Middling warm, but sunny and nice. OR not. No one really knows. Probably like yesterday which was very nice and even cool in the later part of the evening. 57F when I went to bed.
Got my Halloween stuff set up, added a couple of tweaks, one of which didn’t really work, but generally built off the success of last year. Got a bunch of complements. I accomplished my goals. Do something creative. Share it with people. Meet some new neighbors. Reassure the old neighbors that I’m a harmless and fun guy, not a creepy guy with a stockpile, spying on them…. that sort of thing.
Sold a couple of items on ebay over the weekend that I have to ship today. Have a TON of stuff to list, including some big money items that need a bit of extra attention. And it’s the day I spend some extra time with D2 after school. PLUS I’ve got to put all the Halloween stuff away, get down the “fall” or Thanksgiving stuff, and go do some volunteer work at D1’s school helping with the set for their fall theatrical production.
All very normal ‘life’ stuff. What I want to be doing involves a lot of stacking, mods to existing stuff, and fixing some stuff I let slide. Add on the really sudden feeling that it’s the end of the year that starting November triggers, and I feel 2x farther behind than I felt last week.
Ah the joys of too much to do. No matter what I do or don’t do, I’ll fall behind on something.
It’s past time to pull my head out and start cutting through some of the blockages.
THAT’s the goal for today. Start that process.
All the rest of you, keep stacking. Time is getting short. No one wants to mess up Christmas, but after that, it’s on.
nick
52F and saturated this morning. Hopefully no actual rain.
n
The current forecast for Austin next Saturday is a low of 37 which probably means a freeze in points north and west.
People are going to freak out.
"Of course, Kendi could have stood there picking his nose and he would have been feted, because he’s saying what leftists long to hear. "
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2021/11/ibram_x_kendi_just_gave_away_the_con.html
or he could have:
drugged and raped a 13-yr-old girl
or had an affair with a Chinese spy
or falsely claimed he was the victim of a hate crime
or killed an innocent bystander on a movie set
or taken bribes from foreign nationals and tithed to his godlessfather.
The message is the get-out-of-jail-free card.
The Bang Bang story seems to have been forgotten, particularly since Limbaugh passed.
A lot of American males have the Asian kink so lots of Bang Bangs are out there working government and industry.
Even if the target doesn't have the kink, well dressed, well spoken (preferably with the "Berkeley" accent) Chinese girl can get in just about anywhere without much of a background check. I've seen it many times in my career.
Of course, I get the HireRight cavity search which skirts many levels of employment laws. Always opt for a copy of that report.
It's already begun. Louden County. Alaska (as reported by our own Jenny, sans the arrests), all over the place.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/11/new-hampshire-governor-sununu-brings-close-80-state-troopers-public-meeting-150-constituents-9-citizens-selectively-arrested-video/
When the early morning arrests start, we won't even hear about them thru the compromised media.
I know that a lot of readers are going to have an instinctive repulsion from that idea.
How much longer? How much worse would it have to get before your reaction is confirmation rather than repulsion? Mark it on your calendar and see if we get there. In other words, set some trigger points in your OWN mind for when things would be "really that bad."
n
Bush
Cheney
Sununu
Kennedy
Humphtey
Dynasty was a show on tv.
What we get in American politics is garbage.
Not in the near future in Texas or Florida. Abbott or DeSantis would be roasted alive in the national media if they tried such a thing. The upside of having the press hate the Governor of your state.
People in New Hampshire were asking for trouble voting for Chris Sununu. Daddy was a Establishment Republican with a big 'E'.
As for the subject of the meeting being disrupted, go back a year in this forum, and there were regulars openly talking about personally holding down vaccine dissenters who wouldn't voluntarily take a shot. I'm not vaccinated and I've been open and consistent on the issue, erring on the side of individual choice — I'm still waiting for the knock on my door.
I am getting an antigen test today at CVS so I can see Kevin Smith on Wednesday downtown. The venue requires a test/shot, and I’ll go along with the kabuki. When the theater does the obligatory follow up call for a donation for the never-ending capital spending, however, they will get an earful.
Subbing again today.
The urge to use a cell phone is almost a biological urge in the females. Of all the cell phones I have sent to the office over the last 5 years, it has been females exclusively. Trying to hide cell phones, I generally see what they did. They need to go to the bathroom, not to pee, but to use their cell phone. Maybe guys are sneakier than females and I don't catch them. Regardless, the urge to gab, snitch on others, put down others, worthless dribble, is rampant in the teenage girls.
Saw the same thing on our last couple of female exchange students. They would take their phones to bed, answer texts at all times of the night adversely affecting their sleep. It got to the point where we would confiscate the phones at 11:00 PM and not return until the morning.
True. (At least, for a certain type which I never was.) I would not doubt if women kept laundry as a female task so they’d have an excuse to gossip on the riverbank.
Before cell phones it was passing notes in class, and staying on the land line …first with the 8 foot cord stretched to its limit around the corner into whatever room had a door on it, next generation on the extension in their bedroom, and later on their very own private number so that parents could actually receive a phone call.
When they first put fiber optic in, in Midland, in the 90s, we thought we’d be able to get DSL. Nope: too many children’s lines in our neighborhood. They didn’t have any extra room to dedicate for internet traffic.
https://www.pistolandpawn.com/current-sale/
Current sale for the local gub store. He has 2 stores, and tons of inventory. He was out of some stuff during last shortage, and even he had to ration ammo. The last couple of times I've been the ammo prices were on their way down, with plenty of inventory.
Yes, I am stereotyping, generalizing an entire segment of the population. I really don't know how else to gauge people I have never met. I do that for anyone. Biased? You bet. Until the person can demonstrate otherwise at which point I gladly accept the exception. However I do have to start somewhere and thus the stereotype.
You are indeed correct about the female need to communicate. As a general observation females are more communicative than men. Men can spend hours sitting around a TV, drinking bear, watching a football game, never say a word or sound, except for the occasional belch or fart, and call it a good day.
Women will gather in the kitchen to a constant gab fest talking about any manner of topics, sometimes many talking at once, and keep the entire conversation(s) straight. A simply amazing feat in my opinion.
May go back to hundreds of years in the past. The females took care of the house and youngsters which required much communication. The males roamed the countryside hunting in silence to supply food for the family. Men learned to be quiet, woman learned to be talkative.
Exceptions exist of course. But neither is good or bad, right or wrong. Probably necessary way back in time. Despite liberal LGAOYREGENOEH or whatever the term of the day is, men and woman are different, in good ways, that compliment each other. Basically equal, but different.
That's the claim, but if you talk to them individually afterward you'll find that their memories of the details and sometimes even of the broad topics are completely at odds with each other.
Sort of like husbands and wives.
As boomers/their parents get older (and die) their stuff is getting sold by them as they downsize or by kids who don't want the stuff. It's been a trend for years. Younger people don't collect physical stuff. Comic books have collapsed in value due to oversupply except for very old or very specific issues (i.e. first appearances of characters). A bunch of my mom's "collectables" were not even worth selling on eBay. Not gonna sell a $5 item. I've been liquidating my wargame collection over the last year. Some have gone for a slight profit, some rare items for good $$$.
So, the bill that was supposed to fix the Texas electric grid? It has a huge hole in it.
So, any natural gas facility that wants to can opt out for $150. When this was discovered by the senators (who didn't seem to know about the loophole):
Best legislature money can buy.
The year is still young.
I concur, doctor. 🙂
I also think what we're seeing is the first generation that really had pop culture collections are starting to pass and those collections are going to start flooding the secondhand market. Collectibles started being worth a lot because nobody thought to collect them or hold onto them. So, finding them was rare and they were worth a lot. Then, everyone realized collectibles (cards, comics, toys and action figures) could worth a lot and started hoarding the stuff. That hoarding has pretty much guaranteed none of it will every be worth much. There's people buying a dozens of full sets of every sports card set that comes out and stockpiling them in storage facilities. I'm sure the same is true for comic books and for action figures. Just think of how many Star Wars figures from episodes 1-3 and 7-9 are stockpiled by people with a pipe dream that someday they be worth the same as the ones from episodes 4-6.
I remember reading several years ago that "fine china" was worth almost nothing as it was flooding into the secondhand stores and auctions as members of the Greatest Generation and older Boomers started passing away and Gen-X'ers and Millennials weren't particular interested in owning or using it. Even silver sets are pretty much just worth their silver value and not much more. Do young couples getting married even register for fine china anymore?
The number of people I know that detest all types of bric-à-brac/knickknacks has probably increased exponentially over the last couple of decades. The PTO/PTA when our daughter was still in elementary school used to sent out lists of things the various teachers liked as idea lists for Christmas and Teacher Appreciation Week. The number of teachers with statements like "Please no knickknacks!!!" on their lists was amusing. People just don't want their houses cluttered with stuff anymore. Nobody under the age of 40 wants curio cabinets filled with stuff.
Drop me a line at steven dot furlong at gmail.
I'm looking to replace what my wife "misplaced" when moving house while I was out of state, plus one of my sons is very interested in the old-style Avalon Hill and similar board games.
Well, soooprise.
The state bailed out the Griddy customers but didn't really fix that problem either since the scheme is still legal, which will mean more "My power bill is $10,000?!? How was I supposed to know?" sob stories … with the subjects of the interview sitting in front of their 4000 sq ft house in Plano. Look for the clips on a national feed after the next hard freeze in the state.
The deadline for candidates to register for the primaries to run for Governor is December 13.
As I noted earlier, the first minor test for the Texas grid comes Friday night/Saturday morning.
Fail the test and everyone living in Texas might as well start practicing:
All right, all right, all right!
Higher. 48 here and no curio cabinet in sight. It is fascinating how tastes/habits change across generations.
I collected baseball cards in the mid-late 80's. I finally listed, and sold some of the most valuable ones on ebay last month. I netted almost $200 on original purchases of around the same amount almost 25 years ago. Obviously I'm not going to retire on it. At least I got rid of some and cleared space. I already tossed a huge box of commons. I'll list my other sets and if they don't sell I'll toss them.
I'm 53, and two cross country moves plus nearly going bankrupt in Vantucky mean that anything surviving in my collectible stash means a *lot* on a personal level.
My curio cabinet is in a corner of our living room, sitting empty. Not that anything of real value ever went in there, but I pulled it out of my parents house after my brother-in-law started eyeing it.
My brother-in-law buys all the cr*p people like Nick take to auctions. He's the only person I know with a real beaver skin felt top hat.
Certain things aren’t collectible any longer. Some things are still. And every generation turns their back on stuff FOR A WHILE. I don’t think history ended with this one.
The things you had as a kid are the things that people collect for personal reasons. The stuff that is MARKETED to collectors is trying to find and exploit a particular mental state and that stuff is very generational. Forex Lladro. Hummel. Precious Moments. Willowtree. Any sort of plate. I’m not even sure the people that bought it LIKED it, but they get sucked into needing ‘completion’. Then there is pop culture stuff like Elvis. Beatles. The cultural stuff is rapidly aging out and the current buyers are older.
That said, Lladro still sells well at the estate sales, with the right audience.
As for china, that was true 10 years ago, but is less true now. There is a generation coming up that is building a fantasy nostalgia, and the Victorians are getting the nod, after mid-century modern. There may be an element of escapism in it but I’m definitely seeing signs of it growing. Having been raised on disposable cheap nasty stuff, they are learning to appreciate quality in things. I see it online in shoes, watches, clothes, and other high touch items like china…
For the very young, stuff goes in waves and the waves are both shorter and more intense. Roblox. the Imposter game. Fads that sweep thru and are mostly gone, but have a long tail.
n
(like national geographic magazines, everyone kept them so they have very little value, most newspapers, and other ephemera have little value for the same reason.)
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Lladro isn't pop culture … or at least it wasn't 20 years ago. They cut a deal with Service Merchandise in the late 90s, but the chain didn't survive much longer beyond that point.
We have one Lladro piece, a lady doctor, that means something to my wife, possibly the only decent amount of money my father-in-law ever spent on a gift for her … and he griped all Christmas about the cost.
I figured under-40 then definitely not. 40-60 maybe. Over 60 then highly likely. lol 🙂
My sister was gifted a ton of Precious Moments figurines over the years. I think she made the mistake many years ago of saying she thought they were cute in front of the wrong relatives and has been gifted them ever since. She's tried to eBay them and nobody was interested. I'm sure they're all in the landfill now.
My mom started to buy my wife Willow Tree figurines for every gift giving occasion but after the 4th or 5th one my wife had to nip it in the bud and tell her no thanks.
My mom did something similar with me. When I was a kid I loved Bald Eagles. So, I got one or more Bald Eagle things for every darn birthday and Christmas for many years. I finally had to tell her, "Thanks! I love them but have no space for anymore." Which is just a nice way of saying, "Can we please stop the game where you buy me this stuff, I pretend to love it, and then a week later it's at Goodwill?"
Watch enthusiasm lasts until the first overhaul invoice.
My next Beitling Airwolf service will cost at least $300. A gift from my wife when I was still piloting. Probably won't sell it.
Not a fan of knick knacks.
When we got chickens twenty years ago we were deluged with useless chicken themed junk. Well meaning but junk. Hard to nip that in the bud.
Proactively nipped it in the bud with the rabbits by talking about how delicious they were and satisfaction of raising own meat when folks commented on me liking rabbits.
You like rabbits? Why yes, especially their heart and liver as a special treat on slaughter day, then that first yummy roast with rosemary and a bit of lemon. Tastes a bit like chicken…
Talking about eating Thumper puts people off.
With the chicken themed gifts I started regifting them to the people who gave them to me.
Why I've enjoyed this so much I thought you'd get a kick out of it too…
Talking. Sigh. My poor beleaguered husband. I am guilty. When my mom and all three sisters were together it was a horrible talk fest with none of us listening and talking over the top of one another. Rude. No explanation for it. Help I'm talking, and can't shut up. I battle interrupting people. It's a terrible habit and truly you'd think I'd be able to control it. My husband says it's from thinking about our replies instead of deeply listening to the other person. He's not wrong. There's a degree of selfishness to it.
Enough with the self flagellation.
Good to know my flaws.
Now you know I'm not actually cool, but rather, kind of a jerk.
In Covid news we are about back to normal, though with less energy. Was able to get a fair bit of Autumn and more rabbit chores accomplished. Rabbits have two lights on a timer, two poor performing does are off to freezer camp, three youngsters are split up by best guess sex and growing out. Gifted lumber restacked for projects in Spring. Plugging away. Making soup for friends with large family hit by Covid.
Husband is affected by the vaccine / federal mandate. Working on a plan. He attended a Covid summit held in Anchorage this weekend. Interesting information from people who spoke far more credibly than the official indoctrinators.
I expect to face increasing pressure to vaccinate.
I need to catch up on the Assembly Meetings we missed while ill. They were reportedly spicy, including an Assembly member flashing Loser at a testifier. Caught by audience members filming but not official cameras. Assembly member denies, camera was damning. He trolls people to lose their temper to get them thrown out. And people don't learn.
Oh – and my daughter loves Herman’s Hermits rendition of “Henry the 8th” and spent the weekend teaching it to friends. I found a copy of a 45 for her for Christmas.
LOL to the nth degree:
Daily Mail reports how many rich eco-warriors took private jets to #COP26 to sound alarm about emissions
Hypocrites one and all.
>> Younger people don't collect physical stuff.
Yeah, for them we have the insane concept of NFTs.
Along with large limousines, large private hotel rooms, large food setups where most gets thrown away, lavish showers, large support staff with their own perks. all the finer trappings of life. But us minions, nope, not on their watch. These people probably consume more in a day than I consume in a month.
Hold a screening of "Roger & Me" and it sequel "Pets or Meat: Return to Flint".
I'm not kidding about the sequel's name. And the bunny lady takes things to a whole new level so it is a must watch.
Speaking of the Covid mandates, my employer is still on track with mandating everyone be vaccinated by Dec 8. Interestingly though, they are actually allowing exemptions. One of my guys filed one (based on religious reasons) and it was approved. I know of two others who had theirs approved as well. Right now, they continue to follow the guidelines in place for the unvaccinated – weekly testing, masking, and social distancing. It hasn't been determined yet what the guidelines for them will be after Dec 8.
Guilty as charged. I just can't STFU. On the plus side, I think my tendency to interrupt has made me significantly LESS offended by being interrupted than most people. Mostly, I get excited about what I want to add to the topic. Now, I just try and introduce myself that way, "Hi, I'm Chad. I'm talker. Feel free to tell me to shut up. Also, I interrupt a lot. It's a horrible habit, I know, but at this point in my life if I was able to control it I would have by now. So, try not to take it personally. I really DO care what you have to say." 🙂
Of course, nowadays, if it's a man interrupting a woman then it's automatically because he's a misogynist and women shouldn't interpret a man interrupting them as anything less than pure hatred and villainy. 😛
I was about your daughter's age when I was exposed to Tom Lehrer for the first time, courtesy of our local horror host in Tampa, Dr. Paul Bearer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lu_wmomQeDU
I thought I was the tail end of the Lehrer demographic and then I saw this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSAaiYKF0cs
Lehrer is not profane, but he his horribly non-PC by today’s standards.
BTW, Svengoolie, the METV horror movie host has "Munsters Go Home" this Saturday night. It is his most requested movie since anyone can watch.
Trivia: The movie is the last time the Munsters house was filmed intact on the Universal backlot. Hopefully Rob Zombie’s reboot inspires the studio to restore the house properly.
Are they mandating as a Federal contractor or trying to get ahead of the mandate for private employers of more than 100?
Federal contractor.
So, the bill that was supposed to fix the Texas electric grid? It has a huge hole in it.
So, any natural gas facility that wants to can opt out for $150. When this was discovered by the senators (who didn't seem to know about the loophole):
I believe that "any natural gas facility" under this law can be as loosely defined as a natural gas wellhead in the middle of nowhere. There will be a two inch private pipeline heading off a mile or ten or twenty to the gathering facility where the natural gas is treated for CO2, nitrogen, oxygen, water, and H2S before injection into a commercial pipeline. Just one treatment facility can have hundreds of wells attached to it covering hundreds of square miles.
The cost to weatherize all of those lone wellheads in the middle of nowhere would be simply amazing. Just pulling an electric line to them is tens of thousands of dollars so most of them do not have grid electricity. Some of the wells have solar panels and reporting systems with remote control valves but I doubt that 50% of the wellheads in Texas do. Shoot, I doubt that 25% of the wells do. And putting in an ethylene glycol recirculation system could cost up to $250,000 per well.
https://twitter.com/SikhForTruth/status/1454093966715019282
I've received two emails in the last few days. One from UPS and one from Honeywell (I have a business relationship with both). They both warned me of upcoming price hikes due to "supply chain disruptions" and "challenging times." Both companies tend to bump their costs of their goods and services a tad every year, but this is the first year they bothered warning me about it. Probably because both are planning big prices hikes (8-10% for Honeywell and 6% for UPS). 2022 is shaping up to be a wonderful year…
Guilty as charged. I just can't STFU. On the plus side, I think my tendency to interrupt has made me significantly LESS offended by being interrupted than most people. Mostly, I get excited about what I want to add to the topic. Now, I just try and introduce myself that way, "Hi, I'm Chad. I'm talker. Feel free to tell me to shut up. Also, I interrupt a lot. It's a horrible habit, I know, but at this point in my life if I was able to control it I would have by now. So, try not to take it personally. I really DO care what you have to say."
You forgot to state your pronouns.
"China’s Oil Stockpile ‘Low as It Can Go’ Ahead of OPEC+ Meet"
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/china-oil-stockpile-low-ahead-054849495.html
"(Bloomberg) — China may be forced to start buying crude at elevated prices to replenish its thinning crude stockpiles, adding more pressure to a nation that’s facing energy shortages and seeking to avert a diesel crisis."
China has one super giant crude oil reservoir that has been pushed hard since WWII. Looks like all that hard pushing is just about over with and they have to import most of their crude oil now. If so, we will see the WTI and Brent crude oil jump in 2022. We may be looking back at today's current mid $80/bbl pricing very fondly or desperately.
Note that I and many others that I know in the crude oil and natural gas industry have seen none of this demand. People do not believe it yet and it all may be false moves to economies restarting then demand dropping. In other words, the banks are not lending money to drill wells yet and probably will not with all of the companies still on the ropes out there.
I'm a big proponent of "it". 🙂 Mostly because the "they/them" crowd is so offended by it. So, when asked by "woke" people what my pronouns are I love to respond "it" and then observe their reaction. In my pronoun-free utopia we shall all be its! 🙂
This proves my "go away or I'll smash in your face vibe" has been working as intended. I've yet to have that question asked of me.
Companies are starting to put that on the front of the badge.
Companies are starting to put that on the front of the badge.
I foresee lawsuits as the gender fluid "people" want their pronouns changed hourly.
"Jonah Goldberg: To fight climate change seriously, nuclear power must be on the table"
https://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/Op-Ed/2021/10/28/Jonah-Goldberg-To-fight-climate-change-seriously-nuclear-power-must-be-on-the-table/stories/202110280027
“World leaders are heading to Glasgow to come up with yet another plan to tackle climate change. Joe Biden had hoped to have a stack of climate-related legislative accomplishments to brag about. But they’re being held up and threatened in the fight over the price tag of the Build Back Better reconciliation bill."
"The stakes, we’re constantly told, couldn’t be higher. If Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and the Republicans succeed in stripping just the proposed Clean Energy Performance Program alone it will “destroy the world,” according to Gizmodo. President Biden doesn’t go that far. But recently, at a CNN townhall, he repeated his oft-cited claim that climate change poses an “existential threat to humanity.”"
"You also don’t refuse to use your most effective weapons, at least not in a fight for the survival of humanity, without a good reason. And in this case, the best weapon in our arsenal is nuclear power. As former NASA climatologist James Hansen and his colleagues have argued, there’s “no credible path to climate stabilization that does not include a substantial role for nuclear power.”"
"But to quote Greta Thunberg, the Joan of Arc of climate activism, the arguments against nuclear power boil down to it being “extremely dangerous, expensive” and “time-consuming.”"
Can I say my pronouns are "Hung" (like a horse) and "Ouch"? I can play stupid enough to still be smarter than any paste eater.
"Europe’s Energy Crisis Better Wake America Up"
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2021/10/31/europes-energy-crisis-better-wake-america-up/
"COP-26, the twenty-sixth massive climate control “conference of parties,” goes live in Glasgow, Scotland on Halloween. That’s certainly appropriate, since its primary purpose is to further terrify humanity to “take action” to prevent the “existential threat” of “manmade climate cataclysms.”"
"Thousands of politicians and climate activists will take private jets and limos to the lecture and hector halls – to demand that “commoners” be restricted to one Basic Economy flight every three years, meatless diets, public transportation, and keeping 640-square-foot homes at 65 F all winter and 85 F all summer."
"Otherwise, they say, countless people will die as our planet “overheats” by up to 4.1 degrees C (7.2 F) by 2100. Real-world science and data provide no support for temperature spikes of this magnitude. But just in time for COP-26, Columbia University concocted a “new study” and “new metric” on the “mortality cost of carbon,” based on these scary computer-modeled temperature forecasts."
Yes, we now know from the Swiss that the models are extremely over-reaching and do not reflect reality.
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2021/10/31/swiss-analysis-climate-models-running-too-warm-falsely-calibratedipcc-needs-to-review-its-findings/
Just finished with the TX Tag site. "We have improved our site so you need to create a new account." Jeeze, I went through this about three years ago when I added the Blue Truck.
But the new version seems to work well. Dropping Blue and adding the Nissan was painless after the logging in and making a new and improved password. Along with a pet's name. No matter, by time I have to fool with it again the site will be all new and improved again.
About a week or so for the toll tag to arrive.
I'm not planning a trip to Austin on the toll road. I actually prefer the old 183. But getting a bill in the mail with something like $4 added to a $2 toll is just too stupid to deal with.
Seriously?
I ordered a new toy.
https://www.agrisupply.com/grader-blade-swing-tilt/p/72509/
Swivel _and_ tilt. You need swivel to pull gravel into the center of the road. I have a blade that does that. Tilt is to scoop gravel out of the ditches onto the road. A single plow sort of works but it puts the gravel on both sides of the ditch. Using the front end bucket is too time consuming.
Kind of pricey. But I'm into making the buffalo bellow. If I get 20 years use, not much, all of a buck a week. 🙂
I sure hope I'm working on the driveway when I'm 84. Yikes.
Anyway.
The various neighbors don't seem to give a shit. How that BMW 5 whatever is managing is not my concern….. My concern is holding a beer between my legs when I go the almost mile to the mailbox at 10 to 15 miles per hour and not spilling any.
Um, more CO2 means more plants and trees. Trees are good for shade.
Warmer means Winter isn't as cold. I'm good with that. The whole "cold weather kills off the bugs" is BS. Keep the house at 85 in the Summer? Ok, but I'm not wearing clothes. Don't assume my pronouns!
Which saves water and the energy needed for washing machines. /s
"But to quote Greta Thunberg, the Joan of Arc of climate activism, the arguments against nuclear power boil down to it being “extremely dangerous, expensive” and “time-consuming.”"
Joan came to a bad end, IIRC.
The TX base load is approx 30 GW and we have approx 5 GW of nuclear? Room for expansion there.
They improved the site so much that my autopay stopped working. Luckily I caught it early.
My autopay seems to still be in effect. This week.
The TX base load is approx 30 GW and we have approx 5 GW of nuclear? Room for expansion there.
I would like to see a lot of the new small distributed nuclear units using spent fuel for 50 MW to 100 MW around the area.
https://www.energy.gov/ne/articles/next-gen-nuclear-plant-and-jobs-are-coming-wyoming
How is it that we have nuclear powered submarines and yet for some reason can't have the same basic power plant scattered around the country?
Sure. They need cooling. Put them near a lake. The warmer water will extend the tourist/swimming season. The excess heat can be used to heat the sidewalks ala Holland, MI.
Yes, I know, the limestone will clog the pipes… but is that easier to solve than salt water corroding the pipes?
"Windows 11 is Already on 5 Percent of PCs" by Paul Thurrott
https://www.thurrott.com/windows/windows-11/258674/windows-11-is-already-on-5-percent-of-pcs
"Just three weeks after its initial public launch, Windows 11 is already on almost 5 percent of PCs out in the world, according to AdDuplex."
"And by almost 5 percent, I mean 4.8 percent. That’s about 72 million PCs, assuming you believe that there are 1.5 billion PCs running Windows."
Wild. I had no idea.
@paul:
I think the problem is the hysterical minority of, not to put too fine a a point on it, luddites and under-educated people who don't want nukes near them because, "they might blow up and let atoms out".
And to an extent, they're right. H*ll, I wouldn't like to live close to a Russian RBMK reactor, a la Chernobyl. I have a lot less problem with PWRs, BWRs, AGRs and others of that ilk. Smaller reactors, a la nuclear sub, might work, but you'd need more, because less output per each, so statistically more risky – [x] chance per million of a problem for one big reactor, [10x] chance per million if you have to build 10 reactors to get the same output. Assuming that [x} doesn't scale with reactor power. I have no statistics on that.
G.
@Chad
"I remember reading several years ago that "fine china" was worth almost nothing as it was flooding into the secondhand stores and auctions as members of the Greatest Generation and older Boomers started passing away and Gen-X'ers and Millennials weren't particular interested in owning or using it."
Aside from differences in tastes, one of the things leading younger people to reject their parents china is that any metallic decoration makes china unsuitable for the microwave.
Another is their inability to hand wash anything. Fine china, good knives, crystal stemware, all go in the dishwasher.
The pre-Baby Boomer generation did not typically have the opportunity to inherit china. Coming through the Depression most families didn't have many place setting of china, but they did have larger families. The kids never expected to get china, because the choices were one out of 4, 5, 6 or more kids gets it all, or else split it up and get a place setting. In the post-WWII economic boom a lot of families bought china–one "good' and one "everyday" set.
[ADDED: I think the latter case is responsible for a lot of the “collectible” prices of the 80’s and 90’s, as people wanted to supplement what they got an incomplete set of, and too much money chased too few plates, etc.]
I do know of families where all the girls were sent china from Japan by their brothers who were either stationed in Japan or got some leave there.
So when it came time to pass the china, on, tastes and circumstances had changed. The young brides that wanted china had already been gifted at showers and weddings. Add another set that doesn't go in the dishwasher? No thanks. Space where the china hutch would have been is occupied by a 65" tv and entertainment center.
It helps that Windows 11 is a free upgrade. It used to be that upgrading to the next version of Windows was roughly $100.
@drwilliams:
Not so much in my case. When my mother died (ghod, that's 15 years ago) I inherited several sets of china – both "everyday" and "good". D2 has already taken possession of some of it.
Yes, we did. We don't have a problem with hand-washing china. In fact, I inherited 3 1950s knives, with EPNS blades and bakelite handles that are superb as butter knives, and we consider them not dishwasher safe.
All this despite getting a full set of Oneida cutlery as a wedding present. We've got 2 full sets of inherited cutlery, too, maybe more – I've lost count. D2 may have her eyes on one of those sets, too.
None of this negates your comment – it just suggests that my wife and I have older tastes.
G.
I still remember seeing those in the phone books around here. They would be indented under the parents' listing and labeled "Teen Line." A lot of people started getting second (or third) lines in the 1990s so their dial-up internet access didn't tie up the main house line.
I can still remember my mom coming home from work and threatening to throw the computer away because she had been trying to call home since school got out and I was on some dial-up BBS the whole time so all she got was a busy signal. It didn’t take much convincing to get another line after a few months of that. At one time, when I was a young adult, our house had 4 lines. Voice line for the parents. Voice line for me. Data line for the parents. Data line for me.
DSL runs over copper in the last mile and there's only so much copper in the ground. You can run DSL and voice on the same copper circuit, but that requires space in the neighborhood cabinet for the DSLAM and there may not have been any.
Can't do that because that undermines the argument against nuclear that the waste products last forever.
It helps that Windows 11 is a free upgrade. It used to be that upgrading to the next version of Windows was roughly $100.
On the other hand you have to consider that a lot of people will have, or have had, to upgrade hardware to go to supported Win11. That, is much more than 100.
The upgrades have been faster than I thought.
Hollywood put the screws to Microsoft to fix the Windows graphics stack insecurities which are key to piracy of programming on HBO Max, Disney+, and CBS All Access (or whatever they call themselves now).
Amazon Prime and Netflix get pirated the same way, but their revenue streams are different than the studios' streaming services.
I hate IBC bank. I only use them because they offer free business checking.
Their web and IT people suck balls.
The account web page HARD TIMES OUT no matter what you are doing. NO choice to continue working, just a notice that it's closing and to save any work you don't want to lose.
The 'check number' that shows when an online bill payment check is deposited doesn't match ANY of the numbers on the debit when the automatic payment is issued. Sometimes they issue a check and only take the money from my account when the check is presented, and sometimes they take the money from my account when the check is ISSUED. AT RANDOM. So I can have a check presented for payment the same day the 'service' ACH's my account for NEXT month's check. And it's random.
Some months ACH, instant debit. Some months, check issued (no ledger entry just an email saying they've sent my payment for me) which then might languish in a drawer for months before being presented.
Oh, and the 'check numbers' aren't necessarily sequential. 5074, 5075, 508, 5078, …
The nearest branch is 8 miles away since they closed the local one. No way to transfer money in, so if I do get overdrawn I have to take cash to the branch.
I guess it's an improvement. You didn't used to be able to make deposits at the ATMs, and now you can, at SOME, and someTIMES. Again, random for both.
Gah. I hate changing stuff like service providers but I need to get out of IBC.
n
(I don't keep any money in that account as it's linked to ebay and ebay changed their policy to require access to your bank account. No way I'm leaving money there for ebay to grab.)
We are in credit unions only since Vantucky.
Austin Telco has a great web interface, and a phone call to them doesn't go to Bangalore.
Re: banks: we've been using US Bank for years; entirely happy with them.
Have had a few issues with bogus charges on our main credit card. (We use the main credit card for all purchases, to get the 'cash back' money, and then pay it off each month.) They immediately credit the charge while researching. And communicate well on the status and outcome. (In all cases, the bogus charge was permanently refunded.)
We also had to replace the card twice in the past two weeks due to bogus charges. That was quick – got the replacement card via UPS in two days.
Their on-line interface works well. As does their 'app'. We've used phone calls to report the bogus charges – which also were easy and efficient.
They have locations around Houston.
I can beat that. At a football game the side window on the car was busted and the wife's purse stolen. I immediately called at the credit card companies and canceled the cards. No charges had been made. This was about 10:30 PM on a Friday. Next Saturday, 8:30 AM, FedEx shows up at the door with a new Discover card. Less than 12 hours to get a replacement card, on a weekend.
I recommend credit unions, some of the larger credit unions. Generally good service. Bill pay service is good. Sometimes my bills are charged immediately, others get a check mailed. Depends on the billing company as some have electronic agreements with local financial institutions.
My check numbers from the bill pay service are never sequential. No real pattern.
What irritates me are companies that sit on a check for 30+ days without depositing. No real way to know if they got the check. Just today I got a late notice from my doctor's company saying I had not paid. Well, yeh, I did. As soon as I got the bill. The check was not cleared for 35 days. No excuse for that crap except for lazy staff.
At the airport. Week long trip to Vegas. My new favorite mask wearers are men with full bushy beards. Might as well just comb the beard up over their faces. LOL!
I'm snarking at the Lame Stream Media. Several long articles stating "Let's Go Brandon" really means Fcuk Joe Biden. LMFAO! Duh to the nth degree!
Today's Covid test at CVS was … interesting. I don't want to say kabuki, but I could have easily faked putting the swab all the way back to where the test meant something.
End result: Negative.
I'm clear to go see this flick with the director and Kevin Smith doing QA afterwards.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Za_pq8ICqGg
George Carlin. Stan Lee. RIP.
The media knows what it means, but a Southwest pilot is in trouble for making the line part of his in-flight announcement last week.
Everyone is piling on in the hope that he is fired to set an example.
Except for the gate agents in Austin and the younger flight attendants, I get the impression that most of the people working at Southwest are not lefties. Unfortunately, a reporterette for one of the major outlets was on the plane when the pilot dropped “Let’s Go Brandon”.
Audio of the video clip is cut off: "Let's go Bra…"
>> Then, everyone realized collectibles (cards, comics, toys and action figures) could worth a lot and started hoarding the stuff. That hoarding has pretty much guaranteed none of it will every be worth much.
Been there, done that…
Power Rangers – small profit
LGB Trains – average 25% profit
Hess Trucks – still in storage in their original boxes
My parents' collection of Royal Daulton Toby Mugs – last I heard from my brother, still gathering dust in the curio cabinet
>> Nobody under the age of 40 wants curio cabinets filled with stuff.
Except the people who stage the renovated houses on all the HGTV shows. (My SO is addicted.) Not in curio cabinets per se, but on just about every available horizontal space.
>> "Can we please stop the game where you buy me this stuff, I pretend to love it, and then a week later it's at Goodwill?"
Hey now, @nick has a family to feed…no cutting off Goodwill.
Spokesmodel.
And before you think I'm being sexist, so are the men. All they do is naively repeat what they are told.
Saw a bunch of Toby mugs in an auction in the last week or two. Didn't note if they sold well or not. The only reason I know them at all is the Cash in the Attic show… Lots of Royal Dolton on that show. Ugly Toby mugs too.
n
Hey now, @nick has a family to feed…no cutting off Goodwill.
— SOME stuff should go to Goodwill. On the other hand, you never know. That's why I suggest a professional estate sale company for that final clearance or 'living estate' downsizing. In theory, they can spot the gems and keep you from throwing out all the genuine crystal…
n
Speaking of Goodwill, picked up a nice Casio G Shock watch for $5, but the silly thing takes a CR1616 battery. Nope, don't have that one in the battery drawer…
n
Is it a "Tough Solar" G Shock?
Tough Solar batteries are rechargable. The recommendation is to have the service done at a Casio service center.
If the watch is one of that line, the owner may not have wanted to bother. Hence, Goodwill. Some Casio is collectible/desirable, however, so having the work done may or may not be worth the investment.
I have an Edifice that is my daily wear watch. Tough Solar. 12 years and still going.