvements in the last two months since version 16.05. As usual, I wrote 50+% of the code changes.

    I’m saddled with getting a new customer project going with the longest-tenured of our Senior developers this week. Despite being on the payroll for a year, the guy doesn’t know much about our system and isn’t really interested in learning.

    Complaints to management fall on deaf ears.

    Well, you were looking for a job when you found this one. Of course, you could be back at CGI.

    And my software release bombed with a few users. The patch is up and the apology emails are out to the affected customers. And there is a new test in the code for idiot CEOs who think they can still write code. Yes, it was my bug in the version checking code. Sigh.

  68. lynn says:

    I am not sold on the ‘Climate Change’ crisis – but I am in favour of reducing air pollution, particularly in areas of large population. For this reason I see the merit in electric propulsion. Personally I am anticipating my next (UK) purchase to be a plug-in hybrid. Aim would be a battery capable of electric only 30mile capacity – this would cover most of my (retired) daily driving, recharging overnight at home (off street). Normal hybrid mode when going long distance – relying on easily available petrol (gas). More generally in the UK, with many houses not having off street parking, this solution is limited across the population.

    I want a plug-in hybrid F-150 4×4 that gets 30 mpg city and 30 mpg highway for less than $3,000 more. Mine gets 16 mpg city and 20 mpg highway at 75 mph with the biturbo V6 and the ten speed automatic.

    Or else an electric F-150 4×4 with a generator on board and a 200 mile electric only range.

  69. Nick Flandrey says:

    regarding the LC9, that was the first ‘carry’ pistol I bought, just after the murders at the elementary school. It’s a fine little pistol, but I’ve got short fingers so what fits me might not fit others.

    My big complaint, and why I went to the MP Shield for EDC is that it is very “tall” for it’s size, and (at least for me), “bucks” or tries to rotate up in my hand. It really jumps, moving in my grip, not just lifting the nose. I probably wouldn’t buy another, although it fits my wife’s hands very well. It is very compact, and slightly bigger than the LCP in 380.

    In this current environment, I’d think hard about buying it, especially in a no paperwork transfer. (in other words, I would WANT to buy it, even if not something I’d use, just to have it and just because.) Small 9mm pistols are out of stock everywhere. $300 is a good price currently.

    n

  70. Nick Flandrey says:

    WRT working the slide on a semi-auto, Kathy Jackson has a technique that helps enormously.

    Do not think of it as pulling the slide back, but as punching the gun forward.

    n

  71. lynn says:

    “Antifa are the Ugliest Americans to Have Ever Existed — A Deep-Dive Into the Physiognomy of Antifa”
    https://theredelephants.com/antifa-are-the-ugliest-americans-to-have-ever-existed-a-deep-dive-into-the-physiognomy-of-antifa/

    Those are nasty looking people alright. I hope the article writer stays out of Walmart. He might have a heart attack.
    https://www.peopleofwalmart.com/

    1
    1
  72. lynn says:

    BTW, if you want to help out in the relief effort in Louisiana and don’t like the Red Cross, these folks have already rolled out of Tennessee, the Churches of Christ Disaster Relief Effort:
    https://www.disasterreliefeffort.org/

    A point of disclosure, I attend a Church of Christ in Sugar Land. Churches of Christ are all separate entities and the disaster relief is distributed via a local Church of Christ. My church did this during Harvey and distributed over ten 18 wheelers of paper goods and canned food. It was an incredible effort with several hundred people from my church helping out.

  73. Nick Flandrey says:

    Yeah, F the Red Cross. Our experience in Houston has been very negative.

    n

  74. SteveF says:

    Harold, Nick is right: if you can get the “gub” for cash with no paperwork needed, get it. (I was able to check a summary of Oklahoma firearms laws but couldn’t find anything about tribal lands.) Don’t worry about whether it’s a good fit for your hand or if you “need” it. You’ll be able to sell it or trade it later.

  75. Nick Flandrey says:

    Speaking of self defense, Michael Bane, of The Best Defense TV show, has a pretty good article up.

    https://www.michaelbane.tv/staying-alive-in-the-brave-new-world/46229/

    I really like his show for the multiple ways they run each defensive scenario. I HIGHLY recommend watching them and thinking about the options presented. I guarantee you will learn something.

    n

  76. Nick Flandrey says:

    Whooo, heavy rain starting.

    n

  77. Greg Norton says:

    “Complaints to management fall on deaf ears.”

    Well, you were looking for a job when you found this one. Of course, you could be back at CGI.

    I go back and forth about whether accepting the lower paygrade to get out of CGI was the right thing to do.

    Management dropped hints the last few days about having me work over the weekend so we can start testing with live traffic on Monday. Long story short, we start testing with live traffic on Tuesday.

    1
    1
  78. lynn says:

    I go back and forth about whether accepting the lower paygrade to get out of CGI was the right thing to do.

    Management dropped hints the last few days about having me work over the weekend so we can start testing with live traffic on Monday. Long story short, we start testing with live traffic on Tuesday.

    Don’t work weekends in your 50s. Your wife and kids want to see you. Your heart may thank you also. Lower paygrade is ok if the stress is less.

    I had my first heart attack at 49. It really, really, really sucked. Took me three days to get my idiot self into an ER. I am still dealing with issues from that at 60.

  79. lynn says:

    Ok, British tabloid, but the fact is that something weird is going on at Fort Hood as of late.

    https://www.the-sun.com/news/1384091/fort-hood-soldier-sgt-elder-fernandes-sexual-abuse/

    “A dozen soldiers from the Texas base have died so far in 2020.”

    What the crap ??? This is a base with about 40,000 soldiers if I remember correctly.

  80. Greg Norton says:

    Not surprising — standards went way down at The Sentinel this year, after they offered separation packages to everyone who could actually write at the end of last year. Still a bit of a shock considering that the Tampa daily paper’s newsroom was bulldozed a few years ago.

    A lot of the sensational early virus stories out of Florida came from the new crop of writers at the Sentinel.

    https://www.orlandosentinel.com/opinion/scott-maxwell-commentary/os-op-orlando-sentinel-newsroom-closing-scott-maxwell-20200828-tif2h5xobvamloipogqaspagdi-story.html

  81. Greg Norton says:

    Don’t work weekends in your 50s. Your wife and kids want to see you. Your heart may thank you also. Lower paygrade is ok if the stress is less.

    I’ll pick at technical problems on the weekend in the mornings but don’t want to be held to a schedule. Management backed off about the weekend after I spent yesterday morning at the Toyota dealer off grid — they thought I had an interview.

  82. lynn says:

    The son and I were taking about all the crazy a little while ago. Plus Unicode. He ventured that our next President after Trump will probably be a strong man like Pinochet.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augusto_Pinochet

    If so, stay away from free helicopter rides.

  83. Greg Norton says:

    The son and I were taking about all the crazy a little while ago. Plus Unicode. He ventured that our next President after Trump will probably be a strong man like Pinochet.

    If Trump wins, the focus shifts to Pence and the other Governors on the Republican bench.

    DeSantis is clearly signaling that he will run if he survives reelection in FL. Pence will run.

    Things will be ugly for a while, though, in the short term, and the National Guard will be busy.

  84. MrAtoz says:

    RIP Chadwick Boseman. Colon cancer. I really like his Black Panther character. I didn’t know he was diagnosed in 2016, many surgeries, chemo, he kept on chugging. That’s a good way to live.

  85. mediumwave says:

    Things will be ugly for a while, though, in the short term, and the National Guard will be busy.

    WHEN PEOPLE DECLARE WAR ON YOU, BELIEVE THEM

  86. brad says:

    I had a quick look at the UK betting odds on the Presidential election. They are usually pretty damned accurate on politics, probably because they are driven – in the end – by the opinions of millions of people who have a serious incentive to bet the right way. Odds of a Trump win: 3:2, i.e., 60%.

    If Biden engages in a real debate, he is lost. If he chickens out, or they insist on some format that obviously protects him, he is lost. Barring some sort of weird October surprise, I just don’t see how Trump can lose.

    Not that he’s a great President, but he’s better than the alternative. Unfortunately, he pretty clearly surrounds himself with yes-men (yes-people?), and doesn’t tolerate anyone contradicting his ideas, or telling him when he’s being dumb. This limits his effectiveness. He’s still better than Biden, who would just be a puppet for Pelosi&co.

  87. SteveF says:

    I just don’t see how Trump can lose.

    Mail-in ballots found in car trunks. Mail-in ballots found in closets. Electronic voting machines with preloaded votes.

    2
    1
  88. ayj says:

    @lynn

    with all due respect

    He ventured that our next President after Trump will probably be a strong man like Pinochet.

    Are you crazy? Now, after 40? years it begins to appear some kind of middle class in Chile, he killed them all, some, literally

Comments are closed.