Mon. May 24, 2021 – Last week of school, last week of freedom for me..

By on May 24th, 2021 in gardening, personal, prepping, WuFlu

Well the forecast calls for light rain, but we all know that means SOME PART of Houston will be getting rain, but not necessarily MY part of Houston. 20% chance of rain here seems to mean that 20% of Houston will get rain… and the temps are low 80s, so pretty much just like yesterday.

I’m really hoping for a break in the wet so I can do some local auction deliveries.

I spent yesterday puttering around, doing indoor stuff all day because of the steady drizzle. The few moments without water from the sky were used to deal with trash cans, take trash out, and get some stuff indoors from the truck. I got some household restocking done (moving from stores to use areas), some closet clean up, a bit of PC work, and generally just moved from one small project/task to another.

Today I really need to get a bunch of stuff out of the house, and out of the storage unit, and to the auction. It would be nice to get some stuff done with the new truck too, like installing the dash cam and a radio, not high priority though. Of the two, the dash cam is probably the easiest because there are fewer choices involved and no need to move interior trim panels.

The main ‘hang over’ task is getting the pickup truck to the repair place. The delay has been because I need it to move stuff for the ‘pallet’ auction. I may have to suck it up and rent a trailer for the Expy and just get the Ranger on the road to repaired. A trailer is cheaper than a rental car and would let me keep moving on the other auction. At least my back and neck are back to ‘normal’.

I need to visit Lowe’s or HD too and do some actual shopping. I’ve got to replenish a couple of the plumbing fittings I used up, I’d like to see lumber prices with my own eyes, and I’m hoping to catch kerosene on close out. It’s that time of year, and I would like to have some in my stacks for the next cold spell. I’m pretty sure there will be another. Any garden veg plants that are left might be nice, and I’ll add some seed packets to the stack too. I’ve got room in the beds for some more plants, and more of the ‘salad’ veggies that you can keep planting every two weeks. If they have any citrus trees, I’ll grab one or two as well. Mine are not coming back from the freeze.

And on top of everything else, it’s time to get the hurricane preps going. First storm was already here, and moved up north off of the East Coast. Yikes. I need to keep moving the generator projects along, get some fuel rotated out, refill some propane bottles, maybe get a propane conversion for the Honda 3000, and on and on. Time flies.

If you haven’t already, start trying your hand at gardening, even if it’s just herbs and salad. If you’re already growing veg well, think about stockpiling some more of whatever you use, be it soil additives, pest control, or canning jars. Add some seeds to your stacks too. Just buying a seed vault isn’t enough, you need stuff that grows in your area, and you need practice.

If you haven’t already, think about beefing up your home’s physical security as part of your spring cleanup. Lights, cameras, driveway or gate alarms, landscape changes, and door and window reinforcements should all be on your radar. We’ve talked about specific small things you can do that will make a difference a few times; search or keywords should find the posts and comments.

If you haven’t already, sign up for a couple of email alerts from companies like Palmetto State Armory, Gunwinner, AR500 armor, and the like to see when ‘stuff’ come into stock. Glock pistols are available, and not at crazy inflated prices. Taurus G3s likewise. PSA had an upper/ lower self assembled kit rifle for a not crazy price this weekend. Memorial Day sales are just around the corner. Ammo has come down slightly in the last week too, when it’s in stock. If you are lacking, you still can get to stacking… but it will take a bit more money and time.

Which is the crux of the problem. How much time do we have, and how much money can we spend? Both are likely to be in limited quantity soon. As always the quality triangle still holds true, Good-Fast-Cheap, pick any two. And then stack.

nick

Let me know how does your garden grow?..

73 Comments and discussion on "Mon. May 24, 2021 – Last week of school, last week of freedom for me.."

  1. Jenny says:

    Anchorage-might- have elected a conservative mayor after all. Results aren’t certified until Tuesday. Conservative leads by about 1,200 votes. Highest voter turnout ever. Campaign hit every registered Republican door twice and phone twice. Massive volunteer base. Opponent was bringing in outside door knockers and signnwavers with their vast war chest.

    There is still time for shenanigans so I won’t breath easy just yet. And we must still contend with an overwhelmingly liberal assembly. I don’t envy the man his first year in office. It’s going to be fierce. I’ve met him a few times. Strikes me as a sensible intelligent individual with a strong constitution and thick hide. He will need it.

    The homeless shelter by our old home is again a “go”. We still aren’t out of the old place. Yee gads. We have filled and emptied the roll off dumpster twice and look to fill it a third time. Real estate agent thinks if we hurry up we will be ok. Market up here is off the charts hot.

    Love the new concrete at the new place. Don’t have time for garden this year but have potatoes started. Rented a chipper next weekend to address brush piles. Eggs coming out our ears from the hens.

    New puppy is bringing a lot of joy to the humans with her cute playfulness and sweet biddability. The other dog’s aren’t impressed. I’ve applied for a DB position within my department. It’ll mean more money more stress but more meaningful work. My DB skills are stale. I’ll be honest about that if I’m interviewed. Last thing I want is to get hired then fail probation and wind up unemployed because I exaggerated my knowledge. The job has been open for a long time, they’re looking for something specific but not sure what.

    Highly recommend Andy Weir’s most recent novel, “Project Hail Mary”. Real science fiction with solid story line and creative problems for the characters to solve. Very enjoyable read.

  2. nick flandrey says:

    Thanks for the update Jenny, possible good news about the Mayor, but it will be an uphill battle.

    Good also to know that your move was the right thing 🙂 to do.

    Puppy?  Pix or it didn’t happen….

    n

  3. nick flandrey says:

    72F and 94%RH this am, but it’s not actively raining.  Looks like it might even let some sunlight thru, and that would be great!

    n

  4. Greg Norton says:

    The homeless shelter by our old home is again a “go”.

    Heading to Lowe’s near our house this weekend, I noticed that the homeless’ tents were back on the City of Austin side of the freeway underpass, the closest campsite to our front door. Austin is trying to export its problems to the suburbs, where the city limits encompass land mostly zoned commercial.

    https://www.fox7austin.com/news/potential-austin-camping-zones-for-homeless-border-cedar-park

    If the Legislature fails to push through a statewide camping ban with teeth before adjourning *for two years*, the Governor needs to be primaried IMHO. He certainly got more abortion restrictions through as the Texas Republicans continue to p*ss away political capital.

  5. nick flandrey says:

    https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/everything-keeps-getting-weirder-and-weirder

    Back in 2019 I wrote an article titled “Things Are Only Going To Get Weirder”, and from Covid to the 2020 election to the steadily increasing regularity with which UFOs are now mentioned in the mainstream media, that has indeed proved to be the case.

    –I’m NOT imagining it…

    the author’s theory is ‘interesting’…

    n

  6. nick flandrey says:

    “He certainly got more abortion restrictions through as the Texas Republicans continue to p*ss away political capital.”

    –@greg, you were certainly right about this.  It’s not something I monitor, and don’t have anyone in my circle who monitors it, so I was a bit surprised by the announcement.  I never saw any “we’re working on this” or “so far this is our progress and with your help….”   Which tells me there wasn’t any (unlikely), there is a real gap in my intelligence monitoring (partly filled by you),  and that the Governor’s messaging is VERY compartmentalized and focused.

    n

  7. Greg Norton says:

    Which tells me there wasn’t any (unlikely), there is a real gap in my intelligence monitoring (partly filled by you), and that the Governor’s messaging is VERY compartmentalized and focused.

    There is a reason Robert Francis smells blood in the water.

    https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-texas-election-2020-campaign-2016-government-and-politics-1d2fcef28c9d9a00c33500845136bda1

    “Forida Man” rejected the establishment GOP candidate for Governor and that seems to have worked out for them.

    We get a nightly dose of propoganda here in Austin. The Faux News station has dramatically changed its editorial slant since the election, to the point where is sits as far left as the Tenga ABC in the market.

  8. MrAtoz says:

    They killed Byte when they folded C/C++ User’s Journal into it. Byte lost a lot of its funkiness then and became just another computer mag.

    God Bless Compute! magazine back in the day. They published a word processing program for the Amiga. You had to type in the hex code line by line with checks. I’ll never forget it as my first WP. Awesome it was. I wrote a lot of stuff on it during Officer Advanced Course. I remember saving it to cassette tape. It didn’t work at first, though. Compute! issued a correction the next month and all was fine.

  9. ech says:

    It seems only folks older than me (and I am 60) collect stamps, and as they die more and more collections come to market for offer to fewer and fewer buyers.

    That’s true of most collectables in general. The young don’t collect things, they collect digital stuff. We ran into this with my mom’s collection of plates with birds on them. She never spent much on them and they were on a plate rail near the crown molding in the dining room of their house, so it was no big deal. I sold some on eBay, the ones that didn’t sell went to Goodwill.

    A stamp has no value to the philatelist’s community unless it has been canceled.
    My father in law collected Central American stamps – the valuable ones (not worth a lot, but some) were the ones where he had a given stamp cancelled in all of the postal zones in Honduras. They apparently have a finite set of cancellations, so it is/was possible to get ones from all the zones.

    2
    1
  10. ech says:

    –sarah hoyt has been advocating this theory for a couple of years- population is grossly over counted in most places.

    Nah. The current demographic transition has been forecasted for years. I was reading about it in the 1970s. As a country gets richer, the number of children per family declines. Happens everywhere. As you accumulate capital, you don’t need many children to be sure they will live to adulthood to care for you in old age. Farming gets more mechanized and productive, so farms don’t need large families and the number of farms declines. All this works in a feedback loop.

     

    4
    1
  11. nick flandrey says:

    Dang, rain started back up.

    n

  12. lynn says:

    72F and 94%RH this am, but it’s not actively raining. Looks like it might even let some sunlight thru, and that would be great!

    n

    We have gotten about 5 or 8 inches of rain this morning. The ditch in front of the house is over four foot deep and threatening to come over the driveway.

  13. lynn says:

    New puppy is bringing a lot of joy to the humans with her cute playfulness and sweet biddability. The other dog’s aren’t impressed. I’ve applied for a DB position within my department. It’ll mean more money more stress but more meaningful work. My DB skills are stale. I’ll be honest about that if I’m interviewed. Last thing I want is to get hired then fail probation and wind up unemployed because I exaggerated my knowledge. The job has been open for a long time, they’re looking for something specific but not sure what.

    Highly recommend Andy Weir’s most recent novel, “Project Hail Mary”. Real science fiction with solid story line and creative problems for the characters to solve. Very enjoyable read.

    Puppy ? Puppy ? I want to see the puppy. I can’t remember your blog to save my life.
    http://www.twodogsandageek.com
    or something like that.

    Good luck on the new job ! Wow, you are going through a lot of life changes.

    And good luck on selling the house. The house prices down here close to the biggest hot tub in the world (the Gulf of Mexico) have risen in our neighborhood from $120/ft2 to $150/ft2 in the last six months, we sold our old house at 125. Vacant lots are selling for $5/ft2 (one acre plus, 50,000 ft2) and up.

    Thanks for the recommendation ! I will wait for the trade paperback. Looks awesome. I have at least one of his books in my SBR.
    https://www.amazon.com/Project-Hail-Mary-Andy-Weir/dp/0593135202/

  14. Greg Norton says:

    And good luck on selling the house. The house prices down here close the the biggest hot tub in the world (the Gulf of Mexico) have risen in our neighborhood from $140/ft2 to $150/ft2. Vacant lots are selling for $5/ft2 (one acre plus, 50,000 ft2) and up.

    See if @Rick can make the edit I highlighted above.

    Memorial Day real estate silly season has started in Austin. Lots of CA plates on cars running around here over the weekend.

     

  15. Ed says:

    76F here in the California High Desert, with 26%RH and no wind.  Very pleasant, and strange, after weeks of gales and RH in the single digits.

    I had guyed the new trees against the prevailing wind direction, WSW, and am glad I did: the winds at the airport nearby were in the 50mph zone, with gusts higher, last week.  The current wisdom is not to do that, trunk flexing makes for a stronger tree, but a 60mph gust can overturn a newly planted 24g   tree.

    The garden hasn’t done much, but it’s only been a few weeks.  Some tomatoes show signs of powdery mildew, I’ve drenched with the appropriate stuff.  Something has been nibbling too, I need to get the Sevin out.

     

  16. Mark W says:

    UFOs: seems likely the Pentagon is releasing this info now to either distract from the president’s obvious issues, and kamala’s; or, like the article says, they want funding for something new.

    The liberal daughter of a conservative friend just posted a picture of a t shirt on IG, with the words “F**k governor Abbott”. She’s the stereotype – colored hair and never looks happy in any photos.

  17. nick flandrey says:

    We switched from patchy clouds to overcast and steady light drizzle not long after I commented.  Only about an inch so far according to the rain gauge though.

    We’ve had the power blink a couple of times too.   This is a big change, when we get blinks during mild rain.  We’ve been thru hurricanes without loss of power, and now a little rain gives us fits.  That ain’t good.

    n

  18. Ed says:

    WRT the recent UFO stuff off the California coast there is an opportunity with modern networked vessels to get a good 3-D track of the unknowns.

    The Burke’s of course have state of the art radar and optical/IR sensors, and if more than one vessel was tracking then the claim of possible supersonic flight without a sonic boom can be verified.

    The Omaha is an LCS and much less capable than a Burke, the IR camera that took the video was basically CGA level resolution, being a militarized commercial unit.  None the less, if the flotilla sister ships *also* have footage saved then a good forensic reconstruction of flight paths and speeds should be possible.

  19. Greg Norton says:

    At Texas DPS. I’m parked next to a new Tesla Model 3 with CA temporary tags. I’m guessing the owner is inside getting a new TX drivers license.

    I wonder if they drive the Tonymobile out from CA or used one of the services which transport EVs to Austin for tech execs traveling on business.

  20. dcp says:

    …the winds at the airport nearby were in the 50mph zone, with gusts higher….

    Small dog alert!

  21. nick flandrey says:

    If your leash turns into a kite string, it might be a tad windy….

    n

  22. nick flandrey says:

    One of the things I got for Daughter 1’s birthday was a little micro drone quad copter.  It is a BLAST to fly in the house.  And now she’s interested in flying my bigger hobby one…

    And the sun just poked out.  But it probably wont’ dry up all the rain, and the itsy bitsy spider is gonna get soaked again.

    n

  23. lynn says:

    “Texas House goes further than Senate to protect state’s main power grid as time to agree on bills winds down”
    https://www.texastribune.org/2021/05/23/texas-power-grid-legislation/

    “As the Senate’s approach responding to the storm came in the sweeping SB 3, the House put forward a host of its own standalone proposals. One of those, House Bill 16, is headed to the governor’s desk. It would not allow residential or small-business electricity customers in Texas to sign up for electricity plans where wholesale prices for power are passed to customers. Those plans include the kind that caused February power bills to skyrocket for several customers of Griddy Energy and other companies. Some customers reported bills over $15,000.”

    No more Griddies.

  24. lynn says:

    One of the things I got for Daughter 1’s birthday was a little micro drone quad copter. It is a BLAST to fly in the house. And now she’s interested in flying my bigger hobby one…

    Look out !

  25. nick flandrey says:

    thisnkeyboardnsucksnmonkeynballs.nntehnaplkjnspacenbarnisnothensensitivenatnallnandnthe nkeeynspacingnisnweird.nnnsurenhasnnicenlookingncolorednbacklightsnfornthenkeysnthough.

    InthinknInknownwhynitnwasnreturnedn.

    nick

  26. ITGuy1998 says:

    You blink and your kids are grown (well, almost). Today my son reports for his first job – working at a fast casual restaurant.

  27. lynn says:

    “University duo thought it would be cool to sneak bad code into Linux as an experiment. Of course, it absolutely backfired”
    https://www.theregister.com/2021/04/21/minnesota_linux_kernel_flaws_update/

    “‘Our community does not appreciate being experimented on’ says Kroah-Hartman”

    Wow. I think that the doctoral candidates will have a tough time passing their boards.

  28. nick flandrey says:

    Try the second after a bit of fader cleaner on the keyswitch under the spacebar….   if I wholllop it I get a space.  The action is very different from my chicklet dell keyboard.  Very clicky in a tinny way.  Tit, tit, tit, with the clacking over it.

    I’lll give it a try for a bit but so far, it’s just weird.

    n

  29. nick flandrey says:

    Absolutely need to whack the spacebar.  Also need the wrist  rest to get my hands up high enough, and need to use the tilt feet on the back of the keyboard to change the angle.

    It’s tiring, and not what I was hoping for.  Good thing it was only $10. Chinese crap shouldn’t be selling for $70.

    n

  30. lynn says:

    “Lesson of the Week”
    https://gunfreezone.net/lesson-of-the-week/

    Yes, frogs are carnivorous as the rat found out.

  31. lynn says:

    “IBM, Red Hat face copyright, antitrust lawsuit from SCO Group successor Xinuos”
    https://www.theregister.com/2021/03/31/ibm_redhat_xinuos/

    “Big Blue and its claret-capped subsidiary accused of nicking UnixWare blueprints, lying, and conspiring”

    Here we go again.

    From “Yep, the ‘Who owns Linux?’ case is back from the dead”:
    https://www.theregister.com/2021/04/06/xinuous/

  32. lynn says:

    “Socialism works: Venezuela is rationing gasoline.”
    https://gunfreezone.net/socialism-works-venezuela-is-rationing-gasoline/

    “Another triumph of the revolution: Rationing fuel in a country where oil literally comes out from the ground. 120 liters (31.7 gallons a month) for 4 wheeled vehicles and half that for motorcycles. You are exempt if you are dong public transportation or cargo. Of course, you would have to find a station that has fuel to begin with which is not easy.”

    “Here is another kicker: the fuel is still being subsidized as in being sold way under cost as it has been done since decades prior to the Revolution. They do not have the income they had before and now they are actually importing fuel, but rather than accept reality and let the free market adjust and provide, they keep perpetuating the problem.”

    Venezuelan oil is very heavy, much of it is more heavy than water. It takes a special knowledge and refining equipment to turn that ultra heavy oil into gasoline and diesel. And the specialty refineries are in Louisiana and Texas (CITGO).

  33. Greg Norton says:

    “Here is another kicker: the fuel is still being subsidized as in being sold way under cost as it has been done since decades prior to the Revolution. They do not have the income they had before and now they are actually importing fuel, but rather than accept reality and let the free market adjust and provide, they keep perpetuating the problem.”

    It is Venezuela’s problem. The government and the industrial/scientific elite currently cooling their heels in their Collins Avenue condos on Miami Beach are going to to have to reach some kind of understanding to restore the infrastructure or the country will continue to limp along.

    Why is it back in the news? Is Mrs. Dinesh D’Souza making the rounds of Hannity, etc. again?

  34. lynn says:

    Absolutely need to whack the spacebar. Also need the wrist rest to get my hands up high enough, and need to use the tilt feet on the back of the keyboard to change the angle.

    It’s tiring, and not what I was hoping for. Good thing it was only $10. Chinese crap shouldn’t be selling for $70.

    n

    I use a Logitech G610 Orion Red Backlit Mechanical Gaming Keyboard at home. Works well for $76. Has weird lights going across the keyboard that I could care less about.
    https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01CDYB8AG/?tag=ttgnet-20

    I would like the function keys to be on the left side of the keyboard as IBM and 3270 intended them to be but, personal taste there.

  35. lynn says:

    “Here is another kicker: the fuel is still being subsidized as in being sold way under cost as it has been done since decades prior to the Revolution. They do not have the income they had before and now they are actually importing fuel, but rather than accept reality and let the free market adjust and provide, they keep perpetuating the problem.”

    It is Venezuela’s problem. The government and the industrial/scientific elite currently cooling their heels in their Collins Avenue condos on Miami Beach are going to to have to reach some kind of understanding to restore the infrastructure or the country will continue to limp along.

    Why is it back in the news? Is Mrs. Dinesh D’Souza making the rounds of Hannity, etc. again?

    Miguel at http://www.gunfreezone.net is a Venezuelan Jew immigrant to the USA. He sees many of the same signs in the USA that he saw in Venezuela 30 years ago.

    Me, I am about oil and natural gas. The USA is built on plenty of cheap gasoline and diesel. Any restrictions there will be felt in the marketplace. I am predicting $10/gal gasoline and diesel in the next five years.

  36. nick flandrey says:

    Picked up child two.   Gotta really whack the spacebar, and do it several times if it’s been sitting alone, apparently.   Yup, I’m gonna put this POS with one of my auction PCs.   Freaking rainbow colored garbage.   Too bad because I’m  starting to like the travel.

    n

  37. pecancorner says:

    drwilliams says:
    23 May 2021 at 22:00

    A lot of research has been done, but little implementation …..

    I suspect the difficulty here mirrors the problem of recycling rubber tires….

    In the meantime we’re left with fibers and Ecopoly pellets, which I suspect are products in search of a purpose. If someone finds a purpose they will immediately have to compete with similar products made from virgin materials at half the cost, unless the greenies can lard on a bunch of tax credits to “Save The Earth” yet again.

    Thank you for the info and the link, drwilliams! Expanded my understanding of the situation. The wind farms out here are all on private land, so the owners may/will be stuck with how to remidiate disposal when the time comes, unless they have good contracts that can’t be “bankuptcied away”.

    Re more abortion restrictions: I’m glad to see them. My cousin’s grandaughter testified twice on one piece of the legislation. She has a young daughter who has a chromosome defect (not Downs) that never affects intelligence or communication, and usually merely shortens lifespan. The mother was highly pressured by the medical community to abort, and was not given access to the opposing viewpoint outside of her own independent research. Her testimony was to urge that full information on the positive side and on the many resources available to parents, be given to all parents, along with the usual negative – in other words, full disclosure – to allow them to make the best choice for their own family.  Her little girl is bright, healthy, and meets all the benchmarks for her age, other than being smaller in size.

    Jenny, great news about your election! We are pulling for you all. And fingers crossed that you will get the new job. Re your move: from your reports, it sounds like you have accomplished a HUGE amount of work in what is a relatively short time. It may seem never-ending, but give yourself and family pats on the back for all you’ve done.

  38. nick flandrey says:

    Ok let’s try my coolermaster gaming keyboard.   It’s pretty heavy, and solid.  Doesn’t  have a number pad though.   On the other hand, it’s smaller than my dell.

    Solid and easy to type so far.  More “thunk” than “tink” from the keys.

    n

  39. nick flandrey says:

    ” I am predicting $10/gal gasoline and diesel in the next five years.”

    –if so it will be because of inflation and milk will cost $10/gal too.

    n

    or half punishing taxes.

  40. lynn says:

    ” I am predicting $10/gal gasoline and diesel in the next five years.”

    –if so it will be because of inflation and milk will cost $10/gal too.

    n

    or half punishing taxes.

    Carbon taxes plus inflation. 2022 is looking to be a doozy for inflation. “The Fed Has Lost Control” – John Williams Warns Of Hyperinflation In 2022″
    https://www.zerohedge.com/economics/fed-has-lost-control-john-williams-warns-hyperinflation-2022

    Or not, prediction is so difficult. Especially about the future.

  41. lynn says:

    “Impulse: A Jumper Novel (Jumper, 3)” by Steven Gould
    https://www.amazon.com/Impulse-Jumper-Novel-Steven-Gould/dp/0765366029/?tag=ttgnet-20

    Book number three of a four book science fiction young adult series. Or is it a fantasy series ? I have read this book several times, maybe three or four now. I read the well printed and well bound MMPB published by Tor in 2013 that I just bought new from B&N as my original book is packed. I am rebuying the fourth book in the series and will be reading that as well. I have had trouble getting books two, three, and four as they have not been reissued in trade paperback and their reprint runs have run out.

    Would you like to be able to teleport ? I have always wanted to be a teleporter. I mean, it is the ultimate for a lazy man.

    David and Millie have a 16 year old daughter, Cent, now and live in a log cabin in Canada, 60 miles north of the Arctic Circle. Very difficult to get to for non-teleporters and kidnappers. Cent has recently put a notice on her bedroom door in butcher paper:

    “HELP !”
    “BEING HELD PRISONER BY TELEPORTING ALIENS !”
    “KEPT FROM NORMAL LIFE.”
    “SEND FRIENDS.”
    “AND ICE CREAM.”

    Warning: There are adult situations in this book (and in the series in general).

    My rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
    Amazon rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars (361 reviews)

  42. CowboySlim says:

    WRT to recycling worn out vehicle tires:  It is best to send them to Gaza where Hamas can burn them inside the fence with Israel.  Then Plugs can tax us to send Hamas money to stop CO2 pollution.

  43. Geoff Powell says:

    @nick:

    or half punishing taxes.

    Here in UK, we’re well past that. Currently, unleaded petrol costs in the order of £1.30 per litre, inclusive of all taxes – I’m unsure of the exact amount, I haven’t bought petrol for months because I haven’t driven the car.

    By contrast, some years ago, the UK motoring organisations, the Automobile Association and the Royal Automobile Club, claimed that the manufacturing and distribution costs amounted to less that £0.30 per litre. That seems to be in the close order of 1.00 per litre in fuel duty and VAT. And yes, that’s a tax on a tax. Of course, HMG claims that a duty is not a tax, so they’re not taxing a tax, but that’s a distinction without a difference, as far as I’m concerned.

    G.

  44. lynn says:

    @nick:

    or half punishing taxes.

    Here in UK, we’re well past that. Currently, unleaded petrol costs in the order of £1.30 per litre, inclusive of all taxes – I’m unsure of the exact amount, I haven’t bought petrol for months because I haven’t driven the car.

    By contrast, some years ago, the UK motoring organisations, the Automobile Association and the Royal Automobile Club, claimed that the manufacturing and distribution costs amounted to less that £0.30 per litre. That seems to be in the close order of 1.00 per litre in fuel duty and VAT. And yes, that’s a tax on a tax. Of course, HMG claims that a duty is not a tax, so they’re not taxing a tax, but that’s a distinction without a difference, as far as I’m concerned.

    G.

    The next to last time I was in the UK, I rented an two seat econobox and drove over to Swansea from London with the wife to meet a colleague. I first time I filled up, I realized that I was paying 9 US $/US gallon. I complained and was told that the obscene gasoline taxes supported the Children’s Healthcare Fund and that I was a jerk for complaining. At least my econobox got 65 mpg and we had a great time with the scenery.

  45. Alan says:

    I need to keep moving the generator projects along, get some fuel rotated out, refill some propane bottles, maybe get a propane conversion for the Honda 3000, and on and on. Time flies.

    Transfer switch in yet?

  46. lynn says:

    ” I am predicting $10/gal gasoline and diesel in the next five years.”

    –if so it will be because of inflation and milk will cost $10/gal too.

    n

    or half punishing taxes.

    I watched the person in front of me at HEB a couple of weeks ago check out with at least 10 gallons of milk. I was so tempted to ask him what he was going to do with all of that milk.

  47. nick flandrey says:

    If I’m remembering correctly, about 13 years ago when I was in Norway  gas was about US10/gal.

    It must have come down, as the googles says it’s ~8USD/gal

    n

     

  48. nick flandrey says:

    “Transfer switch in yet?”

    –electrician buddy chickened out.  The drop needs to be replaced before he’ll do the work.

    Added -pester the electric company- to my list.

    n

  49. nick flandrey says:

    I ‘ve had K-pop music videos running on the other screen this afternoon.    These girls all want to look white, but sound black.  WTF?

    n

  50. Greg Norton says:

    I ‘ve had K-pop music videos running on the other screen this afternoon. These girls all want to look white, but sound black. WTF?

    Youthful rebellion. Plus the influence of armed forces radio.

    The public persona of the American black popular artists, particularly the women, have a strong appeal.

  51. EdH says:

    Regular in town here last night was $4.26 already. I think super was $4.60 – and that was a Mobil station, not Chevron.

    I had refilled mid-week at $4.09, and have no plans to go anywhere for Memorial Day, hopefully it drops after next week.

  52. nick flandrey says:

    Just went thru another 8 inches of paper…

    4 inches went in the trash, and if I didn’t keep monthly statements, another two could follow.

    n

  53. nick flandrey says:

    Rain stopped a little bit ago.  Sun even poked out for a while.

    n

  54. nick flandrey says:

    Oh and gas is $2.45 / gal for regular no lead, 15% ethanol.

    n

  55. Greg Norton says:

    Oh and gas is $2.45 / gal for regular no lead, 15% ethanol.

    E15 was approved?

    That will take a lot of older cars off the road where E10 didn’t.

    We haven’t seen E15 here yet. Pure ethanol-free gas is still available.

  56. lynn says:

    “Texas Passes Constitutional Carry and Ends 150 Years of Gun Control Tyranny”
    https://texas.gunowners.org/goa-celebrates-passage-of-hb-1927-greatest-tx-gun-rights-victory-since-the-alamo/

    “Austin, TX – Gun Owners of America (GOA) released the following statement after the Texas Senate followed the lead of the Texas House and voted to accept the Legislative Conference Committee Report on HB 1927, otherwise known as the Firearm Carry Act of 2021, and commonly known as Constitutional Carry.”

    “Since HB 1927 has been favorably voted on by both chambers, the bill now goes to Governor Abbott’s desk for signing into law. After being signed, the bill will go into effect on September 1, 2021.”

    “HB 1927 Final Version: What does it say?”
    https://texas.gunowners.org/hb-1927-final-version-what-does-it-say/

    I am impressed, I did not think that this would happen. I still am going to keep my LTC (license to carry) though.

    My dad and I went to see “News Of The World” back in January. Set in 1870, the movie made a point that it was illegal to carry a handgun in Texas. Even with the snakes, coyotes, Indians, bad people, bears, wolves, etc.

  57. nick flandrey says:

    I thought it said “up to 15% ethanol”, but I could be wrong.  E15 is 15% right?

    n

  58. lynn says:

    https://www.theregister.com/2021/04/21/minnesota_linux_kernel_flaws_update/
    https://www.theregister.com/2021/03/31/ibm_redhat_xinuos/

    I read about the first one some time ago. Caught-up with your reading now?

    I am always behind. Getting worse with aging and running three businesses. And my daily news conglomerater missed it also until now.

  59. nick flandrey says:

    Set in 1870, the movie made a point that it was illegal to carry a handgun in Texas

    –this is a great example of the sort of Texas weirdness that used to trip me up all the time when I first moved here. You get a lot of freedoms vs other places, but at some line they STOP and draconian would be a good word.

    Like protections for personal property and real estate, but miss your dues to the HOA and they can seize your house for a $1 lien. (changed after an egregious abuse)

    Or not being able to carry a Bowie knife, despite the history of Texas. (also changed)

    n

  60. Greg Norton says:

    I thought it said “up to 15% ethanol”, but I could be wrong. E15 is 15% right?

    Yes. Where were they selling that gas?

  61. nick flandrey says:

    IDK. “May” contain means “may not” too. It was Costco, so who knows.

    n

  62. Greg Norton says:

    Like protections for personal property and real estate, but miss your dues to the HOA and they can seize your house for a $1 lien. (changed after an egregious abuse)

    Nothing compares to FS 720, the Florida HOA laws, particularly the lien provisions, carefully crafted by management company lawyers from strategic strikeouts of the original language.

  63. Greg Norton says:

    –this is a great example of the sort of Texas weirdness that used to trip me up all the time when I first moved here. You get a lot of freedoms vs other places, but at some line they STOP and draconian would be a good word. 

    Texas healthcare law floats back and forth on the legality of nurses having sexual relationships with patients, but the law is consistent that a doctor trying the same thing would lose their license with little due process.

  64. Greg Norton says:

    IDK. “May” contain means “may not” too. It was Costco, so who knows.

    Costco serves the agenda, but they buy gas from the same distributors as everyone else.

    E15 was approved in 2011, but only for cars made starting in 2001, which made selling the gas difficult so a lot of distributors didn’t bother. Ironically, the classic car club in Issaquah, WA, Costco’s home town, has (had?) a co-op station, around the corner from the HQ complex, which sells ethanol free gas.

  65. drwilliams says:

    @pecancorner

    Quite welcome.

    @Lynn

    “Venezuelan oil is very heavy, much of it is more heavy than water. It takes a special knowledge and refining equipment to turn that ultra heavy oil into gasoline and diesel. And the specialty refineries are in Louisiana and Texas (CITGO).”

    Looking for the world’s tiniest violin…

    “I watched the person in front of me at HEB a couple of weeks ago check out with at least 10 gallons of milk. I was so tempted to ask him what he was going to do with all of that milk. ”

    No dairy delivered to Starbucks and the manager sent a barista on a milk run.

    @Nick

    I got a lot of strokes out of a Dell L100 keyboard and liked the compactness and touch well enough that I had a used replacement ($10) on the shelf when the first one packed in.

    I still use an Apple M3501 Extended Keyboard space hog and have enough replacements for several reincarnations.

    Got rid of all the ball mice, but saved a large container of mouse balls.

    “–this is a great example of the sort of Texas weirdness that used to trip me up all the time when I first moved here. You get a lot of freedoms vs other places, but at some line they STOP and draconian would be a good word. ”

    One reason that I won’t live in Texas is that they made it illegal to own a Erlenmeyer flask.  (481.002 (53H)) AYFKM? And item K is “transformer”. Yeah, sure, not until they want to add “CHAPTER 481. TEXAS CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES ACT” violation to the list.

    “up to 15% alcohol” is typically a lot less with cheap petrol and expensive ethanol.

  66. drwilliams says:

    How a university got itself banned from the Linux kernel
    The University of Minnesota’s path to banishment was long, turbulent, and full of emotion

    By Monica Chin@mcsquared96 Apr 30, 2021, 10:45am EDT

    https://www.theverge.com/2021/4/30/22410164/linux-kernel-university-of-minnesota-banned-open-source

    Be interesting to see how the department does damage control:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0r_L5Z7yLTU

  67. nick flandrey says:

    they made it illegal to own a Erlenmeyer

    –?que? I’ve got several. I’ve also got a cabinet full of them in my science lab room at the elementary school…

    n

  68. drwilliams says:

    I should have said “an unregistered Erlenmeyer”.

    https://www.dps.texas.gov/section/precursor-chemical-and-laboratory-apparatus

    What’s that old saying:

    “Kiss my grits”

  69. JimB says:

    “an unregistered Erlenmeyer” Oh, puleeze.

    HOAs!

    RAIN!!

    Nope. Two out of three.

  70. Nick Flandrey says:

    Huh, I don’t see any prohibition on owning the glassware, only recordkeeping requirements for selling it or “transferring” it.

    I don’t know if the link is broken, but nothing gives me a list of ‘apparatus’ either.

    n
    added- found the list under (53) definitions, but later in the section, the possession is only an offence if there is “intent” to manufacture or distribute. No intent, no offence.
    n
    but I’m off to bed.

  71. lynn says:

    “I watched the person in front of me at HEB a couple of weeks ago check out with at least 10 gallons of milk. I was so tempted to ask him what he was going to do with all of that milk. ”

    No dairy delivered to Starbucks and the manager sent a barista on a milk run.

    Could be. But it was 11pm at night. Our Starbucks has a line around the block 16 hours a day so they could have been getting ready for the 5am shift.

  72. Norman Yarvin says:

    Texas definitely used to make Erlenmeyer flasks illegal without being registered, but I’ve heard they repealed it. (The same law also listed “transformers” as illegal-to-possess laboratory equipment, which shows you how well it was thought through. Yes, that’s as in electrical transformers.)

Comments are closed.