Wed. Jan. 26, 2022 – brain is empty, todo list is full…

By on January 26th, 2022 in march to war, open thread, personal, WuFlu

Cool and wet. And yes, I’m getting tired of that.  I think it got up into the low 60s yesterday, it sure was damp and threatened rain all day.

Did my pickups.  Got stuff for my non-prep hobby.  Got stuff for the kids.  Got household stuff like cleaning supplies.  (that stuff adds up, saving half or more on each bottle or spray can can really save some money)

Today I’ll be doing a couple more pickups (the gub accessories, some other stuff) and maybe making some arrangements for dropping off sale stuff.    I’ve got the quarterly swap meet for my non-prep hobby coming up in Feb, and I’ve been finding stuff to add to the ‘sale’ pile for that.

It’s time for another Costco run too, but IDK if I’ll find the time this week.  Got kid stuff most nights (basketball or dog training) and my sibling is in town and wants to get together for dinner.

I need to take over driving the repairs here at this house too.  My wife is very frustrated with contractors who don’t return calls.  I’ve been letting her try to arrange the HVAC and plumbing upgrades/installs.   She’s been very “see, it isn’t hard, you just call them, meet with them, and it will get done, no problem.”  Yeah.   Except.   Then they never call back.  They don’t answer emails either.   Welcome to MY world, where it isn’t as easy as you think.   Now she’s shepherding the lake house purchase, so it’s my job to get the other stuff done all of a sudden.  Ah life, so full of chances to do stuff wrong.

So I better get busy clearing my decks, so I can do the other stuff.   I need to get back to being as productive as I was when I was working.  I’ve somehow moved so far away from that that I hardly recognize where I am.

I’m stacking up….. tasks.  And the pile gets bigger.

I prefer to stack STUFF.

n

88 Comments and discussion on "Wed. Jan. 26, 2022 – brain is empty, todo list is full…"

  1. Nick Flandrey says:

    40F and 80%RH this morning.   Cold and damp.  Hooray.

    n

  2. Greg Norton says:

    I need to take over driving the repairs here at this house too.  My wife is very frustrated with contractors who don’t return calls.  I’ve been letting her try to arrange the HVAC and plumbing upgrades/installs.

    My wife doesn't like to be the "bad guy" so I end up with the sour relationships with various contractors if I want things done right around the house. Both our last painter and AC contractor are steamed at me to the point that they will take her calls but not mine.

    In Florida, we made the mistake of getting involved with patients. Never again. The medical license has been both a blessing and a curse, part of the curse aspect is that the paper distorts people’s willingness to tell my wife the hard truth about anything. Friends. Family. Co-workers. Patients are the worst, however.

  3. Nightraker says:

    MINUS 8 degrees F in the upper midwest now.  Predicted to move to double digits later.

    Congrats on finding a lake house!  Call HGTV for immortal renovations! 🙂

  4. Greg Norton says:

    From the things that make you say "Hmmm…" department:

    I noticed last night that my wife's new-ish MacBook Pro running the latest OS will clock accessing the iCloud and App Store when the machine has a LAN connection through the Plugable dock in our home office instead of WiFi.

    WiFi is turned off. Browsing using Safari and Firefox are fine.

    The Apple laptops aren't yet "walled gardens", but the latest OS is headed in that direction.

    Still, I would drop the iPhone in a heartbeat if Apple relented to the pressure and enabled side loading of apps in iOS outside their approval process.

  5. Chad says:

    My wife is very frustrated with contractors who don’t return calls.

    This has become fairly common. Nobody wants the small jobs. They all want jobs that will occupy them for several days or weeks (remodel a bathroom, remodel a kitchen, finish a basement, build a deck…). For some of them, that's not even enough. They want the huge jobs like new construction. That's where handymen are really helpful. The various trades love to trash talk handymen, but at least the handyman returns my phone call and keeps his appointments.

  6. MrAtoz says:

    There is no end to goobermint power grabs and intrusion:

    Post Office’s Law Enforcement Arm Is Expanding Its Surveillance Powers

    To keep the mail system safe? Really?

  7. Pecancorner says:

    My wife is very frustrated with contractors who don’t return calls.

    This has become fairly common. Nobody wants the small jobs. They all want jobs that will occupy them for several days or weeks (remodel a bathroom, remodel a kitchen, finish a basement, build a deck…). For some of them, that's not even enough. They want the huge jobs like new construction. That's where handymen are really helpful. The various trades love to trash talk handymen, but at least the handyman returns my phone call and keeps his appointments.

    We've had a bear of a time finding people to do the small jobs. And many in our rural area will not return a woman's call unless they know her. I agree with Chad that the best course of action is to find a handyman, leave him to do it his way without advising him, and appreciate him!  They may not be specialists but they do good enough work to last 20 years or more. 

    In Midland, we found a great handyman through our realtor – realtors often have someone they use for the myriad repairs that need to be done to put a house on the market, who don't charge an arm and leg for their work but who are up to the task.

  8. Nick Flandrey says:

    realtors often have someone they use for the myriad repairs that need to be done to put a house on the market

    that is an excellent observation.  Thanks!

    n

  9. Ray Thompson says:

    realtors often have someone they use for the myriad repairs that need to be done to put a house on the market

    Another resource is your homeowner insurance agent. They have a list of people that make repairs from damage. Generally the work has to be done to satisfaction of the insurance adjuster.

  10. Greg Norton says:

    There is no end to goobermint power grabs and intrusion:

    Post Office’s Law Enforcement Arm Is Expanding Its Surveillance Powers

    To keep the mail system safe? Really?

    Mail in ballots.

  11. MrAtoz says:

    plugs doesn't care about US borders:

    Biden NSA Jake Sullivan’s reason Americans should care about the Ukraine situation is bereft of self-awareness

    Only everybody else's. And is willing to spill blood to defend Ukraine's border.

  12. SteveF says:

    And is willing to spill your sons' blood to defend Ukraine's border his son's bribes.

    FIFY

  13. Greg Norton says:

    Tyler Durden cowardice, probably protecting someone within NBC.

    The "Roe" seat goes up for nomination. Better now than after the midterms.

    https://www.zerohedge.com/political/democratic-supreme-court-justice-breyer-plans-retire-midterms-nbc

  14. RickH says:

    Regarding yesterday's discussion about email, spam, and Dr. Pournelle's system:  he had his own Outlook mail server that grabbed mail from the hosting place (Bluehost) and imported into his local Outlook system. It was on the Outlook system that he had myriad spam rules to deal with the crud. And there was a lot of it; it took a bit to get all the mail through all the filters.

    He never wanted to change from that system, but he wrote about his problems with it often.

    The mail forwarding system in BlueHost hosted accounts (and this is common, I believe), is that mail is forwarded according to your mail forwarding rules, but the message still stays in your hosted account. Every few months I would have to spend a couple hours deleting old email from his hosting account, as there would be so many messages that BlueHost would complain about the number of files.

    Even with spam blocking enabled on the host, there was still a ton of it. I haven't looked lately, but I bet he is still getting email on his hosted account.

    As for myself, I've had gMail for years – 10+, maybe 15. Spam catching is excellent; a lot of spam never even gets to my spam folder. There are two spam emails that get put into the main email box: from "Liberty Mutual" and "Home Choice Warranty". Not sure why gMail doesn't catch them. I always report them as spam.  But whoever is sending those has a great way to bypass gMails' spam filters.

  15. Greg Norton says:

    As for myself, I've had gMail for years – 10+, maybe 15. Spam catching is excellent; a lot of spam never even gets to my spam folder. There are two spam emails that get put into the main email box: from "Liberty Mutual" and "Home Choice Warranty". Not sure why gMail doesn't catch them. I always report them as spam.  But whoever is sending those has a great way to bypass gMails' spam filters.

    The LiMu Emu is a crafty bird.

  16. Greg Norton says:

    Biden painted himself into a corner again. The nomination will already require a tie breaker.

    Mittens is not going to help. The Elders will not let him vote his conscience with the "Roe" seat.

    He also had no choice with the "Payola" seat. Touchdown Jesus would not be denied.

    https://www.tampabay.com/news/2022/01/26/supreme-court-justice-stephen-breyer-to-retire/

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  17. Alan says:

    >> That's where handymen are really helpful. The various trades love to trash talk handymen, but at least the handyman returns my phone call and keeps his appointments.

    One consideration with handypeople (gotta be PC, right?) is are they licensed and insured before you let them do work in your house. Say they're mounting your TV to the wall and the drill hits a water pipe, then the fun begins.

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  18. lynn says:

    I swear, these people are trying to put me out of business.  Many of my former users outside the USA are using their cracked versions of our software

    I know I've mentioned it before, but this is the great motivation behind turning software into SaaS: Running it on your own computers, and only giving people a web interface to the functionality. The guts stay the same, but the UI changes. I know that would be a difficult project for your software, but I think it would be worth exploring. Maybe a local college would be interested in trying to do a prototype?

    Diagrammatic user interface with multiple sheets (like Visio) and 150+ dialogs.  It would be the port from Hell.  Each one of the dialogs is hand coded to give the user as much help as possible.

  19. Kenneth C Mitchell says:

    Pundit/author/retired Colonel Kurt Schlichter says that the leftists pushing Breyer to retire now is proof that the Democrats know that they're going to lose the Senate this fall. 

    We could only hope. 

  20. lpdbw says:

    licensed and insured 

    If you are going to go through the time, trouble, and expense to get "licensed", which just means "approved by the local blood-sucking tax authority", why wouldn't you leverage that into a real contracting job, where you, too, can refuse to call people back because you have too much work?

    You're going to get stung by handymen (put your PC where the sun don't shine) more often than contractors, because you can go after a contractor's bond.  That's not a guarantee of satisfactory work, only leverage to get them to come back and fix whatever they broke.

    The natural consequence of licensing is requiring hair weavers, eyebrow threaders, and shampoo girls to have cosmetology licenses.  Which was only recently rolled back here in Texas, if I recall correctly.

    I can get behind the idea of licensing plumbers, mostly, since there is legit public safety reasoning behind that; bad plumbing kills people, spreads disease, and blows up houses.  But I'm still skeptical about .gov's ability to police the ranks of plumbers.  Once they've taken the license fees, I'm pretty sure they don't do squat.

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  21. lynn says:

    Regarding yesterday's discussion about email, spam, and Dr. Pournelle's system:  he had his own Outlook mail server that grabbed mail from the hosting place (Bluehost) and imported into his local Outlook system. It was on the Outlook system that he had myriad spam rules to deal with the crud. And there was a lot of it; it took a bit to get all the mail through all the filters.

    He never wanted to change from that system, but he wrote about his problems with it often.

    JEP also used Procmail on his email server for a while.  I tried that also.  Maintaining the Procmail script was a nightmare as I had hundreds of rules that would fight with each other.  Moving to Gmail was a huge sigh of relief.

  22. lynn says:

    xkcd: Alien Mission

        https://xkcd.com/2573/

    So that is what happened to Amelia Earhart.

    Explained at:

       https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/2573:_Alien_Mission

  23. MrAtoz says:

    ProgLibTurds are already drooling over which "Black" woman plugs will nominate. Why not go full commie with Stacey Abrams? LOL!

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  24. drwilliams says:

    Brandon has already promised to nominate a black woman. 

    Nothing wrong with that, per se, but if the execution follows the script used by this administration, they will likely cock it up bigtime and fail to do a thorough vetting. 

    Let McConnell delay as much as possible and if the first candidate has fatal flaws, he can run the clock out on any second nomination. 

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  25. lynn says:

    I just had a family member move back to Texas from Illinois.  His wife was promoted to a new executive job in the Chicago area in Jan 2020 so she got an apartment up there at $6,000/month.  He has been flying up there for weeks at a time.  They have both been zooming their jobs since the Koof started.  He just got a $100,000 income tax bill from Illinois (they both make very good money). They are gone.

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  26. Ray Thompson says:

    Brandon has already promised to nominate a black woman.

    Rather than get someone really qualified, the choice is going to be based on skin color and gender. Racism at its finest.

    I would wager the CamelToe will now self-identify as a black female. It is already determined she is female as she screwed her way up the political chain. With a law degree that just happened to be found in a sealed mayonnaise jar on Funk and Wagnel's front porch.

    Or Hillary will now don black-face and claim she self identifies as black. The female part will be difficult to prove as I doubt anyone would want to look.

    The mooch is probably so excited and is now exploring options to rearrange her junk. Again, finding a law degree in the closet buried behind stacks of Obuttwad's books that failed to sell.

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  27. lynn says:

       https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

    Worldwide daily deaths are trending up now.  Looks like we are all going to die.

  28. Ray Thompson says:

    And in other news I just got another month of 100% disability from the VA. I have no idea how long the VA considers recovery from knee surgery to continue to pay the 100%. Or will next month be 100% for part of the month and 60% for the remaining fraction? Does the VA even pay fractional months? Or will February be 100% again? I am in uncharted territory with this stuff.

  29. Ray Thompson says:

    Looks like we are all going to die.

    Indeed. Probably in about 15 years for me.

  30. lynn says:

    "A 19-year-old built a flight-tracking Twitter bot. Elon Musk tried to pay him to stop."

       https://www.protocol.com/elon-musk-flight-tracker

    "The account's popularity appears to have scared Musk. “I don’t love the idea of being shot by a nutcase,” he told Sweeney in their DM conversation."

    I don't blame Musk, I would be worried about whackjobs too.

    Hat tip to:
    https://www.drudgereport.com/

  31. JimB says:

    Rather than get someone really qualified…

    Ray, shame on you for what followed. Of course, it is all true. Thanks for saying it for those of us who might be afraid to speak out.

  32. lynn says:

    Looks like we are all going to die.

    Indeed. Probably in about 15 years for me.

    I am shocked that I made 60.  I guess that I am going for 70 now as I am 15% of the way there.

  33. drwilliams says:

    "A 19-year-old built a flight-tracking Twitter bot. Elon Musk tried to pay him to stop."

    Should have put a couple people on building a Twitter bot to track the twit. His 15-min of fame from tracking Musk makes him a public figure. Near real-time tracking and id’ing anyone he’s with puts a damper on personal interactions. 

  34. Pecancorner says:

    One consideration with handypeople (gotta be PC, right?) is are they licensed and insured before you let them do work in your house. Say they're mounting your TV to the wall and the drill hits a water pipe, then the fun begins.

    True and important for some kinds of jobs, but that is part of deciding which we want to pay for. Or even, what we can get to actually show up. Definite high rates from the beginning and maybe they will get around to us when they have an opening in their calendar; or reasonable rates, prompt attention, and we assume a modicum of risk.

    Our most recent licensed and insured experience: back in the summer, I found the only such in our region and asked for an estimate to install a new wood stove pipe. They made me wait 3 months "until we have 3 other customers in the area", gave a verbal estimate of $5,000, then decided they wouldn't install unless we bought a new stove from them, and handed me a bill for $186 for the privilege of them showing up (which included $40 mileage from another customer's house to ours).  

    My son, who does commercial remodeling all over Texas, came down and installed the new stove pipe – one man in less than half a day. The materials cost $700.   

    Even if the other company had charged $100 an hour and billed time and mileage to get here for the job, $5,000 was an obscene estimate. But they are charging for their license and their bond/insurance.   

    Of course, not all are going to be that way. Our plumber is licensed etc. But he's also a small company and doesn't have visions of grandeur, so his fees are less than half what a local big company charges. And, he always comes when we call him. Always.

  35. Pecancorner says:

    I am shocked that I made 60.  I guess that I am going for 70 now as I am 15% of the way there.

    You are happily married. And, you have family who really need you to be there to look after them.  Those two items will add another 20 years to your longevity.

    When Paul and I met, he kept saying he didn't expect to live to be 60 "because the men in his family died young". I reminded him that they were not happily married. He turned 70 this month! 🙂

  36. Alan says:

    >> Brandon has already promised to nominate a black woman. 

    Yeah, but has Manchin agreed to vote for one?

  37. MrAtoz says:

    You are happily married.

    😉

  38. Chad says:

    Diagrammatic user interface with multiple sheets (like Visio) and 150+ dialogs.  It would be the port from Hell.  Each one of the dialogs is hand coded to give the user as much help as possible.

    True, but it is shocking just how rich of an interface you can do via the web now compared to 20 years ago. It's all CSS and JavaScript, but there's a lot of proven libraries and toolkits out there for it now too. It really is the only way forward for a lot of solutions. Steady subscription income is a plus. Also, it's easy to patch and everyone is automatically using the newest version which makes support a lot less of a headache. The code is locked down on your end, so no one is trying to decompile/crack/reverse engineer it. There's a reason everyone is jumping on the SaaS bandwagon.

    Though, it would be one heck of an initial expense.

  39. lynn says:

    I am shocked that I made 60.  I guess that I am going for 70 now as I am 15% of the way there.

    You are happily married. And, you have family who really need you to be there to look after them.  Those two items will add another 20 years to your longevity.

    When Paul and I met, he kept saying he didn't expect to live to be 60 "because the men in his family died young". I reminded him that they were not happily married. He turned 70 this month!

    Having a heart attack at age 49 in 2009 and finding out that I have a congenital heart condition really changed my perspective on life.

  40. lynn says:

    Diagrammatic user interface with multiple sheets (like Visio) and 150+ dialogs.  It would be the port from Hell.  Each one of the dialogs is hand coded to give the user as much help as possible.

    True, but it is shocking just how rich of an interface you can do via the web now compared to 20 years ago. It's all CSS and JavaScript, but there's a lot of proven libraries and toolkits out there for it now too. It really is the only way forward for a lot of solutions. Steady subscription income is a plus. Also, it's easy to patch and everyone is automatically using the newest version which makes support a lot less of a headache. The code is locked down on your end, so no one is trying to decompile/crack/reverse engineer it. There's a reason everyone is jumping on the SaaS bandwagon.

    Though, it would be one heck of an initial expense.

    My SWAG is five million dollars.

  41. Greg Norton says:

    I just had a family member move back to Texas from Illinois.  His wife was promoted to a new executive job in the Chicago area in Jan 2020 so she got an apartment up there at $6,000/month.  He has been flying up there for weeks at a time.  They have both been zooming their jobs since the Koof started.  He just got a $100,000 income tax bill from Illinois (they both make very good money). They are gone.

    This is the family member who wanted to move her entire office to Downtown Chicago, right?

    Illinois is beyond insolvent due to pension obligations. The state will be after them for years.

  42. ech says:

    My privacy minded friends have moved to Proton Mail, based in Switzerland.

  43. Greg Norton says:

    The mooch is probably so excited and is now exploring options to rearrange her junk. Again, finding a law degree in the closet buried behind stacks of Obuttwad's books that failed to sell.

    Moochelle has a law degree but she never practiced, working a gimmie job in hospital administration in Chicago which was arranged for her by whatever cabal runs Obama.

    Qualifications for the Supreme Court do not include being a judge or even holding bar membership. A law degree isn't required.

    Breyer is arguably telegraphing that Roe will fall this term. That seat will have to write the dissenting opinion whenever it happens so the replacement will need to be a deeper thinker than the list of candidates being thrown around today. Breyer was very respected and confirmed with all but 15 Senators voting “yes” IIRC, including many Republicans. I believe he was even on a Bush 41 short list which Clinton cribbed from out of desperation that Summer when he needed a nominee who wouldn’t further enrage the Republican base.

    If Roe is done, Bryeyer will write the opinion and get the heck out of Dodge. The vote has already taken place. Figure June 30 as the announcement date.

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  44. lynn says:

    "Texas Teen Charged With Murdering 16-Year-Old Girlfriend By Shooting Her 22 Times is Out on Bond"

        https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/01/texas-teen-charged-murdering-16-year-old-girlfriend-shooting-22-times-bond/

    Are you freaking kidding me ?  He only got a bond of $250K for murdering his girlfriend ?  And somebody came up with the $25K ? 

    He is probably on his way to Mexico now.

  45. lynn says:

    I just had a family member move back to Texas from Illinois.  His wife was promoted to a new executive job in the Chicago area in Jan 2020 so she got an apartment up there at $6,000/month.  He has been flying up there for weeks at a time.  They have both been zooming their jobs since the Koof started.  He just got a $100,000 income tax bill from Illinois (they both make very good money). They are gone.

    This is the family member who wanted to move her entire office to Downtown Chicago, right?

    Illinois is beyond insolvent due to pension obligations. The state will be after them for years.

    Yup, the old Sears Tower.  She would need to be promoted to CEO to probably make that happen. 

    Yup, I figure that Illinois will be chasing them forever. 

  46. MrAtoz says:

    The Mooch and Kamel will pass on SCOTUS. They have their sights set higher for bigger income opportunities. Why get locked in at SCOTUS then resign in lieu of more money? A very bad look?

    Whoever plugs comes up with, he will have no hand in it. Someone will tell him who to nominate.

  47. lynn says:

    The Mooch and Kamel will pass on SCOTUS. They have their sights set higher for bigger income opportunities. Why get locked in at SCOTUS then resign in lieu of more money? A very bad look?

    Whoever plugs comes up with, he will have no hand in it. Someone will tell him who to nominate.

    It will be an existing liberal federal judge.

       https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/the-early-front-runner-for-breyer-s-seat/ar-AATaQp6

  48. MrAtoz says:

    Yeah, she would make it through the Senate. Cocaine Mitch might slow the confirmation down, but that's it. He might not even try unless some dirt comes up.

  49. lynn says:

    "Debt Up $2 Trillion in 1 Year of Biden"

        https://www.cnsnews.com/commentary/terence-p-jeffrey/debt-2-trillion-1-year-biden

    "When President Joe Biden was sworn in on Jan. 20, 2021, the federal government's debt stood at $27,751,896,236,414.77."

    "When his first year in office ended on Jan. 20, 2022, it stood at $29,867,021,509,573.92."

    "That means that during Biden's first 12 months in office, the federal debt grew by more than $2 trillion — or $2,115,125,273,159.15 to be exact."

    When it crashes, it will crash swiftly.  Maybe in 2029 ("The Mandibles"), maybe in 2025 ("Buck Out").  I suspect that the feddies will seize IRAs, 401Ks, etc and reinvest them with tbills.

    Hat tip to:
    https://www.drudgereport.com/

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  50. paul says:

    I'm the handyman around here.  I have usually have fun doing the stuff and I happen to work for beer money.

    The few times we have called someone, sure, I don't expect them to drop everything but come on, two weeks to answer a phone message?

    By then, I've done the work if I can figure out.

    When we decided to get rid of the window units and fix the central air, I got an estimate from Home Depot.  As I recall, $6800.  I wanted the outside unit moved so it wasn't under a bedroom window.  No problem, we'll just add some tubing and run it on the ground next to the skirting.  It's a pier and beam house, plenty of room under there.

    But Home Depot doesn't go under houses.  I don't recall if a new air handler was included in the deal or just new coils.  And if they won't go under the house, why would they go in the attic?  The whole deal smelled bad.

    I shopped around.  Found a 4 ton heatpump system from a company in Florida.  $3777 delivered, inside and outside units plus new coolant lines, heat elements, and a fancy t-stat.  I think "heatpump" was an extra $1300 over plain a/c.

    I did the work.  All of it.  Removing the old, installing the new, rebuilding the air intake box/stand to something nicer than ghetto scraps of 2x4s and plywood.  I re-built the plenum (?), the air box in the attic where the ducts attach.

    Ductboard is neat stuff.  The local lumberyard lets you borrow the tool needed to cut the stuff where you need to fold it.

    The old system had about a foot above the air handler and that was all of an air box.  Ceiling height.  The flexible ducts run across the attic over the joists and insulation and made a 90 degree turn down.  The new box is about 30 inches taller than the ceiling joists.  The 10 inch ducts (I think) now lay flat and connect to the air box.  Air flow seems much improved.  I never had a tool to measure air flow.

    Why?  Here's the part that sort of blew my mind…. looking at the top of the air handler, the output is about 2 feet by 2 feet coming out of the blower.  But the air flow isn't smooth.  It's like your thumb on the end of a garden hose.  The ducts don't get equal amounts of air.

    By making the box taller and connecting the ducts to the sides, you get a buffer.  The blower *pressurizes the box* instead of blowing into one duct.  This evens out the flow to all ducts.

    Call it an exhaust manifold.  Call it filling a bucket with water and it overflows equally around the rim. 

    One thing I found later was the living room vents, which never blew more than a whisper of air, I had checked for blockage years ago, started sucking in cobwebs.  I crawled around in the attic. I found a Y joint.  Someone brain farted.  Call it a 10" duct from the air handler… split that to feed the living room and the master bedroom and master bath.  Now, use a 10 inch with a 6 inch Y.  Think carburetor.  The living room got the 6 inch connection.  Shrug.

    Way back when, almost nothing was open on Sunday and anything in Austin was 60 miles one way to Stripling Blake (closed on Sunday!) or Furrows.  Cedar Park and whatever were just wide spots on the road with a gas station.  183 and Burnet Road was a four way stop sign.

    It's a Jim Walter house.  Built in 1980 or 1981.  So far in the sticks at the time that the electric company called it "first right off "op-sec"  road".  Jim Walter built out to at most, 90% complete, flooring and baseboards catch as catch can..  I don't think that happened here.  Nice solid house.  Just kinda got a lot of Bubba going on. 

    As for the heatpump system, I like it.  It's seemed like the extra cost was worth it.  The t-stat knows the humidity and will run the system at a very slow speed to dry the air.  Trippy.  The system runs on Low almost all of the time.  Neat.  What I don't know is "what if I had installed a 5 ton system?".  Cooling works great.  But that extra ton for heating?  I don't know.

  51. paul says:

    Why with such a high survival rate?

    He gets off watching people die.

    For example, his handling of AIDS.

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  52. Double Sigh says:

    but she never practiced, working a gimmie job in hospital administration in Chicago

    Michelle Obama was an associate at a law firm, then she worked for the City of Chicago. Why would you post ridiculous claims without checking basic details first? 

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  53. MrAtoz says:

    Ha, ha. Moochelle didn't practice law for shit. Go home troll.

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  54. SteveF says:

    Having a heart attack at age 49 in 2009 and finding out that I have a congenital heart condition really changed my perspective on life.

    Several times, mostly in my 20s but a few in my teens and 30s and apparently a couple when I was a baby, I should have been killed. Once or twice through carelessness or stupidity on my part, sometimes through mechanical failure, more than a few times through carelessness or stupidity or malice on someone else's part. Each time I made it through basically through dumb luck. (There were also several situations which could have been fatal but which I survived through good reflexes or toughness. I'm not counting those.) I don't know if it changed my perspective because I don't remember a time when I wasn't "living on borrowed time", but I do know that I view achieving my objectives as more important than staying alive.

    The state will be after them for years.

    A couple times when I moved between states or worked out of state while owning property in NYS, NY and the other state each claimed income taxes on my whole income or on the entire income earned outside of NYS. It got tiresome after about the second time.

    Qualifications for the Supreme Court do not include being a judge or even holding bar membership. A law degree isn't required.

    Which is exactly why I should be nominated for a position on the Supreme Court. As Chief Justice, if I may be so bold. Sure, I don't look like a black woman, which is what Joetato said is all he'll consider, but who is he to question what I identify as? Similarly, my political beliefs are not in line with his but I can say "My butt's been wiped" with the best of them, and that should be close enough.

    Texas Teen Charged With Murdering 16-Year-Old Girlfriend By Shooting Her 22 Times is Out on Bond

    Meanwhile we have political prisoners in solitary, pretrial confinement, denied bail and with very limited access to their lawyers or Congressional oversight.

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  55. Ray Thompson says:

    Michelle Obama was an associate at a law firm, then she worked for the City of Chicago.

    She did nothing while in those organizations. Used for political fodder. Akin to what contractors do in Oak Ridge to get small, disadvantaged, minority owned business contracts. Hire black disabled females, give them a fake title, name on the door, and then let them sit and do nothing. Yes, I have personally seen it happen.

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  56. paul says:

    Added:  I think the 5 ton system had a three speed compressor.  The air handler blower inside, same as what I have,  is already variable.

    They had noise that the compressor would be also be variable in a couple of years.

    Anyway.  The outside unit here runs on low speed almost always.  I have to mess with the t-stat to kick it  and the blower up to frenzy.  Like, t-stat is set at whatever, heat or cool, and tap it about 6 degrees cooler or three warmer.

    Blowing dust out of the ducts is actually a thing.  

    No wonder my nose is drippy out here where the cedar trees roam.

  57. Triple Sigh says:

    She did nothing while in those organizations.

    You make that statement as if you are someone with evidence that is specific to her. Are you going to provide it? 

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  58. paul says:

    I think anyone reading and commenting regularly on this site is better qualified that ANYONE pResident Poopypants can choose.

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  59. Ray Thompson says:

    You make that statement as if you are someone with evidence that is specific to her. Are you going to provide it?

    I can find no reference to the mooch having accomplished anything. Nothing other than having a position at a firm. A door knob.

    Her tenure as a lawyer was during her husband's political career. What little work she might have done was in marketing and intellectual property law. Big deal. Fluff stuff in a firm to support her husband's political ambitions. Her "career" was in exchange for favors from her husband's political ambitions. Same as Chelsea Clinton being given a high level job, straight out of college. Another example of political cruft.

    Anytime you get a high level politician involved there are rewards and kickbacks given to family members in exchange for future considerations. Obuttwad and the mooch are not exceptions.

  60. Greg Norton says:

    Ha, ha. Moochelle didn't practice law for shit. Go home troll.

    The Wikipedia page indicated she worked for the law firm as an associate in marketing and intellectual property law. I stand corrected.

    Anything after that job looks politics-related, however, both the city jobs and the admin position at the hospital.

    Regardless, she will not be nominated to fill the “Roe” seat.

  61. Quadruple Sigh says:

    having a position at a firm

    And with that alone, you admit that “Greg Norton” is incorrect — she did practice elsewhere than a “hospital”. The “facts and reasoning” crowd here sure loves to rely on wild speculation and absurd claims. 

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  62. SteveF says:

    A door knob.

    No, Heels-up Harris is the door knob. "Everyone gets a turn."

  63. Greg Norton says:

    Fuher FauXi says:

    Dr. Anthony Fauci says children younger than 4 will likely be getting three doses of the COVID vaccine

    Why with such a high survival rate?

    Eliminating the control for mRNA technology in an FDA approval process.

    I just saw another article about the promise of the tech being used as an AIDS vaccine.

  64. Greg Norton says:

    And with that alone, you admit that “Greg Norton” is incorrect — she did practice elsewhere than a “hospital”. The “facts and reasoning” crowd here sure loves to rely on wild speculation and absurd claims.

    I don't use a pseudonym. The qutoes around my name aren't necessary.

    Given the demographic Biden wants to nominate to fill the seat and the pending loss of power to advance the agenda in the Fall, I believe this is going to be a very angry Spring.

  65. Pecancorner says:

    As noted, Mrs Obama was an associate attorney at a law firm right out of school, specializing in marketing and intellectual property. However, she worked in the field only 4 years, and has not practiced law since 1991. That was a lifetime ago in the American legal world. The entire profession has changed in the past 30 years.

    My first adult career was as a legal assistant in a general practice firm. I haven't worked in the field since 1983. I seriously doubt that any of the cases we relied on to prove our cases, or the principles or standards or even basic practices such as forms we used, have any relevancy today. In every element, from family law to estate law to criminal law, nothing has remained the same.

    So really, I think her education and law experience are moot, in practical terms. Besides, she said last year that she is "moving toward retirement" and has reduced the time she puts in on the projects she's involved with. 

  66. Greg Norton says:

    Tonight's episode of "The Book of Boba Fett" is titled "Return of the Mandalorian".

    I don't know, but I think it is safe to say that we will see Pedro Pascal.

    Who knows about Baby Yoda. Probably not.

    Luke Skywalker? No, Favreau is probably still in trouble for that one, but rumors abound about another de-aged actor from the original series appearing in one of the live action shows this year.

  67. drwilliams says:

    So if Michelle Obama worked in "marketing and intellectual property" what was her position/title?

    Sounds like they sent her to the grocery and she had to read the labels on the coffee creamer.

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  68. Greg Norton says:

    So if Michelle Obama worked in "marketing and intellectual property" what was her position/title?

    Sounds like they sent her to the grocery and she had to read the labels on the coffee creamer.

    Patent research. Contract reading. A salaried new associate is cheaper than a paralegal.

  69. Pecancorner says:

    In other news, You Tube put up Neil Young's channel in my "recommendations" today, so I opened the little options drop down, and selected "Don't recommend channel". 

    As someone put it so eloquently in a song that is STILL relevant "I hope Neil Young will remember, a southern man [or woman] don't need him around anyhow."

    And it looks like Spotify called his bluff, as they should:

    https://althouse.blogspot.com/2022/01/spotify-sides-with-joe-rogan-after-neil.html

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  70. drwilliams says:

    @Greg Norton

    Michelle Obama could no more read and comprehend a patent than Barry could write a book.

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  71. SteveF says:

    Oh, be nice. Michelle Obama had a number of accomplishments. For instance, she made it possible for someone else to be in the upper half of ability.

    (Using the pronoun "she" despite questions about its anatomical appropriateness.)

  72. Rick H says:

    "Neil Young’s music will be removed from Spotify at his request, following the veteran rock star’s protest over the streaming service airing a popular podcast that featured a figure criticized for spreading COVID misinformation." https://ksltv.com/482535/spotify-says-it-will-grant-youngs-request-to-remove-music/

    …. also in various news sources (CNN, FoxBusiness, FoxNews, Wall Street Journal, Hollywood Reporter)

  73. ech says:

    It's possible that Young’s music will go back on Spotify. He sold a 50% interest in his music to an investment company. They may want the royalties from Spotify.

  74. Greg Norton says:

    It's possible that Young’s music will go back on Spotify. He sold a 50% interest in his music to an investment company. They may want the royalties from Spotify.

    Spotify is a lousy deal for the artists and those holding the rights. The record companies make the real money on the platform.

  75. nick flandrey says:

    She did nothing while in those organizations. Used for political fodder.

    as someone with close associates in law firms in Chicago, I can tell you directly that this is EXACTLY what happens.  See also Jesse Jackson Jr who later became more intimately acquainted with the law.

    Chicago runs on patronage.

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  76. SteveF says:

    I don't use a pseudonym.

    That's exactly what I'd expect someone using a pseudonym to say.

  77. Mark W says:

    I feel bad wading into this, but isn't it obvious that working at a law firm (even as an associate) and practicing law, are different things?

    It's like getting a comp sci degree and working at Microsoft. It doesn't mean you're a programmer, even if your job title is "associate programmer"

    I have no knowledge of what she did at the law firm, this is just a logical observation. But also, the wiki article doesn't list her accomplishments there. I would think they would.

  78. nick flandrey says:

    No one expects a pseudonymous exposition….  

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  79. nick flandrey says:

    But also, the wiki article doesn't list her accomplishments there. I would think they would.

    —  because there were none.  Drone, not queen.  And that's assuming the self important angry young person even tried to participate. 

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  80. Kenneth C Mitchell says:

    So Biden has promised to nominate a Black woman to SCOTUS. But in a world where Rachel Dolezal is Black, and Lia Thomas is a woman, ANY of us could get the job! We just have to "identify as" those traits. 

  81. drwilliams says:

    Really LOL:

    Remember When Liberal Law Profs Said VP Can’t Cast Tiebreaker On Supreme Court Nominations?
    I Bet Mitch Does

    Lawrence Tribe 2020 on Barrett nomination: “While the vice president has the power to cast a tiebreaking vote to pass a bill, the Constitution does not give him the power to break ties when it comes to the Senate’s “Advice and Consent” role in approving presidential appointments to the Supreme Court.”

    Posted by William A. Jacobson Wednesday, January 26, 2022 at 09:35pm

    https://legalinsurrection.com/2022/01/remember-when-liberal-law-profs-said-vp-cant-cast-tiebreaker-on-supreme-court-nominations-i-bet-mitch-does/

  82. MrAtoz says:

    Chief Justice Atoz! Mr. SteveF can clerk for me. The clerks do the real work anyway.

  83. Alan says:

    >> So Biden has promised to nominate a Black woman to SCOTUS. But in a world where Rachel Dolezal is Black, and Lia Thomas is a woman, ANY of us could get the job! We just have to "identify as" those traits. 

    Come on now, you'll likely make his head explode trying to understand the whole "identify as" concept.

  84. Nick Flandrey says:

    Mysterious object just 4,000 light years away from Earth releases a giant burst of energy three times an hour – and is unlike anything astronomers have seen before

        Mysterious object unlike anything ever seen in space discovered by astronomers
        'Spooky' item was observed releasing a giant burst of energy three times an hour
        For one minute in every 20 the discovery is one of brightest objects in night sky
        Object may be a neutron star or a white dwarf with ultra-powerful magnetic field

    — I'm going to bed, so I'll read the article tomorrow, but did it just start? Or are we just noticing?

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  85. Alan says:

    >> No one expects a pseudonymous exposition….  

    Nor an exposition inquisition… 

  86. lynn says:

    Fuher FauXi says:

    Dr. Anthony Fauci says children younger than 4 will likely be getting three doses of the COVID vaccine

    Why with such a high survival rate?

    Eliminating the control for mRNA technology in an FDA approval process.

    I just saw another article about the promise of the tech being used as an AIDS vaccine.

    You know, the population with children (a decreasing number of people in our current version of civilization) is increasingly getting upset with the number of vaccinations (30+ per child at this time).  And with many of those vaccinations, their children get sick for a day or two.  A lot of those mommas have blown off vaccinations so that when something really bad happens, their children are truly screwed. 

  87. lynn says:

    I took my Dad to the Houston Auto Show tonight.  Not much was showing, only six or seven manufacturers showed up.  And the Ford display was pitiful.  Only six trucks.  I asked the Ford manager where was all of the duded up trucks, he said that the dealer that they shipped the trucks to sold the trucks.  Ha !

    I did get to sit in the new Ford Maverick.  It is a little thing but I fit, about the size of the 1990s Ford Ranger.  That one did have an MSRP of $36K, way over the $20K base price.  But they had a 3/4 ton 4×4 crew cab with the new 7.3L gas V8 for $46K which I found amazing.  And a one ton 4×4, also with the new 7.3L gas V8, for $48K.  Looks like the new 7.3L gas v8 is the new price winner and, no DEF.

    They did have a prototype of the new total electric F-150 Lightning.  But they would not let us crawl on it and crawl in it.  We did get to see the new Frunk though, that was cool. No display hybrid F-150s either, the dealer sold that one for sure, those are like gold right now.

    Also, the F-150s have a new hybrid 12 volt battery listed on the spec sheet.  I have no idea what this meant.  I even popped the hood and looked at the very standard looking AGM battery.

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