Cool and possibility of rain. Yesterday threatened and occasionally spit, but never did rain on me.
I made one drop off, rescheduled a pick up to today, and delayed another drop off, all so I could pick up the new truck. Well, that didn’t happen. See yesterday’s comments for details. I was hoping to have everything wrapped up and start getting back to normal, but instead spent at least 6 hours to get educated on what not to do. I’ll keep looking. In the mean time…
I’ve got to pick up the honda generator. And I have to get it out of my truck at the far end, and store it until I can take a look at what needs fixing. I’ve also got to do more work at my secondary. More stuff to throw out and recycle to make room for the stuff piled up here. Stuff is leaving the house and storage, and secondary, but not fast enough.
I’m really hoping the honda just needs basic service and cleaning up. If I could sell it that would be a nice payday. Worth putting some effort and time into it. Generator and small engine repair skills pay off now, and in the future. Non-running gennies are plentiful and cheap. Take a shot at one… just not one from Harbor Freight.
In other news, my wife got the Moderna jab on Saturday. Some muscle stiffness and body soreness on Sunday, but hard to tell if it was the shot or working in the garden that did it. No other side effects yet. I’m still not interested. With two little kids, we shouldn’t both have the same unknown treatment, the same way the whole of senior management should never fly on the same plane. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
Lots of stuff to do, lots of catching up. And stacking. Always stacking.
n
Moving day. Wish us luck.
Outdoor animals and contents of garage will be moved a different day.
Not looking forward to the next few weeks. Would have liked it if we had purged more brutally.
Having some automation in my home, Alexa devices, smart thermostat, garage door, light switches, phones, tablets, etc. it is amazing to me how much those devices use the internet. All computers shut down and there is still traffic moving over my network to the outside world. Using the ASUS router (highly recommended) web interface there is a traffic monitor. That monitor has the ability to display traffic for each individual device. Every few seconds each device will initiate some traffic, not a lot of data, but there is data moving. It is also telling that I have 31 devices connected to the router either by direct wire or WiFi.
Have Fun (he says with a snarky smile). A year from now some boxes will be still be unopened.
I think everyone has that problem. It would require a large dumpster for me. Spousal unit tends to packrat, just like her mother.
And speaking of MIL, (smooth transition, huh) there is some talk about placing her in hospice. The senior facility where she resides is having a team talk with her today and do an evaluation. I don’t know how much “authority” these people have regarding this issue. Wife (who has POA) is of the opinion, as am I, to just leave MIL in the current situation. She can feed, clothe, and bath herself. That is good enough.
While we both don’t expect MIL to last until the end of 2021, for now she can get by. In fact spousal unit is hoping MIL survives until spousal unit makes another trip to SA on April 10. MIL is going downhill fast, has resigned herself it is time to go and she is done living. That type of thinking in itself will cause quick deterioration and perhaps at a minimum cause some psych evaluations. At 87 it is her choice in my opinion. If she wants to go on her terms, so be it, and more power to her in my opinion.
Fortunately the house is no longer an issue. Much of her stuff was sold or scrapped. Spousal unit is sole heir even though the MIL’s son is still around. Wife has instructions how to divide the money. I suspect that will be a bone of contention. Several CD’s have beneficiaries to her grandsons which will naturally be honored even though technically since the wife is joint on the accounts the certificates become hers. I have also informed the wife that nothing should be done, money given to anyone, until the final tax return is filed.
As stated, we expect this year. But who knows. My aunt was not supposed to survive more than a year according to the doctors. It took another 10.5 years for her demise. By then there was nothing left to settle, ~$500.00 in a checking account was all.
62F and 93% RH. Up and at ’em, Atom Ant!
n
Here’s where the extra key goes, this was an auto shop sale…
https://hibid.com/lot/85134698/huge-assortment-of-auto-keys
I think the dealer keeps one to make repo easier.
n
Moving day. Wish us luck.
Outdoor animals and contents of garage will be moved a different day.
Not looking forward to the next few weeks. Would have liked it if we had purged more brutally.
Moving from Florida to WA State was a partially paid corporate relo. My wife didn’t purge at all which was a big mistake since the movers padded the packing charge assuming that it was all expensed going through my wife’s employer. Big mistake. Our share was not deductible which made it worse.
Escaping WA State, I purged brutally, and I think I went too far assuming some things could be replaced later.
If you’re like us you’ll purge a lot in the packing/unpacking process too. I can remember taking things out of a box and then pausing before putting it where it would go and thinking, “Why the hell do we have this?”
I wanted to choke my MIL. After we moved her she decided to go through everything and get rid of stuff. I thought, “She’s doing this AFTER I lugged that crap up the stairs to her new apartment. She couldn’t have done it BEFORE we moved her?” I put it in the holster to have at the ready next time we had a whose-mom-is-the-bigger-pain-in-the-ass argument. lol
Anything still in a box (besides Christmas decorations) 6 months from now is probably something you don’t need. My uncle and aunt moved and we were visiting them 2 years after their move and they still had a stack of boxes in the garage and I was like, “You know, Aunt Terri, if it’s been in the box for 2 years and you haven’t needed or missed it then it can probably just go.” She agreed but just couldn’t bring herself to do it.
What worse is when people pay to store stuff. Paying $1000/year to store stuff makes that stuff rapidly cheaper to just replace if you ever need it (family heirlooms aside). A big culprit is people storing baby stuff. Paying to store baby stuff for 3 years, for example, between kids doesn’t make much sense. You could buy new stuff for less.
I’d like to think that if I live long enough to get to that point that I’d rather go out with a bang. Like, “Grandpa decided he was done living so he up and went to Vegas at 87 and died snorting coke off a hooker’s ass.”
I think the dealer keeps one to make repo easier.
Bottom feeder buy here, pay here lots, maybe. Repo guys on contract for the finance companies have access to keys for a given VIN.
More likely, the idiots doing the cleaning chores at a shop or dealer, new or used, have a tendency to lock the keys in the cars. The responsible party in the office who holds the extra keys will tend to work regular business hours. If a car gets picked up/sond on Saturday, the customer has to return. Many forget.
You could get the Lamar Odom package at the “Bunny Ranch” in Pahrump. I’ll need your height, though. Lamar couldn’t fit in the Life Flight chopper and needed ground transport after his OD.
Those type of lots actually attach a device to the vehicle that prevents the vehicle from starting if a payment is missed. Once paid off the device is removed, or just ignored. Of course most of those types of sales are rarely paid off and just used as a “rental” for lazy crowd.
Never have understood rent-to-own mindset. Pay $20.00 a week, for two years, total of $2K for a TV that could have been purchased for $800.00. I think that “renting” is just another way to get around usury laws. 300% interest would probably be frowned upon by the regulators. The people could have just saved $20 for 40 weeks and bought the TV outright. I guess “do without until I can afford” is no longer taught. Of course many of them could just quit smoking and easily have saved that extra $20 a week and then some. Bought that TV in under 3 months.
Google ‘time preference’ and add ‘poor impulse control’ to see why those places are still around….
n
Rain! Real rain with snow in the mountains…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BwFOthbzJg
@nick; is the EL a must have?
If not, is this within your budget?
https://www.fordblueadvantage.com/cars-for-sale/vehicledetails.xhtml?listingId=573415946
@alan, thanks for the link. I’d prefer the EL but it’s not a deal breaker. that’s a nice looking truck.
its funny that the listing says 260# payload package, but the window sticker shows the HD tow pkg.
it’s certified and warrantied by ford, but it’s a problem child… look at all the weird issues in the carfax – wore out the tires and the brakes, A/C issues, brake light assembly?
And TWO duplicate titles? Why?
And why did the dealer cut a replacement key as part of the first sale? Weird.
The price is where the comps are, but is $5000 more than I’d like. I might have to go back a year.
n
n
My local HEB put it’s “Face Diaper Required” sign back up. The new one does say “face covering”. The new normal. I wonder if COVID cases spike Goobernator Abbott will reinstate mask mandates. I haven’t looked close at the State web, but I’ll bet it has a disclaimer somewhere that Abbott can put put the unconstitutional mandate back up. The State needs to get rid of such extreme power.
@nick
You dodged a bullet on that Expy. No regrets. Keep looking.
Unpacked boxes – I have a 12 yard dumpster out front I rented just for that. I put quite a bit in, and a lot more once we start on garage. Because I and we have unpacked boxes. From when we bought this home 17 years ago. And some of those unpacked boxes are from before that, when we stopped paying storage 17 years ago and moved them into garage.
I’m all for chucking every still sealed box old enough to graduate into the dumpster.
I’m also very fond of my husband and would like to remain married.
-grinning eye rolling shrug-
Not looking forward to the next few weeks. Would have liked it if we had purged more brutally.
In the immortal words of OFD who did not purge enough before moving into the Hobbit House, be RUTHLESS !
One of my problems with ‘stuff’ is that with 4 different (but related) careers in the past, I have stuff for each one. Clothing is just an easy example, I’ve got business dress clothes, business casual, my everyday wear, and “worker” stuff like black shirts and pants.
I’ve got tools for each, and stuff to make each easier.
I may never do those jobs again, and I’ve pared down the amount of stuff for each, but if someone called me for a 2 week gig, and the money was right, I’d do it. I did some unpaid consulting for a touring show last year before covid. They were talking about hiring me to get the tour started, then hand off to someone. I’d consider something like that, especially with no money coming in from sales. (well, absent covid) Or if one of the artists I used to work with called, I’d consider whatever they proposed, so I’m loath to get rid of some of that stuff.
I need to go thru some stuff that has been following me around since school though, now that it’s here and not at my parents’.
n
I am getting this error now:
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This is the posting:
“Go woke go broke – jet engines edition”
https://gunfreezone.net/go-woke-go-broke-jet-engines-edition/
“National Transportation Safety Board investigators have found
evidence of fan blade metal fatigue in the Pratt & Whitney PW4000-112
engine that failed in flight on February 20, raining nacelle debris
over a mile-long area of a Denver suburb and leading to the grounding
of 69 Boeing 777-200s still in service.”
“If your company culture is embodied in the tag line of “dependable
engines,” then you focus on a culture of excellence in making
dependable engines.”
“If you focus on changing the company culture to something else, don’t
be surprised when your engines fatigue and come apart in the sky.”
Oops.
The clip from the aussie news show is pretty good.
any comments about the quality/reliability of Skynews?
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/03/bidens-handlers-announce-hastily-planned-road-show-prop-kamala-harris-joes-dementia-becomes-impossible-conceal/
n
When you make such a false and misleading statement as this, it’s hard to believe anything you say….
No that’s not what it means at all because 39 million (and more since) have already had it, and thus have more or less exactly the same immunity as the vaccine takers.
Put them together and it’s over 20% of the population.
And really it’s all STILL guessing and fudge factors.
n
No that’s not what it means at all because 39 million (and more since) have already had it, and thus have more or less exactly the same immunity as the vaccine takers.
There are lots of big questions about the immunity from a previous COVID infection. I supposedly had the COVID last February 2020 and I took the antibody test in December 2020 to show that I did not have any of the two antibodies. The Kroger Pharmacist told me that she has been told that the antibodies only last six months.
And then there is this story, “Healthy 39-yo mom dies four days after 2nd dose of Covid-19 vaccine.
An autopsy has been ordered for the seemingly “unexplainable” death.”.
https://noqreport.com/2021/03/10/healthy-39-yo-mom-dies-four-days-after-2nd-dose-of-covid-19-vaccine/
Scary.
Hat tip to:
https://thelibertydaily.com/
Moving day. Wish us luck.
Have Fun (he says with a snarky smile). A year from now some boxes will be still be unopened.
Have Fun (he says with a snarky smile). A decade from now some boxes will be still be unopened.
Fixed that for ya.
I’m also very fond of my husband and would like to remain married.
-grinning eye rolling shrug-
Good to hear that. You know, we do not congratulate long marriages enough in our society until they hit the 50 and 75 year milestones.
I’m not an expert by any means, but from what I’ve skimmed over the past several months how many antibodies you get and how long they last can depend on how bad you had COVID-19. So, if you caught it and were mostly asymptomatic your body may not have produced many antibodies. (After all, most of COVID-19’s symptoms are caused by your body’s immune system reacting to the presence of the virus. So, asymptomatic means little to no reaction thus little to no antibodies.) Now, if you got a horrible case of COVID-19 and survived it your body may be teaming with antibodies. Though, they only last so long.
The 10% that’s been inoculated is the riskiest 10%. It’s the 10% that are medical workers or that, due to old age, have a 5% fatality from COVID-19. The fact that millions of people with less than a 0.1% fatality aren’t yet vaccinated isn’t a cause for concern. Unfortunately, journalist and politicians love a tragedy and love making mountains out of molehills.
As I’ve said from the beginning, the numbers are so horribly skewed that I don’t know how anyone draws any conclusions. Infections are way under-reported. Deaths are inflated.
Our goobermint will use this to push “forever masking” and mandatory annual COVID vaccinations.
Wouldn’t it be cool to enter Bizarro World where no masking and vaccination happened and the result?
“There is gonna be a lot of Coders out there.”
https://gunfreezone.net/there-is-gonna-be-a-lot-of-coders-out-there/
“BuzzFeed announced layoffs in the HuffPost newsroom on Tuesday, just three weeks after finalizing a deal to purchase HuffPost from Verizon Media.”
“Too good to check: I also read that the two offices that were shut down just so happened to be the two offices that voted to unionize recently.”
Just what we need, more woke coders.
Shirt(-r) happens. With enough people getting vaccinated there are bound to be deaths that occur after getting vaccinated. Those same people probably would have died without getting vaccinated. The media is just trying to find a link to keep people scared; of not getting the vaccine, of getting the vaccine; take your choice.
I am coming up on 46 years married come July 26, 2025 I hit the big 50.
I read on the news that infection rate has dropped by 75%. Is it due the vaccine? Is it because almost anyone that is going to get COVID has already gotten COVID? I am certain the feds and fake Fauci will make up some numbers and spin to make it appear that Bimbo Biden saved the world.
And in other news. I have been using LastPass as my password manager. Used to be a dollar a month, then $3.00 a month. Not an excessive amount. Then LastPass got sold to some equity firm, development stalled and what development that was left was outsourced to India or some other foreign entity.
Thus I have abandoned LastPass and changed over to BitWarden. Exported all my stuff from LastPass and imported into BitWarden with no loss of data. BitWarden is $10.00 for the year. The product code is available for viewing and is not overseas. LastPass just shot themselves in the foot as far as I am concerned.
I do wish that BitWarden would auto logon while on my home computer. I do miss that option. Compelling arguments could be made for providing the option, or not providing the option.
In general, whether a viral infection elicits long-term immunity depends on characteristics of both the virus and the host, says Akiko Iwasaki, an immunologist at Yale University. She adds that studies have found that the number of antibodies produced by COVID-19 patients varies widely, which may indicate that their protection against future infection also varies.
https://www.the-scientist.com/news-opinion/cold-causing-coronaviruses-dont-seem-to-confer-lasting-immunity-67832
Still a lot of “we don’t know what we don’t know. “
For Greg, “Green Child Of Mine”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FddDNR3829M
There are lots of big questions about the immunity from a previous COVID infection.
–my point exactly, seeing as how the vaccine has the same questions.
n
Ok, small business is taking it in the shorts in the USA. My main business “hired auto and non-hired auto insurance” just jumped from $2,000/year to $5,000/year. That insurance covers the business if an employee or I have an at-fault auto accident while taking a check to the bank or traveling to a conference using a personal auto or a rented auto. The previous supplier, Hartford, stopped selling the insurance so I now have to get it from Lloyds of London.
The cost of doing business is rapidly rising due to all the lawyers suing everyone in sight. We need a loser pays for lawsuits in the USA.
@Ray: I know you’ve already changed, but I can recommend KeePass. It’s free, open source and widely used.
Got a lot done in the garden the last few days, but the weather is collapsing tomorrow afternoon. Looks like a week or so of wind, rain and/or snow. Winter’s last gasp…
“”Unmistakable Message”: Top US Admiral Reveals Test Of China’s ‘Carrier Killer’ Ballistic Missile”
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/unmistakable-message-top-us-admiral-reveals-test-chinas-carrier-killer-ballistic
That is a chilling video.
So if we have a future war with China, our carriers are going to last about 30 minutes.
The Texas refineries are coming back online after severe damage from the Feb 15 hard freeze, “Largest U.S. refinery returns to normal operation after Texas freeze”.
https://www.hydrocarbonprocessing.com/news/2021/03/largest-us-refinery-returns-to-normal-operation-after-texas-freeze
“The largest U.S. refinery, Motiva Enterprises’ 607,000 barrel-per-day Port Arthur, Texas, plant, returned to normal operations, sources familiar with plant operations said.”
“The refinery was shut on Feb. 15 when freezing temperatures, rarely seen on the U.S. Gulf Coast, knocked out steam supply.”
“Motiva began restarting the refinery on Feb. 24.”
Apparently many of the steam tracing lines used to keep the liquid crude oil and vaporized gasoline pipes at 300 F to 600 F froze and broke. I just cannot even imagine the damage. If they did not get an orderly shutdown then they had to drill the solidified crude oil out of the ten inch to 24 inch piping.
Related??
Women Report Worse Side Effects After a Covid Vaccine
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/08/health/vaccine-side-effects-women-men.html
Would it be cheaper if the business owned the vehicle?
Or can you do without this coverage and strictly use Uber? $5K is two hundred $25 rides.
Take that with a large grain of salt. People have been pushing that missile for at least 10 years. It might work, it might not. If it does, we do have ABM capabilities in the fleet and the Aegis ABM system seems to work quite well.
So if we have a future war with China, our carriers are going to last about 30 minutes.
If they can find the carriers.
A lot of swing voters in the DC suburbs work for DoD contractors. We’re going to need a new enemy to justify the spending for the next four years.
The emails from the McAuliffe campaign continue to be frantic, as if they may not win. Dem buyers remorse?
Yeah, Biden. Trump, though …
Just what we need, more woke coders.
We don’t lack for those in Austin.
Would it be cheaper if the business owned the vehicle?
Or can you do without this coverage and strictly use Uber? $5K is two hundred $25 rides.
Commercial auto insurance is $2,500/auto/year. One of my tenants has twelve work trucks for his guys. He is crying, no discount for multiple.
My annual engineering conferences, should they ever happen again, are 900 mile and 400 mile round trips. And no, I don’t fly.
For Greg, “Green Child Of Mine”:
The long knives are out for Baby Yoda at Disney. Ironically, the last 15 minutes of the second season of “The Mandalorian” may have saved Kathleen Kennedy’s job but doomed the show.
I wanted something that works on all my devices, I can access from other other computers, has emergency access (for my son) and fills in the passwords.
I really don’t mind paying a small amount for a password manager. Money promotes development and support. The $3.00 a month for LastPass was not the issue. LastPass worked and worked well for my needs. What I did not like was the change in ownership and development offshore. Yes, a lot of software is offshore but that software is not used to store access to all my sites and financial organizations. $10.00 a year is OK by me to support development.
That is part of the Murdoch news empire. Different bias than the rest. As to reliability, I do not think any current media is reliable. Just pick your biased source for comfort. 🙂
Smart move. Carrier groups have always been the backbone of the US military’s global reach. Make taking out a carrier a simple matter of pressing a button and it’s one heck of a deterrent. America’s enemies would be well-advised to invest in anti-ship missiles.
Re: Moving day
So true. Our moving day was 15 months ago and we are still opening boxes and saying “Why in the world did we bring this junk?”
I’ve always considered Sky News and and Fox News to be the MSNBCs of the right. So, biased news that’s best to take with a grain of salt. Still, if the bias leans their way politically then people tend to ignore it. So, plenty on the left watch MSNBC and don’t see a problem. Plenty on the right watch Sky News/Fox News and don’t see a problem. Few people want objective news. Most want an echo chamber.
My tax guy just brought this to my attention as I was getting nervous about the March 15 tax day for businesses.
https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-announces-tax-relief-for-texas-severe-winter-storm-victims
“TX-2021-02, February 22, 2021”
“TEXAS — Victims of winter storms that began February 11, 2021 now have until June 15, 2021, to file various individual and business tax returns and make tax payments, the Internal Revenue Service announced today.”
I had no idea. It was fairly difficult to find this on the IRS website also. I finally searched for “return due for texas disaster” on http://www.irs.gov.
“Half a dozen little 2021 predictions about life after COVID-19”
https://www.cringely.com/2021/03/10/half-a-dozen-little-2021-predictions-about-life-after-covid-19/
“Six hundred and seventy-five thousand Americans died of the Spanish Flu in 1918, back when the total population of the United States was 103 million. In the current pandemic, American deaths are already above 540,000 (remember when a projection of 160,000 deaths seemed crazy?) but our population is now 331 million. While COVID-19 will undoubtedly kill more Americans than did the Spanish flu, the percentage of the population dying will be much lower than the 0.65 percent death rate in 1918. But the numbers are close enough that one might guess the long-term impact of this pandemic could be very similar to that one.”
There is a great picture of the stands of a Georgia Tech football game in 1918.
You may or may not agree with his predictions. Sadly, I think that he is correct about conferences.
LOL! Stretch doing a *shimmy* after COVID For CLUNKERS ™ passes. plugs will sign on Friday. I wonder if the MSM will report on how many ‘Murcans died while plugs slept in until Friday. Why didn’t he sign it right now.
Almost $2 trillion and I won’t get a dime. I can only hope for some cash showering down from some goobermint agency. Hope it isn’t *yellow* cash.
From the above linked article…
Amazon Web Services, the biggest public cloud of all, will be spun-off from Amazon this year. The reason won’t just be anti-trust or other government pressure, it will be — as corporate raiders used to say in the 60s — to release value hidden in the enterprise. Though in this specific case I think I’d say it is to “release the hidden value (I estimate at 40 percent or roughly $400 billion) that Jeff Bezos would rather spend on his post-Amazon hobbies like Blue Origin.
Spinning-out AWS will pay for Bezos to play.
.
So then we find out what the financials of a non-AWS Amazon looks like?
And who will be the CEO? Will Andy Jassy stay with AWS?
.
And (possibly) related, Sleepy Joe did this:
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/09/biden-loads-administration-with-big-techs-most-prominent-critics.html
You may or may not agree with his predictions. Sadly, I think that he is correct about conferences.
The “Cringely” behind the cringely.com website worked for the Carter Administration at one point and leans mainstream Dem. I wouldn’t be surprised if he knows Biden personally. Until Dukakis’ op-research derailed Plugs’ Presidential aspirations for 20 years, Scranton Joe was aiming to be the youngest President ever elected in 1988.
People are over the mask kabuki. This is America, not Asia.
The weird pseudo science folk medicine in China arguably got us into this mess. Pandemic or not, my in-laws sometimes run around in masks … when they aren’t putting just about anything into their mouths which the batsh*t crazy old Big Aiee (oldest Aunt) tells them is good for “long life”.
Dealing with the Spanish Flu, the authorities didn’t ignore centuries of public health practice. Of course, it wasn’t an election year with the country split down the middle.
Here’s the thing. Trump. I’m jus’ sayin’.
@nick; saw this at AutoNation…
https://www.autonation.com/cars/1FMJK1HT3HEA35497
LOL! Stretch doing a *shimmy* after COVID For CLUNKERS ™ passes. plugs will sign on Friday. I wonder if the MSM will report on how many ‘Murcans died while plugs slept in until Friday. Why didn’t he sign it right now.
Almost $2 trillion and I won’t get a dime. I can only hope for some cash showering down from some goobermint agency. Hope it isn’t *yellow* cash.
You don’t get any ice cream. Unless, the missus fires you. “Yahoo Money
Here are four tax breaks included in the $1.9 trillion stimulus plan”
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/tax-breaks-included-in-the-19-trillion-stimulus-plan-165136040.html
There are massive gifts all throughout this boondoggle. Mostly for cities, unions, and the 1% though.
Antibodies for almost everything fade over time. What is important is memory cell response. Testing done on mRNA vaccine recipients shows memory cell activation months after antibodies are gone.
In addition, lab tests of the Pfizer vaccine recipients against the common variants of SARS-CoV-2 show robust immune response. Plus a protocol for rolling out a “booster” shot for future variants has been worked out with the FDA, the same protocol used for the flu vaccine. It could be rolled out in as little as a couple of months if needed.
@nick; saw this at AutoNation…
https://www.autonation.com/cars/1FMJK1HT3HEA35497
2017 Expy EL XLT 2WD with a HD radiator and a transmission cooler. HD Trailer Tow Package. 65,803 miles for $25,991. Leather seats. Remote start and heated / cooled seats. 34 gallon gas tank. No warranty that I see (bummer). Nice ! Does have a 5 day / 250 mile take back guarantee though.
I bought my 2019 F-150 4×4 from the Katy Autonation Ford dealer.
Not sure why the site here has been having intermittent connection errors, 500 errors, or timeouts. Nothing significant in the logs, and not easily reproducible.
No hosting issues reported at Dreamhost. No significant changes to site visitor load.
I did upgrade the PHP version for this site to 7.4 (it was at 7.3-somthing), which is recommended for WP. That happened this morning.
So, another puzzlement. I blame it on [you fill in the blank].
In other news, I finally finished and released my latest web site project – mailing list software for authors. Used it last night to send out 914 emails; worked fine. It doesn’t send them all at once to reduce spam detection. It’s called “BkSubscribe”, and is at https://www.bksubscribe.com .
And updated my BKLNK site (some category analysis tools for Zon book authors, plus Universal Book Links with affiliate codes). Can now report on UK Zon data. Access to UK Zon data was taken away last fall due to not enough affiliate sales in my UK Zon affiliate account. Have gotten some UK affiliate sales – not much -but apparently enough for Zon to let me have API access again.
We shall see if there is enough interest in the BkSubscribe site for some income. It’s cheaper than most mailing services, but has most of the best features. Fun project.
* Zon = Amazon
There are massive gifts all throughout this boondoggle. Mostly for cities, unions, and the 1% though.
New York had its budget deficit covered for the year.
State governments can’t print money.
New York…hmm…remind me again who’s the Governor there…oh, now I remember…
https://nypost.com/2021/03/10/gov-cuomo-allegedly-reached-under-aides-blouse-and-groped-her-report/
@Rick; minor spelling error…
Also, is the PHP upgrade why Ray is now “Ray+Thompson” with the plus sign?
“New York had its budget deficit covered for the year.”
New York…hmm…remind me again who’s the Governor there…oh, now I remember…
The Dems aren’t thrilled with Cuomo the Younger, but they don’t want a repeat of Cuomo the Elder’s last minute meltdown in 1994 leading to three terms of Pataki followed by the Spitzer debacle.
There are massive gifts all throughout this boondoggle. Mostly for cities, unions, and the 1% though.
New York had its budget deficit covered for the year.
State governments can’t print money.
But state governments can sure borrow money. I am ashamed to see that Texas is #3 with $293 billion of debt after California ($495 billion) and New York ($354 billion).
https://www.statista.com/statistics/312660/us-state-and-local-government-debt-outstanding-by-state/
@Alan, I love that yellow and grey ? locomotive icon. What line is it ? I was thinking Sante Fe but I am wrong.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Fe_108
I have a yellow diesel electric locomotive in HO that I bought in 1975 hidden away somewhere. I saw it during the move last year briefly.
@Ray
– spelling error – fixed. thanks.
And the “Ray+Thompson” – not on all of his comments, only the last couple. Which leads me to believe it was something he changed when entering the comment.
I think I might have to go see that one. I’m a bit put off by the rental history, and a lease could go either way- you either baby it so you don’t get spanked when turning it in, or you romp on it knowing you can walk away.
Still, it’s pretty much everything on my list…
n
“A tale of two freezes: How the Texas power grid stayed on in the 1989 cold snap”
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/energy/article/A-tale-of-two-freezes-How-the-Texas-grid-stayed-16005807.php
“In the last 13 years, the generation mix on Texas’ power grid went from 45 percent natural gas, 38 percent coal, 13 percent nuclear and 2 percent wind to 47 percent natural gas, 20 percent coal, 20 percent wind and 11 percent nuclear, according to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, the grid operator.”
“While that shift has resulted in fewer emissions, the loss of coal plants could have been a factor in the collapse of generating capacity during last month’s severe winter weather, Moura said. Those plants keep coal on site, and while coal piles can freeze up, it’s not hard to break them up and continue to operate.”
The 20% wind is almost worthless during extreme weather events. And half of the coal units have been closed in the last ten years due to federally subsidized wind power. And it was way colder in 1989 in Sugar Land, 6 F. Of course, in Texas, most heaters are running 100% of the time below 20 F.
Nope, just a different computer and browser. Unfortunately it was the same idiot on the keyboard.
Made you look.
@nick; saw this at AutoNation…
https://www.autonation.com/cars/1FMJK1HT3HEA35497
2017 Expy EL XLT 2WD with a HD radiator and a transmission cooler. HD Trailer Tow Package. 65,803 miles for $25,991. Leather seats. Remote start and heated / cooled seats. 34 gallon gas tank. No warranty that I see (bummer). Nice ! Does have a 5 day / 250 mile take back guarantee though.
I think I might have to go see that one. I’m a bit put off by the rental history, and a lease could go either way- you either baby it so you don’t get spanked when turning it in, or you romp on it knowing you can walk away.
Still, it’s pretty much everything on my list…
n
I would assume that the engine and tranny are going to die at 150,000 miles no matter what. So that would give you 84,197 miles for your general usage. The question is it reliable enough for you to take off and drive to Florida on Friday (a moment’s notice) to see your mother ? I felt that way about my Expy until the tranny failed at 190,000 miles.
PEBCAK, the root of most computer problems.
Yep, and as Dr. Pournelle used to state: “90% of all computer problems are cables”.
Although I usually use “PBDAC” (Problem Between Desk and Chair). And the “ID-Ten-T” problem.
When I was in the USAF the aircraft maintenance guys has a similar acronym for saying the problem exists between the joystick/yoke and seat. 🙂 They would also say the problem was with the joystick/yoke actuator (i.e. the pilot).
But state governments can sure borrow money. I am ashamed to see that Texas is #3 with $293 billion of debt after California ($495 billion) and New York ($354 billion).
Texas with income tax would be far uglier than California or New York.
But state governments can sure borrow money. I am ashamed to see that Texas is #3 with $293 billion of debt after California ($495 billion) and New York ($354 billion).
Texas with income tax would be far uglier than California or New York.
I would like to see Texas double the state gasoline and diesel tax. We have been borrowing money to build roads for quite a while now.
Not happening with all the amazon and fedex cross dock and warehouse facilities.
n
Not happening with all the amazon and fedex cross dock and warehouse facilities.
n
How are we going to pay off all that state debt in Texas then ? I sure do not want a state income tax. And the sales tax is already high enough.
Maybe start spending less?
n
Ray, thanks again for your time and answers on photography. My last two days have been busier than normal, and I need to catch up here. Some further comments.
I also like a battery grip. I have one for my Pentax, and liked it so much that it was an automatic purchase for the Oly. I mostly like the same “feel” for horizontal and vertical shots, very natural. I don’t remember, but my Pentax seems to go all day for me on one of the two batteries, and that can be a lot of pictures. That was refreshing after my Panasonic DMC-FZ10, which really needed more battery. Oh, I loved that camera, my first digital. Took something like 30k pictures with it. Still have it, but it just sits.
I don’t do sports, so don’t care about speed. I am more interested in illustrative photography, and once wanted a 4×5 view camera. Seeing and pricing the darkroom equipment for that size stopped me cold. Now with digital, some of those things are practical and affordable. I still work with a tripod and other mounts, and of course image stabilization is turned off. I DO like stabilization, especially for those hand held shots where a tripod is impractical. It is one of the greatest forward leaps in photography.
I got used to long lenses before zooms, and still like them; nowadays it is just the long end of a zoom. That Panasonic was 6-72 (35-420 equivalent,) constant f/2.8 aperture. Amazing what a really small sensor can do with a small physical size lens; just don’t ask it to perform well in low light. I bought the Pentax K20D with its CMOS sensor for good low light performance and sensor shift stabilization for use with non-stabilized lenses. It has worked well. The Pentax 18-250 (27-375 equivalent,) zoom variable aperture is a gem, especially its close focusing, which is 18” over the full zoom range, yielding a 0.28x image size. Very versatile. Even though its 35mm equivalent is less than the Panasonic’s, its resolution is far greater, and that has been a boon for various illustrative uses. I don’t yet know what the Oly 12-100 can do in objective terms. I test all my lenses on the NBS 1952 charts, but am way behind in this. I can say that (of course) longer focal length and larger aperture lenses generally produce much greater resolution than the opposite. I bought the 25mm f/1.2 lens as a special purpose normal lens. It is supposed to be very sharp, and of course fast. In informal tests, it is spectacular. I need to compare it to the zoom for sharpness.
A good way to illustrate resolution to nontechnical people is to take a picture of something like an outdoor sign at a good distance with various lenses and cameras. Sometimes the comparisons are astounding. Of course, camera lenses are always a compromise, with versatility emphasized. I have also worked with my Spotmatic body on small telescopes, and of course they can do some impressive resolution. They trade this for a very narrow field of view.
What kind of a fix is that if you can’t implement it? 🙂
@lynn
I love my electric trains but haven’t had space to play with them. Once in a while I would push everything aside, mop the floor, and set them up in the dining room for a couple hours. I’ve got a locomotive and nifty ‘beer cars’ in Z scale by marklin, and “the Prussia” by Bachman in HO. I love the fine build of the Z and the Prussia is just an adorable train with lots of delicious detail.
I think I’ll be able to set up something for the trains at the new place.
@lynn; it’s Union Pacific, the #18, one of their unique gas turbine locomotives.
https://www.up.com/aboutup/special_trains/gas-turbine/index.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Pacific_GTELs
Just getting ready to start building a 4′ x 8′ HO layout. Previously had Lionel O-27 (when I was a kid we had a layout that my dad and granddad set up in the basement every Christmas) and then LGB G-scale (but never got to having much of a layout for them).
(edited: added Wikipedia link)
And let’s not forget Dumbocrats Eric Schneidermann and of course Anthony Weiner (boy, talk about living up to your name).
Is there any surcharge on EVs in Texas to compensate for the uncolllected fuel taxes?
Much debated by model railroad enthusiasts but personally I feel anything smaller than HO to be too small to give the impression of a real train, though I have seen a couple of well done Z scale layouts inside coffee tables.
So many good youtube channels about the model railroad hobby, I’ve linked them before. Edvard Junction is one I come back to again and again. I had a 4×8 HO scale layout as a kid. Built models, tried to electrify things….
I’ve got boxes of trains to set up eventually. But eventually is sliding by, especially as a shared activity with the kids. They do love having one under the tree at Christmas.
I’ve been falling asleep in my chair for the last hour, and I’m heading to bed. My hands are like paddles, and I don’t know if that is weather changing before tomorrow or stiffness from sitting here and today’s use and abuse. But I’m off.
n
re Sky News.. As Marcelo & Chad mentioned, owned by News Corp. aka R Murdoch. Has a few “shock jock” presenters to use an old term. Mr Jones is a very poor man’s version of Rush L.
Normal viewing is by sat or cable via Foxtel. Limited audience as streaming is becoming popular. But sports is the main draw. Sky News is on YouTube as well..
Not much to write home about… Chad nailed it… salt required..
The discussions about trailer towing and brakes reminded me of this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_NDbuS5qE8
Enjoy!
Song of the night: “She’s Leaving Home”by the Beatles
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaBPY78D88g
I told my radio to play “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” on the way to HEB tonight. Sgt. Pepper’s is my favorite album of all time. I was flipping through the songs to get to “When I’m Sixty-Four” and stopped here. Paul McCartney singing the foreground and John Lennon singing the backgrounds. Like one of the commenters said, this is not music, it is magic.
I would like to see Texas double the state gasoline and diesel tax. We have been borrowing money to build roads for quite a while now.
Is there any surcharge on EVs in Texas to compensate for the uncolllected fuel taxes?
Nope. Worse, than that, Texas gives you five grand or something like that when you buy an EV in Texas.
@lynn; it’s Union Pacific, the #18, one of their unique gas turbine locomotives.
https://www.up.com/aboutup/special_trains/gas-turbine/index.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Pacific_GTELs
Just getting ready to start building a 4′ x 8′ HO layout. Previously had Lionel O-27 (when I was a kid we had a layout that my dad and granddad set up in the basement every Christmas) and then LGB G-scale (but never got to having much of a layout for them).
(edited: added Wikipedia link)
Yup, I’ve got one of those UP locomotives in HO in the original box somewhere. I had no idea it was a gas turbine ! It was my favorite engine on my 4 ft by 8 ft layout. After the wife and I got married, we used my dissembled train board as a dinner table in our apartment on a pair of sawhorses. Then when our full size bed starting caving in due to age (I had slept on it since I was five and I think my parents bought it used then), I cut the train board down and used it between the mattress and box springs to get rid of the sag. So my train board is long gone.
Maybe some day I will build a new HO set but all of my train building models have disappeared over the years. I bought 3 or 4 of them when we lived in the UK in 1973 and built and painted them when we came back to the states. If I remember correctly, the models were half a pound each and actually made in Germany. They would probably cost 50 pounds each now.