Cool and damp becoming cold and wet later. Or so they say.
It was mostly overcast with localized rain in the Houston area. I never saw more than a sprinkle or two, but I could see it coming down in the distance.
The forecasts for freezing temps continue to change daily. I’m not going to worry for a couple of more days. I’ll cover and heat my citrus trees if it’s going to freeze more than one day at a time. Otherwise, I might just cover them, or might let the mature trees ride it out. They’ve had one or two nights with a few hours below freezing already this year. If you’re currently getting winter, I hope your preps are serving you well. Do a quick after action report, or ‘lessons learned’ in the comments when you get a chance.
I’m home this afternoon to pick up daughter two from school so that is going to limit my list of stuff today. I really need to crank through some stuff around here though. As usual. Maybe I’ll start with my Costco order…
The political show trial looks set to continue. What are we still missing from full on marxist socialism/communism? We’ve got the confession/self abasement, the two minutes of hate denunciations, a show trial, self censorship and imposed censorship, a privileged group that can commit street violence, and a group to scapegoat. Secret police? Hit squads roaming the streets? We’re pretty close to the first, and I hope it never gets to the second, but we certainly have people being prosecuted mainly on the basis of their political beliefs.
Not looking good for Freefor at the moment. Still, it’s early days. I’m afraid that if they go looking for ‘right wing domestic terrorism’ they’re gonna find it in the form of an insurgency. And I think shooting judges and politicians can certainly be classified as ‘violence’. That will be a problem for Freefor as they like to think of themselves as ‘the good guys’. It will take some really ‘bad’ guys to get the ‘good’ guys over that hurdle. Given what I’m seeing on the national stage, I think it’s a good bet that those bad guys are up to the task and eager for it. May God have mercy on our souls.
Keep stacking, something bad is bound to happen. And then you’ll be glad you did.
nick
Subbed yesterday. Teacher contacted me last night. Husband tested positive. So I am doing today and Thursday, Friday is virtual, then Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of next week. Teacher made me a student in Google classroom so I can see assignments. Also got an email from the school district that employees can sign up for COVID shots. But they could not decide if subs are considered employees. I reminded them that I get a W-2, thus employee, part time. They said no, but are looking into the matter.
@ray, if you are employee, are you then eligible for any of the TIAA-CREF investment plans? Historically they are very aggressive and very good. I’ve got several friends who are teachers that were or will be very well set up because of their retirement funds.
59F and 94%RH
n
Subbed yesterday. Teacher contacted me last night. Husband tested positive. So I am doing today and Thursday, Friday is virtual, then Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of next week. Teacher made me a student in Google classroom so I can see assignments. Also got an email from the school district that employees can sign up for COVID shots. But they could not decide if subs are considered employees. I reminded them that I get a W-2, thus employee, part time. They said no, but are looking into the matter.
32 hours/week was the threshold for benefits with Doh-bamacare. The university was very careful that I never crossed that line with research and teaching, but I graduated shortly after Trump’s inauguration.
Sarah Hoyt has a nice little summary up–
https://accordingtohoyt.com/2021/02/10/putting-on-your-galoshes/
all good advice.
n
i’ve lived in all five of the top five most populous counties.
https://io9.gizmodo.com/half-of-the-u-s-lives-in-these-146-counties-is-yours-1258718775
The 146 Most Populous Counties
Los Angeles County, CA
Cook County, IL
Harris County, TX
Maricopa County, AZ
San Diego County, CA
–the map looks an awful lot like the clinton archipelago
n
IMO, it’s the General Welfare clause, the Commerce clause, and lack of enforcement of the 10th Amendment that cause the most problem.
Yep, we were just getting started on that when we got sidetracked …
n
Weird, Brevard county Florida is on the list. 602K. Of course the county is about the size of State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations (Huh, they actually changed their name to the State of Rhode Island last November!), so we aren’t really very densely populated. 587 vs. 1006 people per square mile.
i’ve lived in all five of the top five most populous counties.
–the map looks an awful lot like the clinton archipelago
The suburbs of DC and the tech hubs.
At the end of 2022, the “Fredericksburg Express” toll lanes will push the DC suburbs another 40 miles south, enabling at least 45 MPH commuting to/from Amazon HQ2, so figure at least two more counties in VA get added to that list within a few years, pushing out Williamson County, TX where I currently live.
Williamson County/Dell will still get a Congresscritter of their own with redistricting. I’d say instant Prog vote, but Williamson is actually fighting back about the homeless shelter in the failed Candlewood near the mall.
https://www.fox7austin.com/news/williamson-county-prepared-for-legal-battle-over-homeless-hotel
A lot of wealthy Muslim Subcontinent lives nearby in a cluster around a mosque, however, and one of the “religion of peace” Harmony schools is just up 620 so I’m not too excited that sanity is going to finally prevail up here.
Weird, Brevard county Florida is on the list. 602K. Of course the county is about the size of State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations (Huh, they actually changed their name to the State of Rhode Island last November!), so we aren’t really very densely populated. 587 vs. 1006 people per square mile.
Lots of retired and active NASA employees. Hey, someone is going to have to strip all the SLS tooling out of the VAB and disassemble the three launch towers.
The State of Florida is working on tolling sections of SR50 out to the Kennedy Space Center through Brevard, and Brightline will eventually run along the Bee Line from Orlando Airport to a station on the coast. More people!
No, as I am part time. Need to have 30+ hours a week to qualify for any benefits. I already have money in TIAA-CREF. Nasty little secret about TIAA, you have to take withdrawals over a period of 10 years. Thus I started a year ago, won’t be done until I am 79. But the investments were good, even fixed funds paying a minimum of 3%.
About the link yesterday on a rare blood disorder associated with COVID vaccinations.
It’s a nothingburger.
From the link:
If the incidence matches the incidence in the broader population, it’s not associated with the vaccine. Correlation =\= causation. Especially in this case.
The founding fathers did make a mistake by mentioning “general welfare” in the taxation clause, without clarifying what they meant. In the preamble, it’s irrelevant – just a statement of intent. But what does it mean in the taxation clause?
As with the commerce clause, it has been stretched and extended all out of proportion. Just as regulating “interstate” commerce now means regulating *all* commerce (because even local commerce might, possibly affect interstate transactions), general welfare can mean literally anything you want it to.
If you interpreted it strictly, as well as enforced the 10th amendment, the federal government would shrink to almost nothing. Which is as it should be, but politicians never voluntarily give up power, so…
WRT funerals: We don’t do them anymore. About 10 years ago we signed up, paid in full, with Neptune Society.
https://info.neptunesociety.com/americas-trusted-cremation-provider/?gclid=Cj0KCQiApY6BBhCsARIsAOI_GjZw1HOPPVNZzCWh7HcqXW1L6EXKZTyH16_OvWbjhg_2xy6vNhHEeSsaAodSEALw_wcB
My wife passed about five years ago in a hospice care facility. Called Neptune and they came, picked her up and took her to a crematorium. Then I picked up her ashes and county death certificates at Neptune office. Daughter and I scattered the ashes at a place where we spend a weekend each year and we always go to the spot to remember.
No desire to hire a preacher that never met her to tell close friends an family how wonderful she was.
Then one close friend hosted a celebration get together at her home for her friends and family. We all shared thoughts for a few minutes each and then had refreshments while listening to appropriate music and enjoying videos of her doing things.
As I am also prepaid at Neptune, my family will do the same for me.
Oh yes, along with my medical insurance cards carried in my wallet, also in my Neptune membership card.
There was a push for “green” cemeteries where you’re not embalmed and you’re buried in the ground without a casket or vault so your body can “return to the Earth naturally” (i.e. be buried the way most people were for millennia). Apparently, when the idea started gaining popularity people were surprised at how many barriers there were to it as so many places REQUIRE vaults and embalming.
Remember those egg-shaped biodegradable pods they would bury you in and then plant a tree above the buried pod so your remains could nurture a tree? https://www.cnn.com/2017/05/03/world/eco-solutions-capsula-mundi/index.html
There was a push for “green” cemeteries where you’re not embalmed and you’re buried in the ground without a casket or vault so your body can “return to the Earth naturally” (i.e. be buried the way most people were for millennia). Apparently, when the idea started gaining popularity people were surprised at how many barriers there were to it as so many places REQUIRE vaults and embalming.
WA State recently approved composting of humans, similar to how farmers handle horses they have to put down.
When my Mom passed, I went for cremation. A little over $1,000 including nice container and death certificates. I’ll have the remains buried under Dad/Mom’s headstone. Or not. Nobody is left alive that visits the old cemetery in Rhinelander, WI. Why pay more? My brother and I never plan on returning there.
Cremated some of my relatives ashes with exception of my mother. She had paid for her cemetery plot, had burial insurance policy. She cashed in the policy and spent the money sticking myself and my two brothers with the cost. We went as cheap as we could. I voted for a paupers burial and sell the plot. Out voted.
Funeral home wanted to charge us to take the casket to funeral service. Older said, No, he would just rent a truck from Home Depot for a couple of hours. Funeral home said it was illegal, we countered back that it is not illegal. Transport for free or don’t transport at all. Will also make certain that others know why we had to use a Home Depot truck. Funeral home transported for no charge. We paid them enough for the casket, body preparation, opening grave, vault, etc. that transport should be included.
Aunt and uncle were both cremated. Ashes scattered at Beckett Point in WA on the small beach at the bottom of the hill. Rick knows where that is located.
Brothers wanted to scatter my father’s ashes over Lake Mead. Father wanted ashes scattered there. Younger brother was going to rent a plane (commercial pilot and instructor) and fly over releasing the ashes. I then brought up the point that someone may see us doing that, get the tail number, and the feds would be waiting for us when we landed, charged with domestic terrorism. So instead older brother drove the ashes to a location on the shore and scattered the ashes into the water. Close enough.
TIAA is where you want to be if you’re a teacher. Many of the other 403(b) plans sock their participants with high levels of fees.
Composting humans: soylent green?!!
That is what my children chose to do when their father passed a couple of years ago, with a small marker for him. There was a very nice graveside service and the whole family was still able to be together for it.
Our plans are to be cremated, but I want a marker, so we’ll have our ashes buried in plots in a small town cemetery where one set of my grandparents and my still-born older sister are. My dad owns some plots there but he will be buried in a different cemetery so I asked him for 2 of the plots. We’ll also have memorial services, locally, and small graveside ones for the family.
The next time I go up there, my intent is to find a monument company and buy a marker, have it engraved and set in place, with the final dates engraved when the time comes.
I have life insurance. I won’t pre-pay a funeral, as our family has had two bad experiences with that: in one case, the original funeral home had sold, the new owners had no record, the family couldn’t find receipts. They tried to convince us that she had merely “planned” but had not “paid”. Uh-uh. With another grandparent, the “pre-paid funeral” was nothing but a small insurance policy that probably would not have covered a funeral at the time it was bought.
TIAA is where you want to be if you’re a teacher.
Maybe. I am not a teacher, so don’t care. When I was a kid, I figured I would provide for my own retirement, and whatever came from an employer would just be “walking around money.” That’s pretty much how it worked out. A big part of that was marrying someone who shared those principles. We have lived a semi-frugal lifestyle, and enjoyed every minute of it.
I will admit if I were starting out I would certainly take a look at various formal retirements that are portable and have a tax angle. The first few jobs both of us had collected retirement, but we never saw a dime of it. Various reasons, but long vesting periods mostly. Later, when the opportunity arose, we started simple IRAs. Still later, one employer did some matching, and of course we signed up for the max. Closest thing to free money.
Nothing is perfect. I always think a serious illness or other catastrophe could wipe us out, but that is low probability. Many times I have thought how blessed we are, such as when some major unexpected expense comes along. Being able to just pay for it is some compensation. Still wish I had bought that Rolls Royce… or maybe not. 🙂
I purchased a cremation insurance policy for my aunt when she was placed in a nursing home. She had too much money to qualify for Medicaid, but was going to run out of money the next month. The move had to made then. I was allowed to purchase the cremation policy as a valid expense to reduce her funds. The policy was $1100.00. Four years later when she died the policy was only worth $1200 but cremation cost was now $1400.00. Or something like that. The cost was more than the policy provided. The funeral home had to eat the cost as it was a valid binding contract.
I too have been lucky, I guess. Always match 401K’s to the max, last job was 100% on 6% of the salary. Really free money. Lived somewhat frugally, but never really did with out. Just tried to avoid wasting money and making stupid mistakes. Have accumulated enough to live OK for the projected life span left. A major medical event may wipe that out but I have Medicare and supplemental insurance. But it is enough? Who knows.
I have been fortunate over the last 20 years that I have had a really good financial advisor. He has done a good job keeping my funds safe, moderate growth, keeping things in line with my goals. Money to last, avoid the IRS as much as possible. Not really much in visible fees, as in selling shares out of my accounts. I am certain that my money is being used to keep the fund manager and the investment company in operation. Now those fees are more than offset by the dividends and interest that I receive.
There’s a youtuber who buys cheap exotics, and bought a Rolls. Surprisingly cheap to buy, mainly because of style issues, much more expensive to maintain…..
n
Getting ready to hunker down for a while. The snowstorm that @RickH mention yesterday is going to make it to my Southeast corner of WA State. Snow is to start here on Thursday and continue through Monday and dumping a projected 7+ inches. Temperatures will be cold; teens at night and mid-twenties during the day.
Our COVID-19 Vaccination Center at our Fairgrounds is putting the rest of the state to shame. They are doing 1000+ vaccinations a day which is greater than any other area in WA State. The Tri-Cities is the third-largest population center in the state (Seattle-Tacoma-Etc, Spokane, Tri-Cities, Yakima).
The wife and I got our vaccinations at her old hospital last month. Since our doctor is associated with the hospital we got to get in through him. We get shot 2 next Friday the 19th. The daughter got both her shots through the hospital she works for. The son is going to have to wait until the honest wage-earning white people can get the dregs.
The Weather Service forecast for Austin next Tuesday morning is 1 degree without wind chill adjustment.
I think something is wrong with their computer.
@greg
Those cold temp forecasts are correct. Big cold air mass reaching down into the entire midwest, even down into south TX.
Here’s one low temp loop for CONUS – lots of blue/purple indicating cold temps. https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/medr/minloop.html
Of course prepaid funerals are insurance. They have to be in California. Mom and dad bought theirs 40 years ago. About $1400 for them, one time payment. Funeral home takes care of it all. Dad passed in 2003, everything except some small fees and death certificated from the county, $15.00 each. Dad was creamated and ashes and headstone placed on a pre-purchased plot. Mom passed Dec 2019. Same thing except we opted for no services. Turns out the pre paid contract obligated the mortuary to do what my parents had requested so after cremation mom’s ashes were placed in a visitation room for a day then a graveside service was set up and her remains buried next to dad in same plot. No one attended by our choice and has she at that point in her life now wanted. Headstone just had to have a death date for here which was a bronze plaque place on screwed on it. Total fees were about $225.
Good deal all in all as price was a real bargin in today’s dollars. Of course like all insuance they’re betting the investment will pay out to them before they pay you. That’s why actuarials are so important to them. The house always wins in the long run.
I have two plots next to theirs that the cemetary says are worth about $8000 each. Yeah if the were selling them. And one next to my grandparents worth about $5000. Guess the ones on a hill are most requested.
Both of mine are at 81 ft above sea level.
Lowlanders.
Yup. When Al Gore’s prophecies come true*, our properties on the coast will be 100+ ft under water when Greenland, Iceland, and Antarctica all melt.
* Al Gore’s first prediction that all of the ice on the planet was melting was supposed to come true in 2010 or somewhere around then. I am not sure when his current prediction is for. Of course, the Old Testament says that any prophet whose prophecies fail to come true should be taken to the town square and stoned. I would be ok with this.
“Mavs owner Mark Cuban stops playing national anthem at home games”
https://www.chron.com/sports/rockets/article/Mavs-owner-Cuban-stops-playing-national-anthem-15939093.php
Yup, just another never Trumper scumbag. His team so he has the right to do what he wants. Me, I have the right to ignore him.
Those cold temp forecasts are correct. Big cold air mass reaching down into the entire midwest, even down into south TX.
Now -1. Teens would be record breaking.
“This Could Be The Biggest EV IPO Ever With Value Topping Investor Ford’s ”
https://www.investors.com/news/rivian-ipo-could-be-biggest-ev-maker-vallue-topping-investor-ford
“The highly anticipated Rivian IPO could happen as soon as September with the electric truck startup seeking a valuation of at least $50 billion, Bloomberg reported.”
I wonder what would happen to these EV makers without the significant federal and state subsidies ? That makes this a very dicey bet, Tesla also.
I guess I can cross “subscription to Teen Vogue” off my list of gifts for teenaged girls. Yikes:
https://www.aim.org/aim-column/teen-vogue-writer-entrepreneurship-is-bad-and-dolly-parton-is-bad-for-supporting-it/
Those cold temp forecasts are correct. Big cold air mass reaching down into the entire midwest, even down into south TX.
Now -1. Teens would be record breaking.
North Dallas is forecasted for a low 4 F on next Monday with 96 hours of under 32 F temperatures starting Saturday.
https://www.wunderground.com/forecast/us/tx/carrollton/75007
Get ready for the rotating blackouts Monday and Tuesday. Texas does not pay the electric power generators to maintain adequate alternative fuel stocks and the natural gas supply is slotted to the residential market first. The natural gas steam units need 80 psig of pressure which is not hard to get since they are all on the pipelines crossing Texas. The natural gas gas turbines need 400 psig of pressure unless they have a compressor. And most of them do not have compressors.
Handley 4 and 5 in Fort Worth need 1,000 BARRELS of diesel fuel per HOUR each to run at full capacity (425 MW each). Back in the 1980s we ran the heck out of these two units because they could be online in 30 minutes if they were hot (> 300 F). I wonder if they have any diesel for them at the plant ? Each tanker truck delivers 180 barrels of diesel, that is five tanker trucks an hour for each of the twins. Plus Handley 3 needs three tanker trucks per hour for its 400 MW.
https://www.exeloncorp.com/locations/power-plants/handley-generating-station
There’s a youtuber who buys cheap exotics, and bought a Rolls. Surprisingly cheap to buy, mainly because of style issues, much more expensive to maintain…..
That would probably be Hoovie (Tyler Hoover.) His friend The Car Wizard (Dave Long) of Omega Auto in Kansas does all his work. Hoovie claims his channel is the dumbest on the web, and if silly counts, he is correct. He is the son of Doug DeMuro, and has a knack for making money. Even had his own TV show; never saw it.
The Car Wizard likes some exotics, and preaches that they can be bought and maintained quite affordably through the right channels. Some can’t. Of course, there are variables, and that is what makes it interesting. My favorite example is when he compared a hypothetical $50k PU with an exotic like an older Ferrari. The new PU had some mods and accessories that are fairly common, but the Ferrari was stock. The results were… interesting. I wouldn’t buy either.
Not that I would actually buy a Ferrari. I did have a chance to buy a 1968 Rolls Royce from a guy I knew about 20 years ago. It was nice, but not pristine. Glad I passed it up. It would have cost a small fortune to go through. I also had a coworker who had owned several British cars, Jags, Austin Healys, and probably an MG. He said each one was a “bit of a project,” but when sorted out were very practical. I believe him, but he was a true enthusiast. I would have bought a car he had fixed up sooner than the same car new. Never had a chance.
Anything can be just an object, but with a little attention can be rewarding. That even includes pets and people. To paraphrase Jerry, neglect is a sin.
Lynn, I find your view on utilities interesting. The university I went to had a big power program, but I was in electronics. The power lab was straight out of the monster movies! I had friends who went to work in the power industry. They used to say it was all the same, just a decimal in a different place. Indeed.
Oh, my thermodynamics prof had first hand acquaintance with the power industry. His examples were fascinating. At the time, Detroit was powered by the Conners Creek Seven Sisters coal plant, up river. Always wanted to tour it, but didn’t. I see it was demolished. Probably pretty old, even then.
Added, I have another friend who is an engineer, but studies patents and quite a bit on steam and prime movers of all kinds. He worked at the TVA a couple of ice ages ago, and tells stories about big power plants. I sure hope we don’t forget how to make electricity affordably.
32 hours/week was the threshold for benefits with Doh-bamacare. The university was very careful that I never crossed that line with research and teaching, but I graduated shortly after Trump’s inauguration.
BCBSTX (Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas) is 30 hours/week. I signed a contract with BCBSTX that if any employee hits 30 hours/week then I will buy health insurance for the employee.
Contractors used to give my wife grief about her Cadillac SRX (station wagon) which we paid $32K for, while sitting in their 60-80K$ pickup trucks…
And they were serious. In their minds the Cadillac was a lux vehicle, and their maxed out pickup was ‘just a work truck’. And these were guys with bass boats or bayliners that cost $40k too… but that’s just a fishin’ boat…
We eventually traded the SRX on a Honda Odyssey. NO ONE gives you sh!t for owning a minivan… even one with leather everything.
n
n
I have life insurance. I won’t pre-pay a funeral, as our family has had two bad experiences with that: in one case, the original funeral home had sold, the new owners had no record, the family couldn’t find receipts. They tried to convince us that she had merely “planned” but had not “paid”. Uh-uh. With another grandparent, the “pre-paid funeral” was nothing but a small insurance policy that probably would not have covered a funeral at the time it was bought.
My father-in-law had a folder in his file cabinet with the receipts for his prepaid funeral in it. He also wrote the songs he wanted and the instructions for the people coming to the funeral (he wanted to pay for hotels, meals, etc) on the folder outside cover. My wife even paid for his 58 year old nephew (her first cousin) to fly down from Colorado out of FIL’s money.
The wife and I have no plans at the moment. I kinda want to be buried next to my grandparents in Wharton, Texas. There are plenty of lots in the cemetery.
A few years ago Teen Vogue had a how-to column on safe anal sex. When my mother was asking about magazine subscriptions for the granddaughter, I hard-noped Teen Vogue off the list.
About the link yesterday on a rare blood disorder associated with COVID vaccinations.
It’s a nothingburger.
From the link:
The incidence rate among the vaccine cohort mirrors that of the broader U.S. population, raising the possibility of tragic coincidence.
If the incidence matches the incidence in the broader population, it’s not associated with the vaccine. Correlation =\= causation. Especially in this case.
Thanks. I figured as much from the stats.
The NBA just released a statement *all* teams will play the National Anthem before games. I wonder if *Cuber* will get fined?
Via Marc Stein on Twitter
Lynn, I find your view on utilities interesting. The university I went to had a big power program, but I was in electronics. The power lab was straight out of the monster movies! I had friends who went to work in the power industry. They used to say it was all the same, just a decimal in a different place. Indeed.
Oh, my thermodynamics prof had first hand acquaintance with the power industry. His examples were fascinating. At the time, Detroit was powered by the Conners Creek Seven Sisters coal plant, up river. Always wanted to tour it, but didn’t. I see it was demolished. Probably pretty old, even then.
Thanks. I worked at TESCO / TU Electric / TXU from 1982 to 1989 (they merged five electric companies into one company in 1984). Straight out of college. We could generate up to 22,000 MW when I left. Left in late 1989 to go back to work with my dad in the Chemical Engineering software business.
From 1985 to 1989, I was the thermodynamics expert at TXU. Lots of hands on in 1985 and 1986 at our 45 ? power plants with 120+ generating units from 22 MW to 850 MW. And I was the one year economic dispatch forecaster for our plants from 1987 to 1989. We supplied 40% of the electric power in Texas with over two million electric meters.
The electricity business is about converting heat or potential energy (hydro) into electrons. At TXU, we spent 58% of our income on fuel for the natural gas and coal plants. Most of that heat in Texas is now natural gas (60%) for the gas turbines (about 300 in Texas). There are only four nuclear power units in Texas (1,250 MW each) and I think that we are down to 15 or so coal power units (400 MW to 850 MW). There are four ??? hydro units (2 MW to 40 MW) in Texas, not a good hydro state.
Added, I have another friend who is an engineer, but studies patents and quite a bit on steam and prime movers of all kinds. He worked at the TVA a couple of ice ages ago, and tells stories about big power plants. I sure hope we don’t forget how to make electricity affordably.
BTW, Texas is run as a huge grid by ERCOT. There is a dutch auction every fifteen minutes for the right to make power in the various sections of the grid. Everybody makes the same amount once the auction is complete no matter what their bid is.
http://www.ercot.org
Occasionally, ERCOT will pay power generators to start their units and run them for the duration of an emergency period, usually a tight summer. I suspect that they have been ordering units online all week. Some of the middle 1960s supercritical steam units require three days to startup. If, nothing goes wrong. That is a big if.
And I was the one year economic dispatch forecaster for our plants from 1987 to 1989.
BTW, I was allowed to take any of our generating units offline for a two week to eight week maintenance outage that we called an overhaul from September 15 to December 15 and February 15 to May 15. I can guarantee you that will not happen next week, people in north Texas are sweating bullets right now looking at that forecast.
Not only cold weather, but wide areas of ice storms.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/10/weather/ice-storm-snow-forecast-wednesday/index.html
Get your FLASHLIGHTS ready.
Got child two from the indoc center. Man I’m sleepy this afternoon.
n
The high today is all the way up to 37F. Cloudy enough to keep the kitchen light on to not need a FLASHLIGHT. Just enough breeze to blow through you while doing critter chores.
My rig of t-stat and little heater has kept the section of the pump house around the water softener that is enclosed with foam board (and not well sealed because “scraps” of foam board so there are gaps) at 56F. That’s 56F all day, even when the outside temp was 33F this morning.
So far, Win!
The weather forecast is all crazy. But the 16F lows have come up to 24F or so. Monday is looking like “yikes, WTF!!!” with the high near 24F and the low around 9F.
The forecast changes every few hours so who knows what the heck…. the lowest temp I have seen here is 13F. Since 1993.
The cats will be fine. I think my water pipes will be fine, too. I need to get one faucet dripping.
The faucet dripping thing would not be needed if the gate valves everyone told me to use 30 years ago actually turned the water OFF so the lines could be drained.
Nick,
Cover your trees. I remember when a cold spell hit the Valley, Mission area, around 1974 and many acres of orange groves froze. Lots of dead trees. So, toss a bed sheet over and bungee cord it down with a clamp-on light for heat.
“A Meeting at Corvallis (A Novel of the Change)” by S. M. Stirling
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0451461665?tag=ttgnet-20
Book number three of a fifteen book apocalyptic fantasy alternate history series published by ROC (Penguin) in 2006. This is the final book of the first trilogy of the series. I reread the well printed and well bound MMPB. I own all fifteen books in the series but I have yet to read books 14 and 15 as I lost interest after book #13. I am going to read the first book in a related trilogy next, “Island in the Sea of Time” published in 1998, that I never have read.
https://www.amazon.com/Island-Sea-Time-S-Stirling/dp/0451456750/?tag=ttgnet-20
It has been ten years since the entire world changed with a brilliant flash of light. Internal combustion did not work, guns did not fire, light bulbs did not light, steam engines do not build up pressure. But, spears, arrows, and swords still work along with bicycles and human power. And horse power, lots of horse power.
The Portland Protective Association is restless and want to expand to the southeastern side of Oregon. But that is where the Bearkillers, Mackenzies, and the Corvallis city-state live. The warlord of Portland can field over a thousand knights with ten thousand pikes, archers, crossbows, swordsmen, along with several hundred crew served catapults and trebuchets. The Bearkillers and Mackenzies can not even field half that. And the free citizens of Corvallis are going to rely upon their walls.
My rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Amazon rating: 4.6 out of 5 stars (288 reviews)
Paul, for extra insurance, consider a wireless remote thermometer so you don’t have to trudge out to the pumphouse, which, IIRC is out a ways. Some of these even have a settable alarm that could wake you in case of a heat failure. I don’t have a recommendation, but I bought one from
https://buythermopro.com/
but I don’t see any that have an alarm. I bought the TP63A a few months ago, and it has been reliable. They seem to make good products for reasonable prices. They also seem to make some nice thermometers for cooking and meat smoking.
My old reliable wired remote thermometer finally was failing. It lasted me about 40 years, and was made in Nebraska. I even sent it back for a problem in 1994. They replaced the entire guts with an improved board for a very nominal fee. Days gone by.
The weather forecast is all crazy. But the 16F lows have come up to 24F or so. Monday is looking like “yikes, WTF!!!” with the high near 24F and the low around 9F.
The forecast changes every few hours so who knows what the heck…. the lowest temp I have seen here is 13F. Since 1993.
I wonder what your place was on Christmas Eve of 1989 when it was 8 F in Port Lavaca, TX at my parent’s house, 200 miles south of your place ? I would not be surprised if your place was 0 F or lower. It was 6 F in Sugar Land.
Gate valves, always had trouble with them. They are designed for good flow, but usually will not turn completely off. Nowadays, use a ball valve. I have had some of these in service for over 40 years with no problems. There is also a plug valve that is a slightly different design: think the difference between ball and roller bearings. Some of these are even adjustable, and have very long life. They don’t leak and work very well. Our water company uses them, but I have never shopped for one. Here are some nice illustrations:
https://en.siovalve.com/plug-valves-vs-ball-valves/
Added, I have another friend who is an engineer, but studies patents and quite a bit on steam and prime movers of all kinds. He worked at the TVA a couple of ice ages ago, and tells stories about big power plants. I sure hope we don’t forget how to make electricity affordably.
BTW, here is some of the software that I wrote while I was working at TXU in the 1980s, my own version of the 1967 ASME steam tables in C. I wrote them first in Turbo Pascal, translating by hand from the Fortran 66 code, and then Turbo C came out in 1987 and I fell in love.
https://www.winsim.com/steam/steam.html
I’m there. 🙂
That would be, by memory, the winter of living in the rented house on River Oaks Trail where the gas central heat did not turn off for an entire month. And the water line to the Space Lane house froze when the folks there went to Eastland or whatever for a week around Christmas.
What it was in Burnet is unknown. Though there were signs of stapling plastic or similar over the windows.
I-35 from where Lamar connected to Pflugerville (and the mighty U-Tote-M aka CircleK Truckstop) was a one lane each way. Good times in a ’75 Cordoba.
The few ball valves I have simply work. It helps to exercise them about once a year. Depends on your water hardness, I think.
Gate valves, always had trouble with them. They are designed for good flow, but usually will not turn completely off. Nowadays, use a ball valve. I have had some of these in service for over 40 years with no problems. There is also a plug valve that is a slightly different design: think the difference between ball and roller bearings. Some of these are even adjustable, and have very long life. They don’t leak and work very well. Our water company uses them, but I have never shopped for one. Here are some nice illustrations:
https://en.siovalve.com/plug-valves-vs-ball-valves/
Whoever invented the plastic ball valve should be whipped. I have broken the handle off at least one of those, a one inch pipe plastic ball valve, in my pump house. I have a brass replacement for it laying on the floor next to it when needful.
From yesterday…
@Chad
Well OK then: My store, my rules. You still seem concerned about the reason for the rule. It’s my store, I can have rules with stupid, obtuse, or deceptive reasons. I will agree I should minimize having rules with such reasons, but I can still have them.
It is true you need to be a people person to be in retail. However. There is dealing with customers: “Nice to see you again, can I help you with that purchase/order that item in your size, etc…” and there is dealing with damn-fool customers: “No you can’t come in here without a shirt on, please leave.” Customers who waste your time are usually not welcome because that customer is not ever right.
Yes it is all those things – guilty as charged. All I am saying is it is a practical dodge to avoid time arguing. (Heck for the case in point I will bet the store operator got the sign for free from someone in “Smallville”, and put it up to save the time of making up one of their own.)
I am not following your argument. Yes it often takes more effort to enforce a policy than to follow one. What is the point of the comparison? How is making the minimum effort to comply less worthwhile? Yes, wearing the shirt and shoes as manning-up is ridiculous. It would be even more ridiculous to have to spend time to defend that policy but somehow that is “better”? Maybe this is too much about the “man” thing (competition for its own sake). I’m leaving it there.
Well of course we all are. Someday. I would like to put that off for as long as possible. If wearing a mask helps put that day off (it won’t) but helps put that day off for my 82-year-old MIL or someone else’s grandfather, then I will wear a mask. That’s courteous, and I am Canadian. (Did I forget to say sorry for contradicting you? Sorry. There, I feel better now, hope you do too.)
===
@Alan and Greg
I agree with Greg’s definition of a “Karen”. So what do we call the other one because the woman Alan described exists. We actually had a national news item of some woman in Winnipeg who walked into a store that required masks without wearing one and started in on the person at the counter about how this deprived her of her freedom of choice and how she would never comply. Who needs that kind of crap from anyone? Just go to another store or go home. That woman just doesn’t understand that almost all public health measures are taken so you don’t contribute to a general negative outcome. This is not like “thou shalt not steal” where you are directly affecting a specific victim. This is “thou shalt not shit in the lake” because everyone draws drinking water from the lake and someone might get sick. And just like “thou shalt not steal” it is a limit on your freedom of action. Too bad.
BTW, here is some of the software that I wrote while I was working at TXU in the 1980s, my own version of the 1967 ASME steam tables in C. I wrote them first in Turbo Pascal, translating by hand from the Fortran 66 code, and then Turbo C came out in 1987 and I fell in love.
Everything is free and clear as far as the legal droids are concerned?
Sarah Hoyt has a nice little summary up–
https://accordingtohoyt.com/2021/02/10/putting-on-your-galoshes/
all good advice.
n
“4- Get yourself safe. Now, this obviously is more urgent if you’re in a big blue city that’s suddenly become East Berlin in the 70s but twice as dangerous. If that’s where you are, it’s time to move. Start your plans as soon as you can. If you own a house, you want to be ahead of the curve, so you can get some money out of it, at least.”
“I think we all have between six months and a year before traveling/moving gets…. confusing. So, look around now, and see if you need to change your residence.”
It cost me $99K to do this in 2019. I lost $46K on the old house and I had to put $53K in the new used house to bring it up to the level where we could be comfortable. Plus the selling costs and the moving costs which were breathtaking. And making two mortgage payments nine months. But, I feel safer now ! Five miles further away from the river and five miles further away from the Houston center.
To be the next level of safer, moving from my blue county to a red county, will require another move of 50 to 100 miles southwest which I am not ready to do now. Maybe in the future though. I will have to move two of my businesses though and that will be really expensive.
I agree with Greg’s definition of a “Karen”. So what do we call the other one because the woman Alan described exists.
Fed up. Most people are right now but live with the situation. Sooner or later, someone will pop and things will get violent in Texas if we’re still under mask orders after the Legislature adjourns in June and the case/death counts continue present trends.
BTW, lest anyone think I’m sexist, some of the most militant Church Ladies Without Churches I encountered on the West Coast were male.
My buddy the gun store owner and his wife, the sole employees at the store and support for themselves, parents, and a menagerie, have a “must wear a mask PROPERLY to enter” policy.
If you think maskless Konnies are bad in a normal store, add the element of a certain mindset involving guns and freedom…
He and his wife are killing themselves to stay open even the reduced hours they are running. They can not afford, literally, for either to get sick with ANYTHING as there is no one to cover, and they can’t run the store safely with fewer than two people. They don’t even take a pee break unless there is an armed trusted friend of the store there to provide the second set of eyes.
If they get sick they will lose the store and all their money and dreams and really hard work. And yes, guns and ammo are selling like nobody’s business right now, but that doesn’t help you if you get no stock from wholesalers.
So no, no one gets to come in without a mask. As an aside, federally licensed gun dealers seem to be the last bit of retail sanity left in the US. They can and DO decide not to sell to people all the time, on nothing more than their own judgement. The FFL does not have to sell to you, even if you do pass the background check.
n
Elon needs some more cash flow for something…
–like the tesla pre-order Elon gets a whack of cash to use right now, and doesn’t have to pay it back to Peter until much later.
n
“This child is our Secretary of Transportation and he only cares about you if you live in an overpopulated megalopolis”
https://gunfreezone.net/this-child-is-our-secretary-of-transportation-and-he-only-cares-about-you-if-you-live-in-an-overpopulated-megalopolis/
Exactly.
BTW, here is some of the software that I wrote while I was working at TXU in the 1980s, my own version of the 1967 ASME steam tables in C. I wrote them first in Turbo Pascal, translating by hand from the Fortran 66 code, and then Turbo C came out in 1987 and I fell in love.
Everything is free and clear as far as the legal droids are concerned?
I never ran it past any of the legal droids. I hand wrote that software from two technical papers and my own knowledge. The loops are all hand built by me for speed and accuracy.
“Formulations and Iterative Procedures for the Calculation of Properties of Steam” by R. B. McClintock (General Electric Co.) and G. J. Silvestri (Westinghouse Electric), The American Society of Mechanical Engineers, 1968.
https://books.google.com/books/about/Formulations_and_Iterative_Procedures_fo.html?id=ssFzQgAACAAJ
“Some Improved Steam Property Calculation Procedures”, McClintock and Silvestri, Journal of Engineering for Power, April 1970.
https://asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/gasturbinespower/article-abstract/92/2/123/405627/Some-Improved-Steam-Property-Calculation?redirectedFrom=fulltext
Elon needs some more cash flow for something…
SpaceX opens pre-orders for its Starlink satellite internet allowing the public to place a $99 deposit – but the fee does not guarantee service
‘placing a deposit does not guarantee service.’
–like the tesla pre-order Elon gets a whack of cash to use right now, and doesn’t have to pay it back to Peter until much later.
n
Musk wants to know how many satellites to build and launch. Each satellite only has so much bandwidth. Probably a number between 6,000 and 12,000. I have read that he has a potential customer base of 25 million in the USA. No telling how many in Europe. Zero in North Korea and China.
Elon needs some more cash flow for something…
‘placing a deposit does not guarantee service.’
People are getting another round of stimulus checks and Elon wants to “wet his beak”.
Musk wants to know how many satellites to build and launch. Each satellite only has so much bandwidth. Probably a number between 6,000 and 12,000. I have read that he has a potential customer base of 25 million in the USA. No telling how many in Europe. Zero in North Korea and China.
I wonder how long it will be before the Chinese start using his satellites for target practice ?
I spent the last couple of days resurrecting my kids game’ PC for my son to use with a synth keyboard for a class. Clean Win 10 Pro install on a more than decade-old DP43TF motherboard, mission accomplished, but Intel cut off support for chipsets and their OEM motherboards more than a few years old so I had to scrounge for that last missing driver — the management interface PCI device!
Yeah, I guess I could have lived without that driver, but I hate to leave anything marked with a ‘!’ in Device Manager. Fortunately archive.org is trying to collect the Intel driver discs.
Going back to the question of a coup and who ordered the NG etc.
–why would PENSE have the football?
n
–kinda tarnishes the brand
n
–think there’ll be marches?
and I have to say, the guy shot looks more than a little like the guy they were looking for.
n
” a police officer came upon a man carrying a gun standing in a yard and opened fire, killing him. ”
–that doesn’t sound good.
@nick :
Because Pence was supposed to have the football. See this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_football
So, not a conspiracy. Move along.
Since when did “he was mean to me” become actionable and national news?
–actors are the ultimate “at will” employees
n
@rick,
“So, not a conspiracy. Move along. ”
–struck me as odd. Never ever seen a photo of the VP with the football, never heard of the VP traveling with it. Every sentence in the wikilies article says “President” and there is not one single mention of the football being WITH the VP. There is the one mention of a football being “allocated” to the VP and one allocated as a spare (which was given with Biden at the Inauguration). It makes no legal sense for the football to be immediately accessible to the VP as a normal course of affairs as (repeatedly mentioned) only the President can give the order. The football needs to be available to the VP AFTER he’s sworn as POTUS, not before.
So I’m going to stick with odd, and obviously the article author thought it was odd too, or wouldn’t have mentioned it.
n
*wikilies because of their well documented political bias, and FFS, look at the references listed- 3/4 of them are about Trump, and half of those are related to writers’ smears about his sanity.
added- of course since the author gets it wrong that a SS agent is carrying the football, it could be entirely fantasy on his part. In which case it isn’t even a consideration.
Of course we do, It’s the government that can’t keep it affordable.
I spent the last couple of days resurrecting my kids game’ PC for my son to use with a synth keyboard for a class. Clean Win 10 Pro install on a more than decade-old DP43TF motherboard, mission accomplished, but Intel cut off support for chipsets and their OEM motherboards more than a few years old so I had to scrounge for that last missing driver — the management interface PCI device!
Yeah, I guess I could have lived without that driver, but I hate to leave anything marked with a ‘!’ in Device Manager. Fortunately archive.org is trying to collect the Intel driver discs.
Congrats. That was not trivial. I had a couple of those Intel motherboards at the office, still have the boxes somewhere.
I am now running Win 10 Pro x64 on my home pc. I downloaded the Win 10 ISO ? ZIP ? from Microsoft and installed it on a USB drive. Put in my new 500 GB SSD and installed it using my Win 7 Pro x64 Product Key. Worked like a champ. Installed smoothly after I figured out which SATA channel to use since my old Gigabyte 68X motherboard has both SATA2 and SATA3 channels. I did not have to find any weird device drivers or load the Gigabyte device driver CD.
BTW, here is some of the software that I wrote while I was working at TXU in the 1980s, my own version of the 1967 ASME steam tables in C. I wrote them first in Turbo Pascal, translating by hand from the Fortran 66 code, and then Turbo C came out in 1987 and I fell in love.
Been a long day. I looked at your site and software, but on my phone, so couldn’t run it. I might, out of curiosity. I have forgotten most of my thermo, and have no need for steam tables. In a way, that is good. We stand on the shoulders of giants.
I’ve said it before, I am not a programmer, but I have a deep appreciation for programming. Turbo C, I have heard people say how much they loved Borland products. They have a place in history.
Another uneventful Patch Tuesday. Seemed as if one of the updates took longer than usual to install, but I had unrelated interruptions. I have one computer with Home, and the other with Pro, both 64b. They have been running smoothly since I set them up in November. Need some settings adjustments, but can wait.
There are three ‘footballs’, but only the Presidential one is ‘active’ – enabled by some sort of card. The others are inactive, unless the President it incapacitated, in which case the VP’s football gets activated.
I surmise that the VP football is also carried by someone with the VP, even though it is inactive. The ‘authentication’ process would require that the President use his codes to communicate with the National Military Command Center (Pentagon). Any attempt by the VP to communicate with the NMCC would fail, unless the NMCC determined that the President was incapacitated. Just because the VP has a football, doesn’t mean he can use it. His authority needs to be confirmed by the NMCC.
And there is no ‘big red button’ in the football. Just the authentication card that is carried by the President (or VP), and potential targets that would be communicated to the NMCC.
At least, that’s my (unprofessional) understanding.
Congrats. That was not trivial. I had a couple of those Intel motherboards at the office, still have the boxes somewhere.
The motherboards run Linux well.
Beyond the lack of readily available drivers, the biggest problem with the board is the deliberate crippling of the memory capacity to 8GB. My Q6600 main desktop runs on a similar vintage board from ASUS, and I maxed that out at 16GB when I started grad school.
Everything worked on the ASUS board when I installed Windows 10. No additional downloads necessary.
And there is no ‘big red button’ in the football. Just the authentication card that is carried by the President (or VP), and potential targets that would be communicated to the NMCC.
At least, that’s my (unprofessional) understanding.
The football has a communication device for MILSTAR. Or did in the old days. Who knows what they’re using now.
I worked on a piece of MILSTAR as a clueless intern. I learned about what the system did from a Rolling Stone magazine article.
I’m not buying that the military guy with Pence had the football. That duty usually involves a flag officer, and the liason wasn’t carrying himself that way in the video.
A friend’s uncle went from football duty to command of the USS Abraham Lincoln. The guy in the video doesn’t strike me as that type.
https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#datatracker-home
Official vaccination tracking
n
https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#vaccination-trends
Probably something invented by Al Gore.
I fully expect that more than half of the information about the footballs that is divulged to the public is either false or simply two generations obsolete. Anything otherwise would be foolish, and of all parts of government I hope that group is the last to be subsumed in fools.
Likewise, I fully expect that anything published about the footballs in this case was done to put Trump in the worst light possible.
scientific studyboobism:“Without fossil fuel emissions, the average life expectancy of the world’s population would increase by more than a year, while global economic and health costs would fall by about $2.9tn.”
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/feb/09/fossil-fuels-pollution-deaths-research
Without fossil fuels you can’t even make the bicycles that you’d have to use for transportation without fossil fuels. So everyone would be walking to the grocery store (and carrying their purchases home), walking to work, walking everywhere.
If everyone spent an additional one hour each day from age 20 to age 70 walking, it would take up more than 2 years of their lives. Probably spend an extra year of their lives working to buy the footwear that they would be wearing out.
Employ a lot of those new illegals carrying sedan chairs in the District, though.
scientific study boobism:
“Without fossil fuel emissions, the average life expectancy of the world’s population would increase by more than a year, while global economic and health costs would fall by about $2.9tn.”
That is a total lie. And I do mean a total lie. Without fossil fuels, we can only feed about one billion people across the planet. First, we need the 400 hp diesel tractors to plow and harvest 15 rows simultaneously at 20 mph. Second, we need fossil fuels to create the ammonia based fertilizers needed for the various crops. Third, we need fossil fuels to move fertilizers and food around the world to where they are needed. With fossil fuels, we can feed ten billion people across the planet.
25% of our fossil fuels are used by our transportation industry in the USA. We move things around extensively for efficiency and needs. We also have a very mobile society that likes to move around for jobs and pleasure.
I could go on and on. I could talk about how plastics have invaded every corner of our society since they are so dadgum useful. And plastics are made with natural gas. Or that our vehicle tires are made out of natural gas to make synthetic rubber and carbon black which is also made out of … natural gas.
Erf… We have a cat, approaching the age of 18. She jumped down about a meter yesterday, and broke a leg. The vet this morning said that she has osteoporosis, which is why a normal jump, probably with a bad landing, led to a break.
Anyhow, the vet doped her up and put a splint on the leg, taped all the way up to her shoulder. We had her home maybe 5 minutes, and she had ripped the splint off. My wife is taking her back to the vet now.
She’s a stubborn, independent, opinionated beastie. We have to pen her in to a single floor of the house, to prevent steps and jumps. The next few weeks are going to be really fun :-/
@Lynn
I almost made the same reply and I assume your reading of “Dies the Fire” informed some of the response (fiction though it is). However, I will allow for the assumption that they will have found a way to replace the use of fossil fuels for most purposes and that this is a very gradual change (over 50 years). If not, then the deaths of 6 out of 7 people by starvation is assured. I need to give the benefit of the doubt that while they are dreamers, they are not mass murders. An explicit statement of assumptions in the original article (does such exist?) would have helped.
” If not, then the deaths of 6 out of 7 people by starvation is assured. I need to give the benefit of the doubt that while they are dreamers, they are not mass murders.”
–you give them far too much credit. There are any number of videos and articles where people argue for just that outcome.
n
Just noticed the W10 sleep issue. I have it, too. I don’t have time to look it up right now, but search for it. There is a fix from MS. I haven’t done it yet.