Fri. Oct. 16, 2020 -busy day

Hot and humid?  Or the cold front gets here and it’s cool and humid.  Either way, humid.

 

edit–  cold.  61F and misty drizzle at 7am.

Thursday was mostly nice, with some nasty moments of humidity.   I got all of my antennas back up, which meant I was up on the roof.   Even in the shade, with dead calm the humidity had me dripping sweat off my nose.

I cleared some shelves and moved several bins of auction stuff out of the house and onto the shelves.  I can’t have it just sit there while waiting to go to auction.  I’ll take the cleaning supplies and paper goods back to my secondary location.    It helped.   There are 4 bins that aren’t sitting in the foyer…

I did some small things in the garage.  Had to make some adjustments to the roll up door.  Somehow the cables got off their guide grooves on one side and the door wasn’t closing parallel to the ground.  It only took a half hour, but it’s always nerve wracking working around that spring.  Slow and steady, carefully considered- that’s the way to do it.

One advantage of working on stuff is getting a much clearer idea how it really works.  The first time working on the door had a bunch of discovery.  This time, I saw what was wrong very quickly and just fixed it.

I had to do a bit of repair on my discone scanner antenna.  Somehow during handling it I broke off two of the ‘cone’ elements.  They are hollow tubes with a threaded stud inserted into one end.  The stud pulled out of the tube.  I couldn’t re-crimp the tube, so I silver soldered them back together.  Worked well, and that’s another thing I bought far in advance of need.  I have no idea where or when I got the silver solder and flux, but I knew it was exactly what would be needed to fix something.  The antenna probably would still be 90% without the two elements, but it didn’t take long to fix them, and I had the stuff ready.  I’ll screw them back into the antenna today or tomorrow.  I’m listening to the scanner now, so some degradation didn’t make too much difference.

I finally got the feed line attached for my UHF antenna that I intend to use to D/L weather maps from the satellites.  (That’s the plan anyway.)  All the talk of using the SDR dongle for other things motivated me (since I was up on the roof anyway) to complete that antenna install.  Now I just have to get a PC set up with the software and get the dongle running again.

I got my Instacart grocery deliveries today too.  I found some cuts of beef on sale, although not the killer deal of the last couple of times.  More food in the freezer makes me feel better.  I added frozen fruit and vegetable mix as well as more bread.   My wife is making smoothies for breakfast and likes the frozen fruit for that.  Now that I have the additional freezer space, I can accommodate her.  (frozen fruit is a definite  luxury in prepping terms, if push comes to shove, I’ll reclaim the freezer space for meat or other protein.)

Today I’ll be doing some auction pickups.  I got a bunch of household stuff, and what I believe to be an RV sized battery charger/inverter.  It was $3 so worth the gamble.  I also got a small Dometic camping toilet, suitable for in vehicle use and at least part of a Dakota Alert driveway monitor.  There was a lot of camping stuff in the auctions this week, but I’m full up.  I’m actually looking to sell several coleman lanterns and maybe a stove or two.  I’m a whole lot less interested in keeping them in my “here you go, here’s a disaster kitchen” boxes than I was.  My teats are running dry of the milk of human kindness at the moment.

I’ll leave you with that unfortunate image burning in your brain, and suggest that you take what time and resources you have, and keep improving your position.  The easiest way is to keep stacking!

 

nick

69 Comments and discussion on "Fri. Oct. 16, 2020 -busy day"

  1. Greg Norton says:

    Today I’ll be doing some auction pickups. I got a bunch of household stuff, and what I believe to be an RV sized battery charger/inverter. It was $3 so worth the gamble.

    I’m curious about the new super capacitor jump start toys, but not enough to spend $200 on one in lieu of new jumper cables for the cars.

  2. Nick Flandrey says:

    @greg, all three times I had a dead battery the little LiOn jump packs wouldn’t discharge. They make great USB charging power banks though.

    The one at costco is the one I have, well, actually the 4 I have….

    n

  3. Greg Norton says:

    @greg, all three times I had a dead battery the little LiOn jump packs wouldn’t discharge. They make great USB charging power banks though.

    The one at costco is the one I have, well, actually the 4 I have….

    The new super capacitor units don’t use any batteries internally and will trickle charge themselves from whatever amount of juice is left in your battery if you have no other choice. In theory, they can sit in car trunks for years, even in Texas.

  4. Nick Flandrey says:

    Huh, not something I’m familiar with.

    I tried building a power pack for a performance way back in ’88 and couldn’t beat the power to weight of NiCd batteries, specifically the Makita 9.6v pack that was state of the art back then. The pack needed to fire a pyro match and the battery was a far better choice anyway.

    I know some motherboards use supercaps to ride thru short power losses, my genuine Dell does but my Costco Dell doesn’t.

    n

    (I guess you can fill a bucket a teaspoon at a time then dump the bucket out in one movement, which is handy if your vehicle will start on the first couple of cranks. I’d prefer more depth to the bucket…)

  5. Ray Thompson says:

    I’m curious about the new super capacitor jump start toys

    I am truly skeptical. First is you have to keep them charged. Second starting a car takes a lot of current for several seconds. I don’t see those small cables on the boxes being able to carry that much current. Look at the cable from the batter to the starter. It is a large cable for a reason. A cable half that size will drop the voltage due to resistance.

    I don’t like early voting

    I on the other hand like early voting. Nothing short of a major scandal, as in a federal arrest, in the next 18 days, will affect my decision.

    loudly encouraging people in line to vote for Trump

    Here in TN that is not aloud (clever) with X number of feet of a polling place. There are awnings set up around the polling station at exactly the required distance. Political markings on shirts or hats are not allowed while within the “safe” distance.

    I didn’t like reporting while polls were still open

    That I do not like. Posting results from the east coast while the west coast polls are still open is poor reporting. At the very least it may convince people on the west coast to not vote if a candidate is a projected winner. When in reality the states on the far left may change that outcome if the people would vote. Hawaii is six hours after the east coast. Results should be prohibited, especially projected winners until after 2:00 AM EST the next day as most polls close at 7:00 PM. Allow for an hour for those still in line to vote which is a legal requirement, in line by closing, allowed to vote.

    My wife says that she is now an orphan

    Same here. I am an orphan. I had two sets of parents, biological whom really did not want me, gave me to my aunt and uncle the second set, who were abusive and needed cheap labor on the farm.

    My wife’s father has been gone for 25 years. His second wife is still around but not doing well. I fully expect the wife’s mother to be gone with a year. I don’t think I will be doing her 2022 taxes. The need to replace an artificial heart valve has really taken the MIL down a couple of notches. The valve, if not replaced, will kill her. The surgery to replace the valve is not survivable and the surgeon refuses to do the surgery. That really hit the MIL hard.

    We were in San Antonio last month, before the news from the surgeon. Wife is returning again, leaving on Sunday. Our friends in Atlanta are leaving for Austin on Sunday and the wife is tagging along. Wife will stay with a nephew Sunday night in Round Rock. Wife’s brother will arrive from Bryan on Monday and they will head to San Antonio for a few days. Mostly to work on the MIL’s house fixing cracks in the sheetrock. Not from foundation issues but just old, cheap sheetrock. Hopefully they will dispose of some of the junk in the house.

    But also suspect they will be saying their last goodbyes. I think once that is over, both of her kids leave, the will to live will dissipate from MIL and it will not be long. MIL has stated she is ready, knows the inevitable is close, and has made her peace with the world. There will be some discussion about her final wishes. She will go on her own terms.

  6. William Quick says:

    We finally got an overnight hard freeze (no wind chill temp BS) here in NW Indiana. I have great hopes that it killed off the last of the skeeters.

    Small blessings worth giving thanks for.

  7. Nick Flandrey says:

    Did I mention spending a lot of time in NW indiana growing up?

    Even attended Valpo-rain-snow-windy-anna for a while. Dad worked in Burns Harbor…

    Got treated for my motorcycle accident in Merrillville. Used to drive thru Gary on a dare….

    n

  8. Greg Norton says:

    If the Iranians reciprocate with the Vindmans, maybe they can help send the Kelly’s back into space.

    Mark Kelly is a sympathy vote for his wife, and I’m sure Cindy McCain is involved for more sympathy. She’s made commercials for Biden which are airing here in Austin.

    The McCain family considered that AZ US Senate seat to be theirs. I’m sure that Gov. Doug Ducey will pay for not following The Maverick’s last wish that his wife succeed him, a “betrayal” by the former Hensley & Co. employee, but he’s not up for election for another two years.

    How much do you want to bet that Cindy McCain runs for Governor?

  9. Ray Thompson says:

    She’s made commercials for Biden which are airing here in Austin.

    Same here. Lot of Biden ads on The Discovery Channel. The quantity makes me think he is getting desperate and does not believe the polls themselves. Such polls done by the media asking leading questions of specific demographics to get the result desired.

    want to bet that Cindy McCain runs for Governor

    And her qualifications for such a job are what? Being married to an ex-soldier of questionable ethics who managed to spend time in the senate? Electing people on popularity is never a good idea although it worked for the Kennedys.

  10. Nick Flandrey says:

    ” it worked for the Kennedys.

    –but did what worked for the Kennedys work for the country?

    n

  11. Ray Thompson says:

    but did what worked for the Kennedys work for the country?

    Since when has what any politician done worked for the country? They are in it for their own ego and their own benefit. Or the benefit of their kids.

  12. Greg Norton says:

    “want to bet that Cindy McCain runs for Governor”

    And her qualifications for such a job are what? Being married to an ex-soldier of questionable ethics who managed to spend time in the senate? Electing people on popularity is never a good idea although it worked for the Kennedys.

    Revenge on Ducey. Cindy McCain’s family owns Hensley & Co., the big beer distributor in the state, the money/power which propelled The Maverick into office and kept him there when he got in trouble in the S&L scandal in the 80s.

  13. JimM says:

    Posting results from the east coast while the west coast polls are still open is poor reporting. At the very least it may convince people on the west coast to not vote if a candidate is a projected winner.

    This is true, and the reaction to forgo voting is unfortunate. Winning isn’t the only thing. Having a mandate, or not, is a significant aspect of the outcome. The closeness of the result can make a difference to the loser, as well.

  14. SteveF says:

    The closeness of the result can make a difference to the loser, as well.

    See also: Margin of Fraud

    9
    1
  15. JimB says:

    Regarding lithium ion jump batteries, here are some good reviews, but they are older and need updates if you are looking to buy something new. The first review has a super cap, but I did not watch enough of it today to comment. The other two are different, but should be watched for good background information. As someone commented, jumper cables might be a better option.

    Project Farm, reviews from almost two years ago.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JN8A2nIMUWA

    This is knurlgnar24 from about five years ago, but still worth watching for details.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhVTan1vIoA
    Part 1 Testing
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_lvLBJPq2M
    Part 2 Teardown

    I haven’t bought any for several reasons, nothing to do with the products’ suitability. Nick’s comment on other uses is maybe a good reason to pick up some for a good price, but different from their primary use. I think there are more compact “power banks” that actually have more energy storage without the ability to jump a car. This is the result of cell phones almost completely abandoning user replaceable batteries. These little wonders are cheaper and more compact. Do some shopping.

    Car jump start batteries are a special case. They have a battery designed for high peak output, with total energy storage secondary. They also have very limited lifespans, especially if they are stored in a hot car. I have read claims that they will typically last about half as long as a new car battery. Maybe not good economics, and might let you down when needed most.

    In the end, carrying a battery only for emergencies is perhaps not the best approach. Another approach might be to replace a car battery at about half its anticipated life, based on experience. It might be able to be used in a less important car, which would further reduce the cost. The cost of this approach is probably lowest, and the possibility of a no-start is also low. The humble lead acid car battery can fail during its first month of use, but this is rare. It then declines over its lifetime, but usually gives little sign of deterioration unless measured with sophisticated instruments. Having a battery tested at a place that sells batteries has a guaranteed result.

    As for super capacitors, there are numerous YT videos of people replacing a car battery with surplus super capacitors. Some of these work surprisingly well, but are not a direct replacement for a car battery. They can be much cheaper, however, but are the realm of the hobbyist for now. Remember Jerry’s motto: I do these silly things so you don’t have to.

  16. SteveF says:

    I put a probe from my kitchen thermometer into a pot Grandma was simmering on the stove and set the alarm temperature to 222F. I watched the as the display on the remote climbed from 213 to 216. Fine. Then it dropped to 85. OK, she’s probably done cooking. No problem. … Except that she wasn’t done. She’d taken the probe out and kept the pot on the stove … and burned it again.

    -sigh-

    Back to finding or making an IR sensor combined with motion or proximity detector.

  17. Rick Hellewell says:

    Regarding the ‘Monday post out of order’ issue – the publish date on that post was set to the 15th, not the 12th. That caused it to be out of order. Changed it back to the 12th. All is well.

    @SteveF – regarding Grandma’s stove – I think you need a ‘passive’ approach to the issue. Something that will work without the need for a person putting a probe in the pot, or taking it out too soon. Several of the links that were previously mentioned (auto-shutoff stoves, with motion sensing) will be better – they will work all the time, not just when someone remembers to put in (and leave in) the temperature probe.

  18. Mark W says:

    The drone people have a lot of experience with high-discharge lithium polymer batteries, or “high C lipos”.

    The rule is that high C lipos don’t like to be fully charged for longer than a day. If you charge one and don’t discharge it back to 3.8V, the internal resistance increases and your peak discharge rate decreases.

    I assume that the lithium jump start packs are just high C lipos in a nice box , but they have contradictory requirements. You only get the high discharge rate if you don’t leave it fully charged. If it’s not fully charged, it’s useless.

    Supercaps might be better.

  19. Nick Flandrey says:

    thanks Rick, don’t know what changed there. Maybe I sleepily clicked on something.

    n

  20. SteveF says:

    Yah, Rick. I’ll go over the elder care links again, in more detail. I’d been hoping that the no-added-cost solution would do the trick but it didn’t.

    (As usual, while I do have money in the bank, it’s almost entirely allocated. If I need to spend a grand on making the stove safe I will, but that means scraping the money out of some other bucket.)

  21. Lynn says:

    @greg, all three times I had a dead battery the little LiOn jump packs wouldn’t discharge. They make great USB charging power banks though.

    The one at costco is the one I have, well, actually the 4 I have….

    Me too. They work great until you need them. I’ll never buy one of those again.

  22. Lynn says:

    The new super capacitor units don’t use any batteries internally and will trickle charge themselves from whatever amount of juice is left in your battery if you have no other choice. In theory, they can sit in car trunks for years, even in Texas.

    Huh, never heard of this. Got URL ?

    Super capacitors are cool. But they like to discharge all at once whenever they can.

  23. JimM says:

    My wife was given one or two of the lithium battery jump starters. I realized that it will only work by either adding a modest current to a weak car battery, or by recharging the car battery for a few minutes before trying to start it. So, not worthless if received as a gift, but I keep jumper cables in our cars.

  24. JimB says:

    I assume that the lithium jump start packs are just high C lipos in a nice box , but they have contradictory requirements.

    Probably. A problem with lithium batteries is that there is a race to improve them, and several makers have highly proprietary designs. As someone who made a career in military stuff, this was frustrating, but it also speeds innovation… if you can believe some of the claims. That’s why it is so important to test, test, test. Just when you find something good, it will be discontinued for the next better thing, which will have different tradeoffs.

    My mention of super capacitors was incomplete. Probably the best design for a car would be a small rechargeable battery with a super cap. Surplus discrete components have been tried, and the price / performance aspect is very good. As for seeing these in OEM vehicles, it might be a while because of the cost. Also, with the trend toward electric and hybrid vehicles, batteries with greater energy storage are called for, counter to this scheme.

    OTOH, I did see a developmental battery-cap a while back, and this might be cost effective. Just remember that as the battery gets lower in capacity the ability to run accessories with the engine off is compromised. Using a bigger battery negates the cost advantage. Tradeoffs.

  25. Lynn says:

    It is 61 F here in Port Lavaca at noon. The wind is blowing 20 mph constant out of the north. Gusting 30 mph. The bay has white caps all across it. Nice !

    No mosquitoes either. They got blown south to the equator. Good riddance !

  26. Lynn says:

    I don’t like early voting

    I on the other hand like early voting. Nothing short of a major scandal, as in a federal arrest, in the next 18 days, will affect my decision.

    Mom and dad early voted yesterday. They drove up to the voting place and one of the ladies brought out two sanitized clipboards for them in their car. They filled out their ballots, sealed them, and the lady put their ballots into the locked ballot box while they watched.

  27. JimM says:

    … and burned it again.

    I went with an induction cooktop, in part because it is supposed to have a mechanism to detect overtemperature and shut down. Whatever mine (GE) has may be able to prevent a fire, but I manged to channel SteveF’s MIL, and found a very hot (well over boiling temperature) frying pan a while later. I think the problem is that temperatures upwards of 350 F are considered normal if you are deep frying or making candy. Thus you need a custom solution. I think the IR & motion concept is the best solution if you can get it to work.

  28. JimB says:

    …and burned it again.

    This won’t help, but I have observed over many years that folks without a science or engineering background do not think the same as us who do.

    In particular, I have frustratingly noticed that some people have no sense of confirmation. They turn the key in the lock, but never confirm that the key turned far enough or the door actually locked. That is just one simple example, but will do. This has led to all sorts of problems, “solved” by increasing the complexity of everyday items until some are unsafe in other ways, or even unusable.

    As I said, I have no solution for this. I have tried to explain things to these people, but they just ignore or mock me. I now only care if it affects me.

    Good luck with your situation.

  29. Lynn says:

    Since when has what any politician done worked for the country? They are in it for their own ego and their own benefit. Or the benefit of their kids.

    Abraham Lincoln. He was bound and determined to keep the Union together no what the cost. He succeeded at his goal. And was killed for it.

  30. SteveF says:

    I think the IR & motion concept is the best solution if you can get it to work.

    I’m good at putting together widgets with microprocessors and sensors and a bit of programming. The issue is time. Now, if I didn’t need to take care of so many problems and errands related to family members then I’d have more time to put together widgets to deal with the family members I no longer have. Looked at another way, I can have either too many problems or none. Hmm… put that way, it brings into question my continuing decision to live here. This warrants further consideration…

  31. SteveF says:

    As I said, I have no solution for this.

    I do: eugenics.

    The word, and to a lesser extent the concept, have gotten a bad reputation since Bad Mustache Man, but anyone who doesn’t support at least a mild form of eugenics is a fool. Are they trying to tell me that they don’t want their children to have the best possible chances even before birth? That they’d be perfectly happy in having children with a spouse with a genetic abnormality which prevents normal life without a number of childhood surgeries or lifelong medication? That a man with Down Syndrome would be a perfectly fine father for her children because his mild personality makes up for it all?

  32. Mark W says:

    They turn the key in the lock, but never confirm that the key turned far enough or the door actually locked.

    I always check. A LOT of people have no concept at all of how mechanical things work. If the door doesn’t lock, they are incapable of understanding that they should have verified. It’s the door’s fault.

  33. Harold says:

    Regarding lithium ion jump batteries

    I’ve had several units over the years. They all have worked to some extent and saved me from being stranded many times in the 94 Honda Del Sol that won’t tell you if you’ve left the lights on.
    I have settled on the paperback book sized units which I keep in each car and make sure to top-up every couple of months. I used one last week to jump the MILs riding mower.
    I’m very interested in SuperCaps. Need to learn more.

  34. SteveF says:

    re car booster batteries, I prefer a small lead-acid battery unit. Weight is irrelevant to me, they are (or were) cheap, and they were reliable. I’ve gotten two lightweight boosters as gifts in the past few years. One wore out without ever having been used other than for running a small air compressor a couple times. And I don’t have any good way to test whether they’re any good; I’m certainly not going to trust the status light on a low-cost made-in-china device. Bottom line, I don’t think you can trust the lithium boosters unless you buy a new one every few months.

  35. ~jim says:

    I do: eugenics.

    I’ll again recommend The Perfect 46

    Lays out the eugenics debate in an eerily Randian fashion.

    Instead of investing time and trouble for a stove sensor, have you considered just taking out a large life insurance policy on her? 🙂

  36. Lynn says:

    I finally sent the Wolfs Chili back to Sam’s Club yesterday. The scammers that substituted the plain Jane chili for the lean beef chili used Sam’s club to send me the substitute. I am wondering if I will really get my $32 back. This has turned into a getting this done for the principal of the matter.

  37. dkreck says:

    Been under the weather for a couple of days. I blame it on the chili dog I had Wed, no joke.

    I too have had a lead acid jump pack for several years.
    https://www.amazon.com/Schumacher-SJ1289-1200-Starter-Compressor/dp/B07BGQH6T5/ref=psdc_318336011_t2_B07892JQ1Q?th=1&tag=ttgnet-20
    yes it is bulky and kind of heavy but not bad. Bought it for camping. Runs a CPAP all night. Holds a full charge for months. Has always started cars for me and I’ve done many. Far less trouble than jumpers, IMHO.I don’t carry it in the car but mostly I have AAA for that need (rare).

  38. Greg Norton says:

    I finally sent the Wolfs Chili back to Sam’s Club yesterday. The scammers that substituted the plain Jane chili for the lean beef chili used Sam’s club to send me the substitute. I am wondering if I will really get my $32 back. This has turned into a getting this done for the principal of the matter.

    Ordered on Amazon, shipped by the vendor from Sam’s Club, possibly as a “gift”?

    I’ve had EBay vendors ship me something from Amazon as a gift, technically a violation of the Amazon terms of service unless they register to use Big River as a wholesaler.

  39. dkreck says:

    Just to make my day went out front this morning and half the sprinklers on the front lawn were on, two hours after they started. Cycled the timer with no luck then shut off the main to them. Back on an still came on so opened the valve cover and tapped on them and it shutdown. Sticky valve? Maybe. Gardners dethatched the lawn yesterday and overseeded with winter rye. Common around here so you can keep paying them all year. Not sure if they bled the valves to make them run as my timer is in the garage and out of their reach. I set them for three short runs during the day until the seed sprouts and takes hold. Not looking for a change out if valve has gone south. Too much digging, cutting, and glueing not in my weekend plans.

  40. SteveF says:

    have you considered just taking out a large life insurance policy on her?

    How amorally opportunistic!

    I’d approve except that I live in the same house* and more, importantly, so does my daughter.

    * Good thing, as it means I could set up my work-from-home work area where I can keep an eye on the kitchen. It helps a lot but does require a fair amount of alertness.

  41. SteveF says:

    I don’t carry it in the car but mostly I have AAA for that need (rare).

    I really don’t like the idea of relying on anyone else to get me out of trouble. I have towing coverage with my car insurance but have never used it. (My wife has, along with jump starts and emergency fuel delivery. -sigh-) There’s a reason I carry a bunch of tools and a snow shovel and blankets in my car.

    (And almost always extra coolant, except that I took it out a couple weeks ago when transporting something big and forgot to put it back in and ended up overheating the engine because the clamp on the radiator hose fell apart and my car lost its coolant and overheated. Yah, that afternoon sucked. But I dealt with it and got home.)

  42. RickH says:

    @dkreck Not looking for a change out if valve has gone south. Too much digging, cutting, and gluing not in my weekend plans.

    Could be just a bit of grit in the sprinkler valves causing the valve not to turn off. As I recall, most modern sprinkler valves (like RainBird) have easy to replace valve units (springs plus valve) that is accessible via screws. So replacing the whole valve with the attendant cutting and gluing is not required.

    I was testing my sprinklers earlier this year, and one would not turn off. I haven’t been able to find that particular valve – it’s buried somewhere, not near the other valves – so just turned off the water supply to the entire sprinkler system. It’s not really needed here in the Olympic Peninsula (WA). The lawn turns a bit brown in the dry month (we get about one a year) but greens right back up with the first rain. All of the other plants around the yard also survive the dry month.

    Have more of a problem with lawn moss. Use a spray-on product to kill it off. And this time of year, right after the first rains after the dry spell, there’s one section of the lawn that gets some giant mushrooms. I rake them off and let the critters eat them.

  43. Ray Thompson says:

    have you considered just taking out a large life insurance policy on her?

    Above a certain age it is impossible to get a policy. Under the age and the policies will expire at a certain age, generally about 85. Term life. Whole life premiums are huge and limited pay out for the aged.

  44. Bill Quick says:

    Back to finding or making an IR sensor combined with motion or proximity detector.

    Could you rig a small explosives package to it?

  45. CowboySlim says:

    This won’t help, but I have observed over many years that folks without a science or engineering background do not think the same as us who do.

    10-4, Roger that!

    CowboySlim
    BS Chem Eng

  46. SteveF says:

    Could you rig a small explosives package to it?

    Asking for a friend…

  47. RickH says:

    Asking for a friend…

    Does that make you a possible accomplice?

    Asking for a friend.

    Wait, never mind.

  48. paul says:

    I voted today. It wasn’t crowded. I think there are maybe 15 voting machines and the waiting line was six deep. In and out in about 10 minutes.

    Then lunch. Err. It was my first time to have chicken fried steak with a bowl of pinto beans. I expected the french fries, they were good. A small salad would have be very nice. Well, I’ll pay better attention next time.

    Next up is to make a list of what I need to top off the pantry. Once that is done, kick back and wait for the start of four more years of “he’s not my President” wailing. 🙂

  49. mediumwave says:

    This won’t help, but I have observed over many years that folks without a science or engineering background do not think the same as us who do.

    Scott Adams has commented that people who responded incoherently to his tweets had Twitter profiles indicating that they were, in his words, “artists”, i.e., writers, painters, entertainers, etc., whereas the coherent responses originated from “engineers”, those with math, science, or engineering backgrounds.

    As I said, I have no solution for this. I have tried to explain things to these people, but they just ignore or mock me. I now only care if it affects me.

    My experience and sentiments exactly.

    mediumwave
    BS, Math

  50. Greg Norton says:

    We early voted today. 15 minutes waiting the the garden behind our community center.

    The local State Attorney chose this week to announce the indictment of Williamson County Sheriff Robert Chody on an iffy charge of evidence tampering related to a case featured on “Real PD”.

    Wilco Sheriff is the real law enforcement that keeps things in check in the north part of the Austin Metro area, and the Sheriff is up for reelection this year. The timing of the indictment is certainly convenient for the Dem opponent.

  51. JimM says:

    Scott Adams has commented that people who responded incoherently to his tweets had Twitter profiles indicating that they were, in his words, “artists”, i.e., writers, painters, entertainers, etc., whereas the coherent responses originated from “engineers”, those with math, science, or engineering backgrounds.

    He was looking for rational, objective commentary. They were probably supplying emotional commentary. Some of those may have consisted of coherent emotional responses, although that does not make them much more useful beyond signaling that they disagreed and/or didn’t understand.

  52. Pecancorner says:

    @SteveF, my former sister in law and one of her grandchildren died when she burned the house down trying to cook… she had a “mild” case of dementia. The rest of the family barely escaped. You are wise to keep watch on your mother in law with the stove.

    I wonder… does she see your attempts to help as unnecessary interference, or could she recognize that yes, there is a new danger that she did not face during the past 70 years that she cooked? What everyone here is saying about non-engineers thinking differently than engineers…. also goes the other direction: sometimes engineers don’t reason like normal people. (HAHA! Edit to add: Just realized I referred to non-engineers as the “normal people”! No offense intended, there aren’t as many engineers! 😀 ) My mother uses a gas stove, but I have a glass top electric. She was leaning on the stove like it was a counter top: with her full arm laying on the stove top. I had to point out to her that the flat part gets hot & stays hot for much longer than a gas burner. She just didn’t know that, because she’d never used one before. In her world the smooth part of the stove is always “safe” and (relatively) cool. It was a revelation.

  53. MrAtoz says:

    Here’s one:
    https://www.amazon.com/autowit-Portable-Batteryless-Supercap-Ultra-Safe/dp/B07F8MJW8W?tag=ttgnet-20

    NOT recommended.

    I have that one. Recommended by Scotty Kilmer. I haven’t had the opportunity to start something, but did attach to my Subie battery to watch it charge. I wonder if I could shock my doxie when he is bad. Or Mr. SteveF’s granny. 😉

    I have a mid-range lithium jump battery. It successfully started my daughters Caddy SRX with a battery so dead nothing would ding or light. I had to leave it on for 5 minutes. My Subie battery drained down a couple of months ago and the jumpB started it no problem.

  54. mediumwave says:

    He was looking for rational, objective commentary. They were probably supplying emotional commentary. Some of those may have consisted of coherent emotional responses, although that does not make them much more useful beyond signaling that they disagreed and/or didn’t understand.

    A coherent emotional response? I suppose it’s possible … 😀

  55. Greg Norton says:

    I have that one. Recommended by Scotty Kilmer. I haven’t had the opportunity to start something, but did attach to my Subie battery to watch it charge. I wonder if I could shock my doxie when he is bad. Or Mr. SteveF’s granny.

    The models I’ve seen have pretty sophisticated electronics and probably wouldn’t deliver a big jolt unless another battery/electrical system was detected.

    In the first “Lethal Weapon” movie, Riggs (Mel Gibson) gets worked over by a bad guy with a 12 V car battery and a set of cables. I didn’t see that covered on “Mythbusters”. 🙂

  56. SteveF says:

    does she see your attempts to help as unnecessary interference, or could she recognize that yes, there is a new danger that she did not face during the past 70 years that she cooked?

    Varies by the day or even by the hour. On a good day my mother-in-law will realize that she’s forgetting things like pots on the stove and that extra steps are needed to make sure there are no problems. On bad days she just turns off the natural gas detector or gets annoyed that we’re interfering with her cooking or yells at us for hiding things (which she had put somewhere and forgotten). -shrug- She’s in decline, all of us except her realize it, and I’m the only one responsible enough to make sure that she doesn’t, eg, burn down the house.

    HAHA! Edit to add: Just realized I referred to non-engineers as the “normal people”! No offense intended, there aren’t as many engineers!

    Nature’s nobility, that’s us. The uppermost skimmings of the cream that rises to the top.

    A coherent emotional response?

    One of these things is not like the others. One of these things just doesn’t belong.

  57. Nightraker says:

    I’ve had and used a “Suaoki” book sized jumper battery several times, usually winter for a Subaru and a Dodge mini-van. It can be fussy acknowledging a proper connection, but just works here in the upper MidWest. I also carry jumper cables, compressor and a bottle jack.

  58. MrAtoz says:

    People at today’s bingo were laid off from Hilton. 4,000+ no notice. Looks like MGM is going to do the same. In fine Vegas fashion, they were laid off and WENT GAMBLING! Smaller casinos are only open Friday thru Sunday. Face diapers, really pussy Governors, are killing the economy.

    I’m driving back to San Antone tomorrow. I’ve been listening to the Bobiverse books while driving. What a great series.

  59. drwilliams says:

    4th Bobiverse is out.
    Early reviews 31% 1-star.

    3
    1
  60. drwilliams says:

    4th Bobiverse is out.
    Early reviews 31% 1-star.

    1
    1
  61. drwilliams says:

    Recommend Taylor’s The Singularity Trap.

  62. Nick Flandrey says:

    “. And was killed for it. ”

    –and killed the Republic in the process.

    “We had to kill the patient to keep the cancer from killing him.”

    n

  63. MrAtoz says:

    4th Bobiverse is out.
    Early reviews 31% 1-star.

    Yeah, and I read audiobook only?

  64. drwilliams says:

    Looks like it.
    I pre-purchased the audiobook some time ago.
    Ray Porter is an excellent narrator.

  65. Lynn says:

    89.7
    4th Bobiverse is out.
    Early reviews 31% 1-star.

    Yeah, and I read audiobook only?

    The 4th bobiverse book is Audible only for four months before the Kindle and printed versions. Taylor got paid according to his website. Audible wanted six months exclusion but settled for four months exclusivity.
    https://www.amazon.com/Heavens-River-Bobiverse-Book-4/dp/B088C51F5H/?tag=ttgnet-20

  66. Nick Flandrey says:

    Did my pickups. Got commitment to drop off stuff at one of the auctions. A bunch of my stuff finally went live in the industrial auction…

    I’ve got my non-prepping hobby tomorrow morning. I’m going to the meeting, I think. I probably owe dues and it’s been a long time. I miss it. I’ll stay masked and gloved.

    n

  67. Lynn says:

    Recommend Taylor’s The Singularity Trap.

    And his “Outland” book.
    https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1680681486/?tag=ttgnet-20

  68. Marcelo says:

    I am wondering if I will really get my $32 back. This has turned into a getting this done for the principal of the matter.

    The 32 then…

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