Tues. Nov. 2, 2021 – 110221 – hurtling into the future… one day at a time

By on November 2nd, 2021 in ebay, personal, prepping, WuFlu

Cool to start, warming gradually, then maybe hot, reverse and repeat until dark. Mid 80s high in the sun. 60F when I went to bed, mid 50s when I woke up. REALLY nice weather.

Boxed up a couple of sales, and dealt with a complaint. I’ll be re-shipping that today, along with a couple of low dollar items. Good margin, just low gross. Still, stuff is actually selling. One sale, Ebay recommended an auction for a PS3 game, new and sealed, and recommended a starting price. I got 3 offers below the open price, and then one of them bid and won with essentially the open. I haven’t done an auction in a long time, because buy it now generally brings more money. I can’t recall anyone making lowball offers before the auction completed. Not sure if this is a ‘game’ thing, or if the nature of auctions has changed. I’ll be sticking with buy it now, for now.

Put away a bunch (but not all) of the Halloween decor.

Then the rest of my day got eaten by ducks and I got not much done.

Besides frustrations with banking, and chauffeuring children, and delivering takeout, I’m fighting a stupid apple file format issue. One of the extra curricular programs sent out a .doc file with instructions to their big event. My wife sees it as a .doc attachment to an email, but when she forwards it to me, it’s a .pages attachment. Which of course windows knows nothing about. Turns out it’s a zip file, with a thumbnail image, and (ONLY SOMETIMES) an actual pdf file in a folder structure. WTAF? So much fail. In my case, I can see the map, as the thumbnail, but all the instructions are hidden inside some other file in the folders, in a format I can’t read. pdf is what? 30 years old? And people are still sending out docs? and Apple takes it on themselves to mung that up? Jeez.

I’m looking at a couple of area credit unions to move my business account. The first free one has only one branch but lists all the branches of another CU and ATMs, including inside costco, so if I can do all my business online or at an ATM, that should work. Even if I chose to use the affiliated CU directly, their requirements for business checking are not onerous. I’ve been over IBC for years but inertia is a thing.

That won’t be the first business that made me work just a little too hard. If I’m going to work that hard, I might as well look at other options too. And since I spent the time on the other options, I might as well pick one…

With hard times coming, it’s probably worth taking a look at the things you’ve taken for granted, or have been allowing to just ‘coast’. You might have too much or too little insurance, the wrong phone plan, cable tv or other subs you don’t use (F YOU Freedom Pop), TiVO, streaming services, etc. Your habits or lifestyle may have changed enough that you are stocking the wrong foods, or your burn rate may have changed so your amounts are wrong. Is it time for a new mattress? Shoes? Winter coat? Do some things need repair? Well, if I’ve got a big list, so should you. No rest for the wicked…

And probably, you should be stacking something…

nick

103 Comments and discussion on "Tues. Nov. 2, 2021 – 110221 – hurtling into the future… one day at a time"

  1. Nick Flandrey says:

    58F and saturated, 99%RH… Not actually raining though.

    n

  2. Greg Norton says:

    Besides frustrations with banking, and chauffeuring children, and delivering takeout, I’m fighting a stupid apple file format issue. One of the extra curricular programs sent out a .doc file with instructions to their big event. My wife sees it as a .doc attachment to an email, but when she forwards it to me, it’s a .pages attachment. Which of course windows knows nothing about. Turns out it’s a zip file, with a thumbnail image, and (ONLY SOMETIMES) an actual pdf file in a folder structure. WTAF? So much fail. In my case, I can see the map, as the thumbnail, but all the instructions are hidden inside some other file in the folders, in a format I can’t read. pdf is what? 30 years old? And people are still sending out docs? and Apple takes it on themselves to mung that up? Jeez.

    Pages is Apple's word processor. IIRC, it still ships free with every Mac, and an online version is in iCloud.

  3. Greg Norton says:

    Tyler Durden cowardice, but is anyone really surprised?

    Be careful about those mojitos at Doc Ford's, Tony.

    https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/tesla-slumps-xx-after-musk-nonchalantly-tweets-no-contract-signed-hertz-deal

  4. Greg Norton says:

    Boxed up a couple of sales, and dealt with a complaint. I’ll be re-shipping that today, along with a couple of low dollar items. Good margin, just low gross. Still, stuff is actually selling. One sale, Ebay recommended an auction for a PS3 game, new and sealed, and recommended a starting price. I got 3 offers below the open price, and then one of them bid and won with essentially the open. I haven’t done an auction in a long time, because buy it now generally brings more money. I can’t recall anyone making lowball offers before the auction completed. Not sure if this is a ‘game’ thing, or if the nature of auctions has changed. I’ll be sticking with buy it now, for now.

    I saw news recently of a significant advance in PS3 emulation made by one of the open source projects.

    Without emulation, the software is going to eventually be useless since Sony no longer manufactures the console and the optical drive components are fragile.

  5. Greg Norton says:

    I’m looking at a couple of area credit unions to move my business account. The first free one has only one branch but lists all the branches of another CU and ATMs, including inside costco, so if I can do all my business online or at an ATM, that should work. Even if I chose to use the affiliated CU directly, their requirements for business checking are not onerous. I’ve been over IBC for years but inertia is a thing.

    Credit unions around here have an affiliation arrangement under which members of other local credit unions can make deposits in the lobby and use the ATMs of other member institutions without fees. Those located in the Houston area may do something similar or even belong to the same group.

    My one complaint about both of our credit unions is that the ATMs will not accept deposits. Is that a Texas thing?

  6. Chad says:

    Pages is Apple's word processor. IIRC, it still ships free with every Mac, and an online version is in iCloud.

    Yep. Microsoft Office has Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Apple has Pages, Numbers, and Keynote. Apple doesn’t have an Outlook equivalent other than the built-in Mail, Calendar, and Contacts (imaginative names, I know).

    I've not used much of either suite on my Mac. The last Mac version of Office I had was Office for Mac 2011. I used it on the occasional Excel workbook for a quick edit and not much else. I don't recall having any problems. I've used the Apple stuff primarily as a viewer when I open Office files on a Mac that doesn't have Microsoft Office installed. As a viewer, Pages, Numbers, and Keynote all work great, but I've not done any real editing with any of them. Currently, I used LibreOffice 7.2.x on my Mac, but again, I rarely edit Office files at home. I've never had a problem sending the attachments back and forth to anyone.

    My daughter's middle school uses Google Docs for everything.  I think she had a Computer Apps unit in 7th grade where they showed them some common apps that included Office suite products like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. However, most schoolwork is done on Google Docs and submitted via Google Classroom.

  7. dkreck says:

    My favorite is, 'I have to have MSO because LO won't do what I need'. If I were a rude person I'd call horse manure, show me. But I know they're just whiney little beeches. Most of them couldn't do more than add columns. I have some report programs that make CSV files and place then in a shared folder on the main server. Simple instructions to grab the file, adjust a couple of column widths to look better than save in MSO doc format before emailing. Good luck on that. Some learn it, some never will. Then complaints from the recipient that can't work with the CSV sent. Despair is a sin?

  8. Ray Thompson says:

    However, most schoolwork is done on Google Docs and submitted via Google Classroom.

    Same here. All the students are provided really cheap, as in the lowest level possible, Chromebooks. Students can bring their own computers and a few do so. Google Docs for everything, Google classroom for assignments.

    The student uses the same device for all four years of high school. A device that probably cost $100.00, if that much, at the end of four years with typical teenage abuse, is not worth $10.00. Yet the school collects them at the end of four years. The time and effort is not worth the cost of the Chromebooks. The school should just let the students keep the devices. The devices will never be used again and the school has to pay to recycle the Chromebooks. A waste of money.

  9. dkreck says:

    Last night was fun. Power failure at 11:22 but I slept until about 1:10 and noticed it when I went for my usual old man relief. About 1:30 this beep beep beep started. About every 30 seconds. Took me a couple of minutes to find it was the alarm panel telling me system trouble. We've never used the damn thing, I have Snuggs,  my 90# GS for that. My attempts to silence it seemed useless, so I wasn't going to rip it off the wall in spite of my urges and taped a cotton pad over the noise maker holes. That helped. Phone hotspot and laptop and checked PG&E. Small outage in my neighborhood only. Soon the status changed to fixed by 3am to 6am and yes, I could still hear that damn beeping. Back to the panel and somehow stopped the nagging. A hex on ADT. Power came on just before 4am. 

  10. Chad says:

    All the students are provided really cheap, as in the lowest level possible, Chromebooks. Students can bring their own computers and a few do so. 

    Our middle schoolers get Apple iPads that they use throughout middle school. They are responsible for making sure they're charged every night. Parents are required to purchase insurance for $40 every year in case it is lost or damaged (parents who demonstrate financial need can have the insurance paid for by the district).

    Our high schoolers get 13" Apple Macbooks which they use throughout high school. Insurance is required on these too.

    Insurance includes fairly indestructible cases for both the iPads and Macbooks. They students essentially own the case and are allowed to decorate it with stickers and whatnot (nothing inappropriate, of course). When they're done with middle school or high school the case is tossed and the next student to use that device (assuming the device itself isn't being upgraded/replaced) gets a new case.

    Cameras are disabled on both devices unless a class project requires them and then the teachers can turn them on for a specific number of days.

    In either case the students are NOT allowed to use their own devices at school. They can, of course, use their own devices for homework at home, but the only devices allowed in the classroom at school are school issued (and thus school locked down) devices.

  11. dkreck says:

    Nov 2, wife complained house was cold. Actual temp was 74F. I don't think that is cold but I turned the heat on for the first time this year. By afternoon I’ll probably hear it's too hot and go back to AC. First of the month time to change the filter too.

  12. drwilliams says:

    spam alert:

    Got an email this morning saying my email had been “selected” to take a survey on Moderna vaccine and get up to $90 compensation. 

    Message was a bit overfond of large type, caps, and colors (all flags) and came to a business email, not personal, so no medical connection  

    Be wary and pass it on. 

  13. lpdbw says:

    I can recommend FCCU, First Community Credit Union.

    I don't have experience with other ones, so I can't say it's the best, but it's adequate, and they have several locations I can use (Spring Branch, Katy HEB, Cinco, etc.).

    They have an app that works and I pay all my bills through their web bill pay page.

    I use their shared branch feature to deal with my brother's credit union in Spokane, WA.

    They're not perfect, but I've never had any problems that their staff couldn't handle, cheerfully.

  14. lynn says:

    "Oh, now you tell me !"

    "Overheard at the bowling alley.  "You know how they throw the ball into the crowd at the end of the game.  That's not allowed in bowling.  I know that now.""

    SRW at the Fort Bend Journal.

  15. MrAtoz says:

    Yep. Microsoft Office has Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Apple has Pages, Numbers, and Keynote. Apple doesn’t have an Outlook equivalent other than the built-in Mail, Calendar, and Contacts (imaginative names, I know).

    I've been considering dropping my 365 subscription and just use the native Mac apps. The days of "I need the power of Excel" are over. It's just the Mac apps are different from MSO and you get used to all those controls. However, minimum is all I need these days.

    In the land of "wear your mask everywhere, sheeple", ie, Vegas. Makes me glad I'm a resident of Tejas again. MrsAtoz is making ribs and her fabulous mashed potatoes today.

  16. drwilliams says:

    @dkreck

    Nov 2, wife complained house was cold. Actual temp was 74F. I don't think that is cold but I turned the heat on for the first time this year. By afternoon I’ll probably hear it's too hot and go back to AC. First of the month time to change the filter too.

    If the furnace fan was not operating the temp could be more variable, particularly if the wind was blowing. 

  17. Chad says:

    Nov 2, wife complained house was cold. Actual temp was 74F. I don't think that is cold but I turned the heat on for the first time this year. By afternoon I’ll probably hear it's too hot and go back to AC. First of the month time to change the filter too.

    There's certainly something to this. When my house thermostat says it's 72℉ inside in July when it's 95℉ outside it feels comfortable. When that same thermostat says it's 72℉ inside in October when it's 40℉ outside, then everyone is shivering.

  18. lynn says:

    "Is Failure Baked in the Cake at Glasgow?" By Patrick J. Buchanan

    https://buchanan.org/blog/is-failure-baked-in-the-cake-at-glasgow-158689

    "Consider. The world’s largest emitter of carbon dioxide is China, which burns half of the world’s coal and is building new coal-fired plants even as the 30,000 summiteers gather in Glasgow… Neither Chinese President Xi Jinping nor Russian President Vladimir Putin will even be present in Glasgow."

    Go visit the article just to see the picture of the 300 foot tall wind turbines dominating the quaint little village in Scotland. OFD would have been waxing furiously on the ridiculousness of that scene.

  19. lynn says:

    Credit unions around here have an affiliation arrangement under which members of other local credit unions can make deposits in the lobby and use the ATMs of other member institutions without fees. Those located in the Houston area may do something similar or even belong to the same group.

    My one complaint about both of our credit unions is that the ATMs will not accept deposits. Is that a Texas thing?

    That is a deal killer for me.  I deposit all of my rent checks into our Wells Fargo ATM here in Richmond, Texas.  I've got two rent checks in the truck right now for almost five figures.  Works great for me for well over ten years now. 

    I don't have to wait in line for a teller to exchange inanities and, the ATM give me a copy of each check also as a bonus. Plus, I can do it after hours inside my HEB also since they have a WF ATM. No need to hold a gun in my left hand while accessing the ATM after dark outside, just go inside the HEB.

  20. nick flandrey says:

    the school has to pay to recycle the Chromebooks. A waste of money.

    –probably not.  All the schools around here send their old chromebooks to the auction companies to dispose of.   They bring decent money too, which is crazy since they are not upgradeable, and as soon as they go out of support, the chrome stuff stops working.

    Our district loans everyone a chromebook.  elementary gets a convertible, middle gets a trad lappy.  D1 has been customizing her hardshell protective case since she got it.    They turn them in every year, and get a different one.

    We were pretty well positioned going into 'learn at home' and they've continued the mediated experience with the devices.   There are SO MANY different platforms and services they use I can't keep track.

    n

  21. nick flandrey says:

    IBC's app based deposit works for checks, but they always hold for 3-5 days. 

    FCCU is the one I'm looking at that seems to provide lobby services for the other one HFCU.  I drive past the Spring Branch office two or more times a day.  D1's school is near there.   H Mart is too.  Westview is my main choice for east west surface street travel…

    n

  22. drwilliams says:

    Google, Apple, Facebook, and Twitter still cooperate with Beijing and their increasing demand for access to snoop on their users. 

    https://hotair.com/ed-morrissey/2021/11/02/hmmm-yahoo-bails-on-china-over-privacy-crackdown-n426407

    The axis of evil pale sweaty billionaires is still all-in. No surprise. 

  23. MrAtoz says:

    That is a deal killer for me.  I deposit all of my rent checks into our Wells Fargo ATM here in Richmond, Texas.  I've got two rent checks in the truck right now for almost five figures.  Works great for me for well over ten years now. 

    Wells Fargo has upped it's mobile app deposits, too. I've been able to deposit 5 figure checks with no problem.

  24. MrAtoz says:

    The pandemic is over. Isn't it?

  25. nick flandrey says:

    Jeez.  Let my DBA lapse, need to get that re-issued before opening a new account.  That's another trip to the bank, where I get free notary, then mail and wait.

    And get some money orders, one to file, one for a copy of the certificate.

    Might as well do it all at once.

    n

  26. nick flandrey says:

    The pandemic is over. Isn't it?

    –barring some change, it is for me.  I've been thinking about when to stop adding the 'wuflu' tag to every post. 

    There is an official threshold for declaring a pandemic, there must be one for ending a pandemic, and there must also be one for entering an endemic state wrt a pathogen…

    Got to get stuff done though, so I can't look right now.

    n

  27. Greg Norton says:

    I've not used much of either suite on my Mac. The last Mac version of Office I had was Office for Mac 2011. I used it on the occasional Excel workbook for a quick edit and not much else. I don't recall having any problems. I've used the Apple stuff primarily as a viewer when I open Office files on a Mac that doesn't have Microsoft Office installed. As a viewer, Pages, Numbers, and Keynote all work great, but I've not done any real editing with any of them. Currently, I used LibreOffice 7.2.x on my Mac, but again, I rarely edit Office files at home. I've never had a problem sending the attachments back and forth to anyone.

    I have LibreOffice 7.2 installed on my Mac, but it doesn't see a lot of use. I have a BootCamp partition with Windows 8 and Office 2007 which is able to boot under VMware, and that is my primary office suite on the machine.

    Ironically, I don’t use Office on Windows and tend to favor LibreOffice, particularly for PowerPoint-type documents.

    Pages, Numbers, and Keynotes were largely Steve Jobs' hedging his bet that Microsoft under Monkey Boy Ballmer would continue to support Mac Office. Go back 15 years and this was in doubt given the horrid product management in the form of Roz Ho, a teeny Asian hottie (at least, at that time) who trashed Mac Office and went on to bury Danger Sidekick after Microsoft acquired the platform.

    Call her Proto Bang Bang. Ballmer has the kink too.

  28. SteveF says:

    The pandemic is over. Isn't it?

    What? No! How can you even ask that? We're nowhere near being a complete Communist hellhole yet.

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  29. Greg Norton says:

    –probably not.  All the schools around here send their old chromebooks to the auction companies to dispose of.   They bring decent money too, which is crazy since they are not upgradeable, and as soon as they go out of support, the chrome stuff stops working.

    Chromebooks are only good for 6-7 years.

    The models capable of dual booting Linux are desirable for road machines. Cheap 4 GB Windows laptops for $200-300 disappeared with the pandemic and the ever-expanding bloatware that is Windows 10.

    Guys doing AWS Hot Skillz jobs just need an SSH terminal in theory. Though, I make a point of not using closed source SSH, even on Windows.

  30. ech says:

    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?

    The commercial nuclear plants in use in the US are based on the design of sub/carrier power plants, just scaled up. The sub plants were optimized for use in small spaces.

    Unfortunately, that type of plant, pressurized water reactor, has a lot of nasty failure modes that other plants don't have. The US made a bad choice in shutting down most research into other types such as gas-cooled pebble bed and molten salt. Both of those have fail-safe designs that should be much safer. The Chinese are developing pebble bed reactors and there is work started on molten salt reactors by commercial firms.

     

  31. lynn says:

    The pandemic is over. Isn't it?

    For all of us, yes.  For Mask Boy, aka Sleepy Joe Biden, is wearing his mask in Scotland whilst sleeping in the useless Global Warming XXXXXX XXXXXXX Climate Change XXXXX XXXXXX Climate Disruption XXXXXXX XXXXXX Global Freezing meeting of no consequence.  But all of our betters are there, flying in their Gulfstreams, one by one.

        https://nypost.com/2021/11/01/biden-nods-off-during-cop26-climate-conference/

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  32. Greg Norton says:

    Go visit the article just to see the picture of the 300 foot tall wind turbines dominating the quaint little village in Scotland. OFD would have been waxing furiously on the ridiculousness of that scene.

    Something I didn't consider until recently, when I read an article speculating on the subject — How do you reclaim the land used for one of those towers after decommissioning?

    This section of Tampa, between my alma matter and Busch Gardens was an Army training air field during WWII. Buried under all of those buildings are chunks of concrete similar to the remaining exposed runway section you see in the center of the image. It isn't a problem in the middle of an urban area, but what happens when you want to reclaim the ground for farming?

    https://goo.gl/maps/Dtu334oM1PMupTEe6

    BTW, if you have ever been to Adventure Island in Tampa, Busch Gardens' waterpark, and wondered about the wildly uneven terrain of the parking lot, buried under the asphalt and sections of the park itself is the air field's landfill.

  33. lynn says:

    xkcd: Wirecutter

        https://xkcd.com/2536/

    The Wirecutter topic is "The Best Religion".  "This was always going to be a controversial Wirecutter post, but what really got them in trouble were their 'budget' and 'upgrade' picks."

    Heh !

    Explained at:
    https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/2536:_Wirecutter

  34. Greg Norton says:

    The Chinese are developing pebble bed reactors and there is work started on molten salt reactors by commercial firms.

    Doesn't Bill Gates' reactor design use molten salt?

    Best episode of "The Simpsons" ever.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V12ZAZ4Jn8Q

  35. lynn says:

    Something I didn't consider until recently, when I read an article speculating on the subject — How do you reclaim the land used for one of those towers after decommissioning?

    This section of Tampa, between my alma matter and Busch Gardens was an Army training air field during WWII. Buried under all of those buildings are chunks of concrete similar to the remaining exposed runway you see in the center of the image. It isn't a problem in the middle of an urban area, but what happens when you want to reclaim the ground for farming?

    https://goo.gl/maps/Dtu334oM1PMupTEe6

    There are still concrete cannon emplacements on Galveston Island from the Civil War.  One of my buddies in high school drove his Chevy Blazer off one, driving the front axle up in to the engine and totaling it.  His dad was not happy so he had to make do with a Chevy Camaro after that.

    https://www.google.com/maps/place/Fort+San+Jacinto+Historic+Point/@29.3339352,-94.7524012,127a,35y,45t/data=!3m1!1e3!4m9!1m2!2m1!1sgalveston+island+civil+war+gun+emplacement!3m5!1s0x863f9e8686bbb035:0x84b15a8ced71a0c4!8m2!3d29.3352008!4d-94.7524258!15sCipnYWx2ZXN0b24gaXNsYW5kIGNpdmlsIHdhciBndW4gZW1wbGFjZW1lbnRaLCIqZ2FsdmVzdG9uIGlzbGFuZCBjaXZpbCB3YXIgZ3VuIGVtcGxhY2VtZW50kgETaGlzdG9yaWNhbF9sYW5kbWFya5oBI0NoWkRTVWhOTUc5blMwVkpRMEZuU1VOTmVHVnRhazEzRUFF

  36. lynn says:

    Tyler Durden cowardice, but is anyone really surprised?

    Be careful about those mojitos at Doc Ford's, Tony.

    https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/tesla-slumps-xx-after-musk-nonchalantly-tweets-no-contract-signed-hertz-deal

    Hertz claims that they have received several Teslas already.  I wonder if somebody forgot to tell Musk.

  37. Greg Norton says:

    There are still concrete cannon emplacements on Galveston Island from the Civil War.  One of my buddies in high school drove his Chevy Blazer off one, driving the front axle up in to the engine and totaling it.  His dad was not happy so he had to make do with a Chevy Camaro after that.

    The Civil War era fort in the Dry Tortugas National Park still stands a short ferry ride from Key West.

    Florida also doesn't lack for shell mounds, essentially the native population's landfills dating back to pre-Colonial times.

    The best example of a classic shell mound is under the main house on Cabbage Key.

    https://cabbagekey.com/

  38. Greg Norton says:

    Hertz claims that they have received several Teslas already.  I wonder if somebody forgot to tell Musk.

    Those may be separate from the Tesla->Hertz->Uber->Carvana scheme, purchased for the "exotic" category.

    I had no idea how much financial trouble Carvana was in until I saw the stories about Hertz planning to dump the decommissioned rentals there.

    What do you do with a Carvana vending machine building when that scheme goes under?

  39. lynn says:

    "Backblaze Drive Stats for Q3 2021"

         https://www.backblaze.com/blog/backblaze-drive-stats-for-q3-2021/

    "As of September 30, 2021, Backblaze had 194,749 drives spread across four data centers on two continents. Of that number, there were 3,537 boot drives and 191,212 data drives. The boot drives consisted of 1,557 hard drives and 1,980 SSDs. This report will review the quarterly and lifetime failure rates for our data drives, as well as compare failure rates for our SSD and HDD boot drives. Along the way, we’ll share our observations and insights of the data presented and, as always, we look forward to your comments below."

    That is a lot of drives.  And their 50,000 new hard drives are 14 TB and 16 TB.  The channels must be getting full of drives.

  40. Greg Norton says:

    Coming soon to a city near you.   1/3 of EVERYONE is unvaxxed.

    The Dem Mayors will start compromising tomorrow, once the results in Virginia are final and the data mining begins.

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  41. MrAtoz says:

    So the PropTart's BOSS had an AD too.

    There is so much wrong on that set and bad history with the people before, on other sets. The local DA should just charge everybody and sort them into bins.

  42. Mark W says:

    once the results in Virginia are final and the data mining begins.

    Once the results in Virginia have been updated with un-mailed mail-in ballots.

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  43. EdH says:

    Something I didn't consider until recently, when I read an article speculating on the subject — How do you reclaim the land used for one of those towers after decommissioning?

     

    I was wondering that myself a few months ago.  I was talking to a concrete truck driver, and they were getting ready to pour the base for a wind turbine in the Tehachapi mountains.  Basically 75 trucks worth of mix for a single block of reinforced concrete. They close the highway nearby for the night during the pour he said.

    I doubt anyone is posting a bond for the removal of these things at some point in the future.

    I recall that after the collapse of the first wind energy mania in the 70s and 80s that the companies involved just declared bankruptcy and walked away from the rusting wrecks littering the Altamont pass.

  44. Greg Norton says:

    Once the results in Virginia have been updated with un-mailed mail-in ballots.

    I have my doubts that the race is close enough for that to work this time around. Gas for the German grocery getters is getting expensive, and the stay-at-home mommies those suburbs probably have G Wagon getters.

    Plus, a lot of Dems aren't all that thrilled about McAuliffe and, by extension, the Clintons returning to Richmond.

    Whether or not Bill Clinton was messing around with underage girls on Pedo Island, the fact remains that he was a frequent visitor.

  45. CowboySlim says:

    Here is my question WRT those anti-vaxxers claiming religous examption:  "What religion are they and what do they reference (as pro gun folks reference 2nd Ammendment of US Constitution)?"

     

  46. ech says:

    There are still concrete cannon emplacements on Galveston Island from the Civil War. 

     

    The concrete emplacements date to WW2. The seawall had a few concrete observer cupolas on it until some time in the 1970s. There was a huge gun bunker near the end of the sea wall, by the old Sea World park that was a nightclub for a while. It's been gone for a while also. A few might still be visible.

    https://web.archive.org/web/20061206042516/http://andy_bennett.home.mindspring.com/crock1.html

  47. drwilliams says:

    The Pope didn't like Biden's blue suit, so he changed to black mid-audience?

    https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2021/11/bidens_accident.html

    Let's make Friday "Send a Depends to de Prez Day"

    “Biden, pooped his pants.
    Happened just the other day…”

    Wonder if using a video of David Crosby and making him lip-sync my new lyrics would be considered Fair Use by YouTube?

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  48. Pecancorner says:

    It isn't a problem in the middle of an urban area, but what happens when you want to reclaim the ground for farming?

    Has any civilization ever reclaimed land for farming? Don't they just move, or burn another section of forest?  All I ever recall is continual ignoring of abandoned old industrial spaces in favor of more paving over erstwhile natural habitat for new building. 

  49. lynn says:

    "Supreme Court to judge extent of EPA authority over greenhouse gases under Clean Air Act”

        https://www.ogj.com/general-interest/government/article/14213288/supreme-court-to-judge-extent-of-epa-authority-over-greenhouse-gases-under-clean-air-act

    "As lead plaintiff West Virginia put it in its petition, EPA’s authority under the appellate court ruling could extend to any sector of the economy where stationary sources produce greenhouse gases—oil and gas development, petrochemical plants, other industrial and commercial facilities of almost any kind, even home heating with gas."

    I wonder if SCOTUS will have the guts to reverse itself.  I hope so.  The Clean Air Act is about dirty air, not supposed global warming.

  50. RickH says:

    Another data point that recommends vaccination – https://youtu.be/3AfEhjBsKEA .

  51. SteveF says:

    re religious exemption for getting out of the clot shot, or any vaccination, what does religion have to do with it? That is, what justification is there for privileging religious conviction over non-religious moral conviction or clear-eyed analysis of the data?

  52. drwilliams says:

    2^29 = 536,870,912

    So it would only take 29 binary choices to uniquely identify colors for every person in the U.S.

    Here's to a post-POC world.

    I have dibs on 10001000100010001000100010001

    Call me "Super Pinky" for short.

  53. drwilliams says:

    @SteveF

    "re religious exemption for getting out of the clot shot, or any vaccination, what does religion have to do with it? That is, what justification is there for privileging religious conviction over non-religious moral conviction or clear-eyed analysis of the data?"

    If Dog didn't tell you, I'm not.

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  54. SteveF says:

    That dog wouldn't be named Sam, would he?

  55. drwilliams says:

    Just Dog.

  56. lpdbw says:

    re:  "anti-vaxxers claiming religous examption"

    First, I disagree with being called anti-vaxxer because I refuse the medical treatment for supposed Covid prophylaxis which is not a traditional vaccine.  Which is still, in spite of lies in the media, an "investigational" i.e. experimental treatment.  Which has more adverse events than all other vaccines combined.  I've taken every vaccine required or recommended before this one, and in fact got my second dose of pneumonia vaccine AFTER I refused the clot shot.  I'm not anti-vax; I'm anti forced experimental treatments.

    Second, I've heard there are supreme court cases listing personal conscience as sufficient sole justification for religious exemptions.  Certainly, Governor Abbot's executive order lists that specifically.  

    Third, I question the right of employers to judge questions of religion in the first place.  I know for a fact that Houston Methodist accepted some exemptions for some people and rejected others, in at least one case with identical applications, involving the same pastor.  So Methodist was wrong to accept the one.  Or wrong to reject the other.  In the broader sense, does it really matter if I object to medications developed using fetal stem cells due to my version of Christianity, or jabs of godknowswhat because the flying spaghetti monster spoke to me in a dream and said don't do it?

  57. drwilliams says:

    NIH's letter reinforces the lab-leak hypothesis for the origins of COVID

    Joel Zinberg Nov 02, 2021 6:25 PM ET

    Consider, too, the unique furin cleavage site between the S1 and S2 subunits of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. Furin is an enzyme expressed by human cells that separates the spike protein subunits at the cleavage site, enabling the virus to bind more efficiently to human cells and release its genetic material into them. It is an important reason that SARS-CoV-2 is so easily transmissible.

    The furin cleavage site is found nowhere else in the entire genus of SARS-related betacoronaviruses. SARS-CoV-2 is the only one that has it. This fact alone suggests that it did not arise naturally in SARS-CoV-2. In addition, while other, more distant coronaviruses do have furin cleavage sites, the protein components (amino acids) in the SARS-CoV-2 furin cleavage site are coded for by a unique set of nucleotides in its RNA, not found in the other viruses, making natural recombination between the viruses unlikely.

    It’s particularly concerning that in 2018 the EcoHealth Alliance reportedly submitted a proposal to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to partner with the WIV in constructing SARS-related bat coronaviruses by inserting such cleavage sites into their spike proteins. DARPA rejected the proposal because it failed to address the risks of gain-of-function research. EcoHealth’s president, Peter Daszak, did not dispute details of the reporting.

    https://hotair.com/headlines/2021/11/02/nihs-letter-reinforces-the-lab-leak-hypothesis-for-the-origins-of-covid-n426366

    Seems to me that water boarding Mr. Daszak with gasoline would save time.

    But would it still be waterboarding?

    from the source link;

    Starting in 2014, the NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, headed by Anthony Fauci, funded the New York-based research nonprofit EcoHealth Alliance with annual grants through 2020 for “Understanding the Risk of Bat Coronavirus Emergence.” Total funding was $3,748,715. More than $600,000 of that went to the WIV. Three other Chinese institutions received funding as well. The principal investigator was EcoHealth Alliance president Peter Daszak, who, from the onset of the pandemic, has consistently campaigned in public and behind the scenes to convince people that SARS-CoV-2 did not come from the WIV but evolved naturally from animal-to-human transmission.

    That’s High-Test for two, Alex.

  58. SteveF says:

    Might I suggest burning Fauci alive in front of Daszak, and then asking Mr Daszak a few questions?

  59. drwilliams says:

    @SteveF

    Actually, I'd like to start with the editors of The Lancet.

     

  60. Greg Norton says:

    “I wonder if SCOTUS will have the guts to reverse itself. I hope so. The Clean Air Act is about dirty air, not supposed global warming.”

    As with CAFE, Congress has punted on its responsibility to provide “specific restrictions” with regard to The Clean Air Act.

    Unfortunately, the Roberts Court does not believe in fixing “foolish” political choices, and will likely avoid curtailing the EPA’s overreach, leaving it up to Congress to do the job for which the members get elected.

  61. drwilliams says:

    "Good morning, Supreme Court Building Maintenance Office."

    "Yes, this is Chief Justice Roberts. We do not have heat in chambers."

    "Yes, sir. That would be because we removed the boiler to meet EPA regulations."

    "It's cold up here, darnit, how are we supposed to work?"

    "Not a problem, sir. We've ordered stand-up desks for all the justices, and a supply of 80's music. You'll just have to boogie while you work until we get the windmill erected in the parking lot."

  62. RickH says:

    Well….

    Even though fetal cells are used to grow vaccine viruses, vaccines do not contain these cells or pieces of DNA that are recognizable as human DNA.

    See (and carefully and thoughtfully read) https://www.chop.edu/centers-programs/vaccine-education-center/vaccine-ingredients/fetal-tissues .

    And then there is this (from the first link):

    Vaccines for varicella (chickenpox), rubella (the “R” in the MMR vaccine), hepatitis A, rabies (one version, called Imovax®) and COVID-19 (one U.S.-approved version, Johnson & Johnson (J&J)/Janssen) are all made by growing the viruses in fetal cells.

    Also, from a practicing Catholic doctor: https://www.nebraskamed.com/COVID/you-asked-we-answered-do-the-covid-19-vaccines-contain-aborted-fetal-cells , which includes the following reference to a statement from the Vatican:

    The Vatican and bishops agree. The Vatican has issued clear guidance that permits Roman Catholics in good faith to receive COVID-19 vaccines that use fetal cell lines in development or production. Read the Vatican’s comments on the morality of receiving a COVID-19 vaccine.

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  63. lynn says:

    Wow, with 35% of the vote in, it is Youngkin 54.2% and McAuliffe 45.1%.  Gonna be a long night.  My guess is that the pristine ballots, untouched by human hands, delivered in semi trucks at 3 am will save the day.

       https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2021-elections/virginia-governor-results

    Hat tip to:

       https://drudgereport.com/

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  64. SteveF says:

    Even though fetal cells are used to grow vaccine viruses, vaccines do not contain these cells or pieces of DNA that are recognizable as human DNA.

    How about this: Even though slaves are used to produce sneakers, these sneakers do not contain slaves or parts of slaves.

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  65. Rick H says:

    Along the same vein – how about this:

    Even though the Vatican has approved getting the Covid-19 vaccine by Catholics, I am going to refuse on religious grounds based on my religious standing as a practicing Catholic.

    I suspect this is an argument that will be ignored.

  66. drwilliams says:

    "Of course real life isn’t an action movie and it sets a bad precedent to let someone walk for murder."

    https://hotair.com/john-s-2/2021/11/02/spokane-police-arrested-a-father-for-murder-but-many-are-saying-hes-a-hero-n426601

    What a terrible thing. Why, they should release him on cashless bail and put his case in line after the thousands of illegal invaders that haven't shown up for their court dates.

  67. Alan says:

    >> and went on to bury Danger Sidekick after Microsoft acquired the platform.

    I remember both my sons having Sidekicks as kids when we were on T-Mobile.

    I still remember, after having them for a bit, how fast they could 'two thumb' type.

  68. SteveF says:

    Your version misses the mark, Rick, because many of those who object to vaccines grown in fetal tissue or derived from fetal tissue are not Catholic.

    Not that it matters much for purposes of the above, but I don't object to vaccines on that basis. I don't get annual flu shots (because I don't need them; I don't get sick) and think that the "normal slate" of vaccinations for small children has gotten ridiculous, but never had a problem with the idea of vaccinating most of a population to control or eliminate diseases and in particular don't object on the basis of fetal cells having been involved somehow in producing the vial of vaccine. This general agreement is revoked when it comes to an untested, partially tested, or fraudulently tested not-vaccine which has extremely dubious efficacy and serious chance of side effects. (See what the Pfizer whistleblower has to say about their testing practices, for instance.)

  69. SteveF says:

    Totally unrelated to any of the above, how is the funding for this site's hosting going? Need donations? If so, where to?

  70. drwilliams says:

    History does not treat Pius XII's nuanced non-condemnation of the Holocaust with reverence.

    It remains to be seen how Francis' moral leadership will be remembered.

  71. drwilliams says:

    Why do I suspect that the use of pig cell lines would result in a wholly different government stance?

  72. drwilliams says:

    Virginia Governor election

    68% counted

    Glenn Youngkin 54.56%

    Many are calling it for Youngkin.

    "Mysteriously", Fairfax County (Democratic stronghold and most populous) has delayed releasing results so some early votes (which they've had for days) can be "rescanned". NOTE THAT THIS IS COMING FROM THE MCAULIFFE CAMPAIGN???

    from Twitter:

    Ryan Matsumoto:

    There's no way to spin this for Democrats – this is a very very bad result for them. Virginia has swung 10-15 points to the right since last November. That type of swing would be devastating for them in the House and Senate in 2022.

    https://hotair.com/john-s-2/2021/11/02/younkin-performing-well-so-far-but-fairfax-county-needs-to-rescan-votes-for-some-reason-n426619

    FTM!

  73. MrAtoz says:

    I read VA is also printing more ballots since they ran out. Sure. Preprinted with McAwful check marked. What's really disturbing is the amount of votes McAwful is getting after a terrible campaign and horrible remarks about schooling. But, yeah, we need to rescan ballots. Sheeple.

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  74. drwilliams says:

    Harmeet K. Dhillon @pnjaban

    Folks, heard from a TOP GOP lawyer in VA tonight that the Fairfax County thing had to do with an out of date/defective memory card. Both sides signed off on re-scan &it was witnessed by GOP lawyers in the room the whole time. Ain't over till its over, but looks good for Youngkin!

    7:41 PM · Nov 2, 2021·Twitter Web App

    https://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2021/11/02/breaking-we-have-a-winner-in-the-virginia-governors-race-n2598466

    Well, that explains it then. Dems had to find an adult in the county that could read a date. Probably went to the mostly-pink private school they send their kids to, and asked for an advanced math teacher.

  75. drwilliams says:

    Youngkin 53.73% with 77% reporting.

    Reports are Terry stayed home from his election night party.

    Hope he's drawing a warm bath and planning a shave.

     

  76. Greg Norton says:

    Wow, with 35% of the vote in, it is Youngkin 54.2% and McAuliffe 45.1%.  Gonna be a long night.  My guess is that the pristine ballots, untouched by human hands, delivered in semi trucks at 3 am will save the day.

    Loudoun County still went McAuliffe. Amazing.

    Who in the heck is Princess Blanding?

    https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2021-elections/virginia-governor-results

    Whatever happens, the KKKlansman is gone for at least four years.

  77. lynn says:

    "Mysteriously", Fairfax County (Democratic stronghold and most populous) has delayed releasing results so some early votes (which they've had for days) can be "rescanned". NOTE THAT THIS IS COMING FROM THE MCAULIFFE CAMPAIGN???

    They were calling for a LOT of trucks with preprinted absentee mailin ballots for McAwful.  But, they found out that all of the spare trucks are in California picking up containers.

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  78. MrAtoz says:

    Reports are Terry stayed home from his election night party.

    Just like Kankles!

  79. lynn says:

    81% of the ballots are in, estimated 607,367 votes remaining to be counted. 

    Glenn Youngkin, 53.2%, 1,379,073.

    Terry McAuliffe, 46.1%, 1,195,063.

    Less than 200,000 votes separation.  This can still be fixed at 3 am.

       https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2021-elections/virginia-governor-results

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  80. Mark W says:

    The gap seems to be narrowing but it's at 82% counted now and 52.89/46.41.

    The downthumber amuses me. The Arizona audit proved that fake mail-in ballots were introduced into the count. Why do you think the same is not happening now?

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  81. nick flandrey says:

    Spokane Man Kills Daughter’s Boyfriend For Selling Her Into Sex Trafficking Ring

    When the law can't be trusted, every offense is a capital offense.

    n

  82. drwilliams says:

    Interesting.

    The totals on HotAir were 86% in a bit ago, now have dropped to 81%.

  83. lynn says:

    Folks, we also have a New Jersey Governors race.  38% of the votes are in.

    Ciattarelli (R) 49.9%

    Murphy (D) 49.3%

       https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2021-elections/new-jersey-governor-results

    Hat tip to:

       https://drudgereport.com/

  84. drwilliams says:

    Next election:

    "No, really. You blue shiiteholes go first this time."

  85. lynn says:

    Who in the heck is Princess Blanding?

    https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2021-elections/virginia-governor-results

    Do you really want to know ?  I don't, sounds like an eye bleach moment.

    I already have enough eye pain with having to put acid in my eyes each night for glaucoma. At least it feels like acid.

  86. drwilliams says:

    @Lynn

    If you're putting the drops in cold, try warming them in your pocket for a few minutes

  87. lynn says:

    @Lynn

    If you're putting the drops in cold, try warming them in your pocket for a few minutes

    It is not the immediate pain (which is minor), it is the pain 15 to 30 minutes later when I am in bed, usually reading.   It is the new normal.  The constant flu-like symptoms are to die for.

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latanoprost

  88. drwilliams says:

    World Series

    Braves up 3 games to 2 over Astros

    Game 6 at Atlanta: Braves 7-0 after 7 innings.

    Wonder if they have a cheer ready for the commish?

    Moving the All-Star Game out of Atlanta was a $100 million theft.

  89. lynn says:

    I am still at work !  I have the World Series on my Cloud DVR when I get home in 15 minutes.

  90. drwilliams says:

    @Lynn

    Ouch!

    I don't remember what dad used, but he wasn't putting drops in at night, so it must have been something else.

  91. mediumwave says:

    Who in the heck is Princess Blanding?

    Meet Princess Blanding: The third person vying to be Virginia’s next governor

    Princess Blanding isn’t mincing words. She is done with the status quo.

    From an educator and an activist to now a gubernatorial candidate, Blanding is looking to make history in more ways than one.

    If elected, she would not only be the first Black woman to become governor of Virginia, but she would also be the first openly LGBTQIA+ woman to hold the office. She’s running on the platform of a party that she created, the Liberation Party.

     

    Well, you asked! 😀

  92. nick flandrey says:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baY3SaIhfl0

    Devs watching QA test the product

    –I'll note that I once sat down to test our company's flagship system control software, which was at "Gold Master" readiness, and BLUE SCREENED the machine with one click.    I right clicked on a blank part of the GUI.  "Why would you DO that??!!!??"  Um, because the users will?

    n

  93. drwilliams says:

    @Nick

    Users will break it.

    If your testers don't, fire them.

  94. drwilliams says:

    VA election:

    All seats projected/called: R+5 in Delegates -> TIED

    Governor, Lt. Gov., and AG all R

    NOTE: Lt. Gov. soon-to-be elect Winsome Spears (Marine vet, black and female)

  95. drwilliams says:

    @mediumwave

    Thanks for posting the excerpt and link to the Princess Blanding article.

     

  96. drwilliams says:

    @Lynn

    DON'T LOOK BELOW!

    Baseball "Commissioner Rob Manfred just presented the trophy to the Braves.

    He was booed, but no FRM cheer.

    Probly be a good idea if he just slink off nao.

  97. Alan says:

    >> Reports are Terry stayed home from his election night party.

    Hope he's drawing a warm bath and planning a shave.

    He's napping in his basement – it's the Dem way!

  98. Alan says:

    @lynn, SPOILER ALERT

    CNN just projected Youngkin wins!

  99. lynn says:

    @Lynn

    DON'T LOOK BELOW!

    Baseball "Commissioner Rob Manfred just presented the trophy to the Braves.

    He was booed, but no FRM cheer.

    Probly be a good idea if he just slink off nao.

    Bummer, my Astros lost in 6 games.  Oh well, they did go to the World Series again !

    I fast forwarded through the game in a little over an hour.

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