Cool and clear again in Houston. I’ll be headed north though.
As soon as I get all my stuff in one bag and loaded up, I’ll be headed out. Might be a bit later as I need to pick up a toilet on the way, and they may not be available at the first crack of morning’s light…. or something.
I feel a couple of big posts coming up but I think I’ll just prime the pump by asking you to do this.
Start thinking about what you can and will do to supplement or replace failing systems. For example, water only comes out of the tap sporadically and is of dubious quality. This is the case for the Yucatan Peninsula and yet they cope…
Or power is subject to random outages.
Or emergency services are limited.
Figure out what you can do, what you need, and plan to stack it up soon.
n
People have argued this for years, but it just doesn't work. One of the big reasons: school hours. Whatever the school hours are, has an influence on how families structure their days. If little Jimmy is off at 8:00, then Big Jim and Big Jane are available to work starting around the same time. Parents working hours drastically different from school hours makes for a complicated life, and little family time.
Realistically, flexible working hours just aren't going to happen.
If the US finally does abolish changing clocks twice a year, I expect it will cascade. There has always been a strong movement in Europe to get rid of the clock changes, and countries here will follow suit a year or two later.
The interesting question now: will the House pass the bill? Or just quietly ignore it, and let it die?
Snowflakes and their crazy paranoia about their kids. I was reading an article about the huge pick-up and drop-off lines at US schools. When I was a kid in the US, I walked by myself starting in first grade. Our kids here walked starting in kindergarten. Later, when their schools were farther away, they took the public bus.
Yes, in the Winter, it was dark. That happens, when it's not light.
I see it here at the schools. The precious little snowflakes are not allowed to ride the bus. Some kids won't even walk 1/4 of a mile to school. One city has a policy that a child must live 1/4 mile or more from school to be eligible to ride a bus. Imagine not being allowed to walk 1/2 mile to school. Bunch of wimps.
I see parents, or whomever is picking up the kid, start arriving at school an hour before school ends. A single line of cars that is 50 deep by the time school lets out. This is for a small school. Larger schools and the lines are longer, sometimes two lanes wide.
Of course the child that is destined for the lead vehicle takes their sweet time getting out of the school making all the others in line wait. When dropping students more often than not the student getting out of the vehicle will get their backpack, get something out of the back seat, adjust clothing or whatever. Takes 3 to 4 minutes to get out of the car. And the car that is second in line will wait until the car first in line moves before letting their snowflake out of the car. Don't want to cause the snowflake to walk an additional 20 feet.
The sense of entitlement, self importance, and zero consideration for others is rampant at school drop off and pick up locations.
Rabbits don’t have our sense of morals.
Wait until the Baracklypse hits.
Re being without access to news & communication:
Long before the internet, my sister and I went through a spell of short genealogy trips, 2 or 3 days, during which we did not turn on TV or radio or read newspapers nor even call home … this was before cell phones.
Even back then, it was very freeing to set the normal world aside for a while, and return to find that , like any soap opera script, nothing important had changed in our absence.
Since then, I take an "internet sabbatical" for one or two weeks, once or twice a year. Usually in Oct or Nov. I check email only, one time each day, but otherwise am cut off, as we also don't have TV nor do I read newspapers or turn on the radio.
It breaks the addiction, and I find out how to live without the compulsion to always be checking things. It's refreshing to always discover I didn't miss anything. And usually, nobody missed me either 😉
Where I live, the lines consist of cars driven by either Subcontinent or the kind of Dem female voter who stuck "B*TO!" signs in the front yards and stickers on the grocery getters four years ago.
Interestingly, the "B*TO!" signs are absent this year, and I've only seen one sticker, a leftover from Robert Francis' Senate run on the back window of an Infiniti.
In WA State, a disturbing number of cars had Oregon plates after the principal who enforced the zoning retired.
"School run" here in UK is as bad. Thank $DEITY there's no school near me. The grocery getters, normally big and driven by a mother, with normally no more than 1 or 2 children, are parked with little or no consideration for others, including residents of the houses near the school, just "Perish the thought that my little snowflake should have to walk 20 yards". Meanwhile, daddy commutes with a small hatchback.
Back in the day, when my daughters were in school (same school, which Jane also attended) Jane would quite happily park half-a-mile away, just so she wasn't fighting for a space nearer to the school. And when she started childminding, with a Peugeot 505 Familiale, she was quite often collecting 3 or 4 or minded children as well.
G.
Tomorrow my daughter is aged one decade. I don’t know where the years went.
— yes, this in spades.
Around here, at least in our district, you don't F around in the 'car rider' line. The teachers are lined up with kids shoving them into and yanking them out of the cars, 7 in the circle at a time. They have a spotter in the afternoon to match car tag to kid so they are ready. The teachers don't like staying late for car riders so they make it VERY efficient.
Middle school flows very fast, with two lanes. LOTS of social pressure to get in the F'ing car.
WRT time change and sending kids to school in the dark, that was MID 70s. The kids DID walk, which was the issue. And mom's were at home with the other kids. Two cars was still uncommon. Snowflakes hadn't been invented yet. NO ONE drove their kids back then.
NOWADAYS, with 80%+ hispanic student body in our district, they are VERY RIGHTLY concerned about the kids walking to school at least for elementary, and beginning middle. The rise of immigrant communities here means a huge increase in child predators. They learned to be wary in their home countries, where kidnapping and assaults are common. And lest anyone think I'm just an old racist, look at the sex offender registry. Overwhelmingly hispanic.
I agree that helicopter parenting is a bad thing, but the base concerns are founded in an unfortunate reality (and yes, I'm a 'free range parent' so have looked at the actual stats for a lot of the stuff they fear. And in most places it's overblown. Not everywhere.)
The other reason to drive the kids is schedule of extracurricular activities. They might have to pick up a kid to get them to their next appointment.
It's more than just Suzie Subaru can't bear to be separated from her kid.
n
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/petrodollar-cracks-saudi-arabia-considers-accepting-yuan-chinese-oil-sales
-reserve currency. for a while.
n
I avoid the morning traffic jam when dropping my kid off. She either has to be at school very early for some activity in which she's involved. In that case, she's there before the morning rush. Same thing in the afternoon as she frequently stays late for some various club or activity and we avoid the traffic jam. On the days she is dropped off at the normal time we drop her off like 2 minutes before the bell rings. That gives her enough time to walk briskly to her 1st period class and we avoid all of the other parents and their cars. On the rare occasion there's a hiccup and we eat up that 2 minutes it's no big deal as she's in good with her 1st period teacher and doesn't get a tardy. In the afternoon, we've told her to sit tight and we'll pick her up 15 minutes after school lets out. Again, by the time we get there most of the other parents and their cars are gone and she only had to wait a whopping 15 minutes.
The traffic jam is caused by fewer and fewer kids walking or taking the bus AND by the fact that every parent wants to drop their kid off 15 minutes before school starts and pick them up the moment school lets out. So, vary your pick-up or drop-off time by a little and you can typically avoid the nightmare.
Nothing says, "I need a real job," like a SAHM with nothing better to do than sit in the school's loading zone for 45 minutes before school even lets out so they can be first in line to get their kid when the bell rings at the end of the school day.
We could make her walk, but there's no need. We both have flexible enough jobs that make dropping her off and picking her up easy. We get to chat her up on the way to and from school and we all enjoy that.
My husband always said that men buy those tanks to protect their family. He says fathers don't want their family in a little car that would be crushed in a wreck, so it's them who buy a Suburban for the wife and child(ren).
I agree, totally.
He says fathers don't want their family in a little car that would be crushed in a wreck, so it's them who buy a Suburban for the wife and child(ren).
— yes, this. Also, I don't understand buying a little sh!tbox for kid for a first car. Most likely to wreck in the first couple of years.
F=MA can not be argued with.
n
PrepperTip:
Save empty liquor bottles.
When the good stuff is gone, fill them with the cheap stuff. Even that will be in short supply not long after TSHTF, and it’s good to have trading stock.
Worthwhile to learn to make a credible factory seal, too.
What are they going to do with yuan other than buy more Chinese cr*p?
So much for the boycott.
Weed munchies.
https://ktla.com/news/california/santa-barbara-may-declare-its-chick-fil-a-a-public-nuisance/
Hey! Is that a crack about Subie owners?
Start thinking about what you can and will do to supplement or replace failing systems. For example, water only comes out of the tap sporadically and is of dubious quality. This is the case for the Yucatan Peninsula and yet they cope…
I just run over to HEB and grab a few more cases of bottled water. Works every time until the big Texas freeze in Feb 2021. "snicker"
Yes, my neighbors son is temporarily (3 mo.) working in Victorville, a good hours drive, each way, on 2 lane highways. I gently suggested to his dad that his late 90s Ford Ranger wasn’t really safe for that commute, and he’s been using the bigger and newer family van instead.
If the US finally does abolish changing clocks twice a year, I expect it will cascade. There has always been a strong movement in Europe to get rid of the clock changes, and countries here will follow suit a year or two later.
The interesting question now: will the House pass the bill? Or just quietly ignore it, and let it die?
The House is too busy trying to pass Build Back Broke, Biden's 150 trillion dollar infrastructure plan to convert the USA from oil and gas to total electric.
Or Austin Water has another multi-week boil water alert. They've had four in the last three years, including one that extended into the 2018 election season.
The Mayor was still reelected. The agenda comes first.
As for the freeze, the problem was that the water pressure to the homes was maintained in most places even if what came out of the tap was technically undrinkable.
Yes, my neighbors son is temporarily (3 mo.) working in Victorville, a good hours drive, each way, on 2 lane highways. I gently suggested to his dad that his late 90s Ford Ranger wasn’t really safe for that commute, and he’s been using the bigger and newer family van instead.
We are having a serious problem here in Texas with uninsured vehicles and unlicensed drivers. The guy that rents my warehouse just totaled his 2008 Ford Expedition last week when an unlicensed and uninsured driver suddenly pulled their aged Mercedes from the middle of a road to across his lane so he tboned them at 45 mph. His three kids (2 to 6) in the back seat were just fine which was the most important part.
You want to have uninsured motorist insurance and a big vehicle so that you win the weight battle.
The House is done for this session beyond essential spending bills. Even in a normal election year, incumbents wouldn't want to be on record voting for anything except "mo money", but a big political swing is in the wind again, much like 1994, 2006, and 2010.
The session ended at the beginning of the Christmas break, really, when members went back to their districts to begin fundraising, the majority party saddled with a wildly unpopular President whose vaccine mandates were still pending prior to Court review.
Breaking Cat News: Leprechaun Coffee Shop
https://www.gocomics.com/breaking-cat-news/2022/03/16
Uh, that is just wrong.
"Russia sanctions Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton and others"
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-60754136
Mrs. Clinton has responded with,"I'd like to thank the Russian Academy for this lifetime achievement award."
I stole that.
Start thinking about what you can and will do to supplement or replace failing systems. For example, water only comes out of the tap sporadically and is of dubious quality. This is the case for the Yucatan Peninsula and yet they cope…
Or power is subject to random outages.
Or emergency services are limited.
Figure out what you can do, what you need, and plan to stack it up soon.
Was it the Bayou Renaissance dude who said, "you are your own first responder" ?
https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/
"Gas prices may shut down much of our transport system"
https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2022/03/gas-prices-may-shut-down-much-of-our.html
"A final note: my brother tells me that his conversations with other truckers indicate that, should diesel passes the five-dollar/gallon mark, a large number of his fellow independents and owner/operators intend to shut ’em down. They’ll do it too; they’ll have to, they won’t have any choice in the matter. My brother his own self is near that point already; he told me the other day that his every-other-day fillup, formerly around 250 to 300 dollars, cost him well over eight hundred bucks last time. No business can go on hemorrhaging that kind of money for very long before quickly bleeding out. Think the huge truck-driver shortage, a genuinely dangerous situation, couldn’t possibly get much worse than it already is? Think the price of every good, every commodity, can’t keep rising so insanely? Think this is a crisis we’re in now? Just you wait until thousands more trucks, the lifeblood of our economy, have been taken off the road for good."
I've always believed my wife's prepper patient in Florida had a SHTF healthcare plan involving sticking a shiv in me on day one of the apocalypse.
He had the foresight to buy the shiv (many actually, he was quite a prolific collector) whereas I helped pay for my wife to acquire the skills and endured the financial fallout from her poor career choices, so I made the inferior choice in prepping, making my needs a lower priority. That has always been my problem with the logic of the hardcore in the community.
Ack! My Jackery 2000 solar *generator* has once again stopped charging from solar (third time now). I just requested another RMA for return. I'm probably stuck with it since it is about a year now. I got a two year warranty and will keep sending it back until they either fix it permanently or give me some kind of buy back.
At this point, I don't recommend a Jackery. There are plenty of other brands albeit not at this level and price.
I have now owned my office property for a little over ten years. One consequence is that I have to start replacing my very faded pond warning signs to keep my insurance provider happy, "No Swimming" and "Private Property: No Trespassing".
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009L9YYPS?tag=ttgnet-20/
and
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0089OMNDQ?tag=ttgnet-20/
Yes, they do inspect my commercial property every blue moon.
Might be, but ours was given to us by our kids, so I'm going to let the remark slide.
I've occasionally heard similar. "I don't need to stockpile food. I have guns." Those jackasses have just told me whom I need to kill immediately after the crisis hits.
"Big, Nasty Alligator. Keep away."
I figure when I am driving in San Antonio on the northwwest side that 30% of the drivers have no insurance. Driving on the south side I figure at least 50% have no insurance and 30% have no license.
I can get on Joint Base Randolph without issues. But I cannot bring my wife unless she registers. I had to have proof of insurance and valid registration, she had to show her driver's license. Even though she is not the one driving.
Show the documents to a chap at the door. Scan a Q-Code. Fill out a web form with my name even though wife is the one needing the guest pass. Go inside. Wait 10 minutes until name is called even though no one else is waiting and there are three staffed windows. Then fill in more information. Show my VA ID. Then wife needs SSN. Then fingerprint scan. Then a new bar code is added to her license. How they can modify a state document that specifically prohibits modification is a mystery.
Yes, they are our masters and we will bow to their demands. The other thought that runs through my head is what the people working in the guest registration did to deserve to be punished with such crappy duty.
Around here it's more Honda Odysseys and then a ridiculous variety of mid- and full-size SUVs. Though, I'm the oddball guy in the Subaru. My wife is one of those contributing to "the ridiculous variety of mid- and full-size SUVs" crowd.
"Danger! Raw Sewage!" works too.
I shudder to think how many people's SHTF plan is to just shoot their neighbor in the face and take what they have. Some people probably aren't even consciously aware that's their plan, but when the starvation sets in… It's safe to say many people would be willing to do some pretty horrific shit to take care of their own. If a guy has a gun, a starving kid, and a stockpiled neighbor down the road. Well, it's going to end horribly for someone.
"Danger! Raw Sewage!" works too.
That is how you get a visit from the County Health Department around here. No thanks !
"Sorry, Papa Pete: Tesla Raises Prices on All Models After Buttigieg Suggests Buying an EV to Combat Pain at the Pump"
https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2022/03/15/sorry-papa-pete-tesla-raises-prices-on-all-models-after-buttigieg-suggests-buying-an-ev-to-combat-pain-at-the-pump/
"The Verge reports that Tesla has raised prices across its entire vehicle lineup by between 5 and 10 percent. The cheapest Tesla vehicle, the Model 3 Rear-Wheel Drive, now has a starting price point of $46,990. The company’s top-end Model X Tri motor has increased in price by $12,500, from $126,490 to $138,990."
Papa Pete says Let them eat Lithium !
"When The Ground Moves" by Sarah A. Hoyt
https://accordingtohoyt.com/2022/03/16/when-the-ground-moves/
"Yeah, I lived through this as I got “laid off” from Baen. Over the years I’d built my identity as a writer into Baen. I was a Baen author. At signings we tended to sit together. Most of my friends were with the house.
For at least two years I knew it made me less money than going indie, but I felt I owed the house something, and all my friends were there.
And then — whammo. Earthquake."
I had been wondering.
Wait until you see the real costs of the Jesus trucks, Ford included.
$40k is about the max that a clever F&I weasel can do and still get the payment under $500. And that's with a bank who owes the weasel a favor.
The insurance companies report 8.3% uninsured for Texas, and double that for California. But yeah, not evenly distributed, we could easily be at 60% in LA County.
https://www.insurance-research.org/sites/default/files/downloads/UM%20NR%20032221.pdf
My concern was more about injury and death though, what with sleepy drivers, aggressive drivers, driving into the sun, on narrow two lane roads with sand shoulders (i.e. head-ons and roll-overs).
Argh – is there a smartwatch that isn't a complete pain in the a$$? I have a fitbit Ionic, purchased in 2019. Works fine, but got a recall notice stating possible battery overheating issues. Fitbit will give a full refund, and offered a discount on a new device.
I use the watch to listen to music while running (and run reports), that's it. I can't wear it at work anyways. I can put my own music on it, though it is a pain to do it. I got my replacement watch in yesterday. The Ionic isn't made anymore, so I got a Versa 3. One small problem – you can't download music to it (mp3's). You can only download pandora or some other service, and it's a monthly subscription. No thanks. I requested a refund and sent the watch back today.
I stopped at Target and picked up a Garmin Venu SQ. Get it home and realize I need the Garmin SQ-music. The one I got does not allow you to download your own music to it. Why is this even an issue? The SQ-music also costs more.
Do I just need to get a freakin apple watch? Or maybe I just run without music.
This really is something that shouldn't be this hard. Maybe I'm just getting old…
I'll take "First World Problems" for $500, Alex
In Florida, 20 years ago, the conventional wisdom held by cops and insurance companies was that, at any given time, 50% of the drivers on the roads across the state were uninsured for whatever reason, including suspended license for DUI (!). I figure it is worse now and that numbers in Texas are similar.
We are in Dallas for a few days for a medical conference, the first in-person conference my wife has attended since the pandemic began.
We drove by Southwestern/Parkland today. Both President Kennedy and my wife's father died in that complex. Spooky buildings, even in broad daylight.
Wait, am I on Slashdot and just don't know it??
Yep… “First Post!”…
"On this day in history…"
"First successful liquid-fueled rocket test in 1926."
"The Space Age edges closer when scientist Robert Goddard sends a rocket propelled by gasoline and liquid oxygen 41 feet in the air for 2.5 seconds at his Aunt Effie's farm in Auburn, Massachusetts."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_H._Goddard
I use the watch to listen to music while running (and run reports), that's it.
I don't dare listen to music while out walking. Too many crazies on our streets and we do not have sidewalks.
Maybe plugs will offer a $50,000 EV credit paid by Musk to all Teslas. Or disown Teslas and give it to any other EV maker to punish Evil Elon.
Yeah, hey, about that wall at the border. And enforcing checking for citizenship when being hired.
"SpaceX Pushes Wait Times for Starlink to 'Late 2022, Early 2023' for More Areas"
https://www.pcmag.com/news/spacex-pushes-wait-times-for-starlink-to-late-2022-early-2023-for-more
"The new wait times come as SpaceX is preparing to move Starlink out of the beta phase by the end of this month. According to CEO Elon Musk, a “nationwide rollout” is slated for October, but even if you live in an area full of existing Starlink users, you’ll still need to wait for access. Starlink is currently serving over 100,000 users with download speeds of 50Mbps to 150Mbps, but faces a massive backlog of 500,000 customers still waiting to try out the service."
Welp, the ISP folks were to visit on Monday. He even sent a text message. Not a word from of sign of them since.
And he moans about how folks say bad things on-line about his company. Go figure…..
I'm giving him to the end of the month. Not going to ask anymore to "come fix my circuit". Then I'm signing up for Starlink. My account is paid through next March or April. I'm done with the BS.
Annoyed? Moi? Yeah.
Maybe plugs will offer a $50,000 EV credit paid by Musk to all Teslas. Or disown Teslas and give it to any other EV maker to punish Evil Elon.
I read recently the darling of Wall Street Rivian is having trouble producing electric cars. "As of March 8, Rivian has produced 1,410 vehicles in 2022, and 2,425 vehicles since the start of production." But they are suppose to make 25,000 vehicles in 2022 ??? Those numbers do not seem compatible with each other.
https://www.investors.com/news/rivian-stock-ev-maker-hikes-prices-ahead-of-earnings/?src=A00220
Nice weather today.
The trip to the recycle place and then to Tractor Supply was "fun" for various fun times of dog sitting in lap while trying to drive.
Crushed beer cans are paying 50¢ a pound. Compared to 30¢ a few months ago. An old Dodge pickup truck radiator paid $1.25 a pound. Almost $30… The crazy part was a a scrap of copper pipe. Maybe 3/8th size and about three feet long. I have no idea where it came from, it's been bouncing from place to place for years. One pound and $3.80.
Made $70.55 for what most folks toss in the trash. 🙂
Buddy, yeah. He's not a fan of car rides. He did like sniffing around Tractor Supply. Didn't mark anything. Folks liked him, too.
I'll try again.
"Sleep experts say Senate has it wrong: Standard time, not daylight saving, should be permanent"
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/sleep-experts-say-senate-has-it-wrong-standard-time-not-daylight-saving-should-be-permanent/ar-AAV9l4d?ocid=uxbndlbing
I don't care what we do as long as we quit changing the clock forward and backward twice a year.
I'm very happy with my Samsung Galaxy Watch 4. I can listen to music on it with or without my bluetooth earbuds. I hardly ever use that feature, though. If I am listening to music, it is usually playing to my earbuds from my phone, not the watch. When I do that, I can either use the watch to control play/pause, volume, previous track, and next track — or I can use the touch controls on the earbuds.
It does need a smartphone that can run the Samsung Galaxy Wearable and Galaxy Watch4 Manager apps.
>> "Big, Nasty Alligator. Keep away."
Gotta keep up…the gators have left the pond.
Or have they? Don’t think I’d dip a toe and check…
>> Argh – is there a smartwatch that isn't a complete pain in the a$$? I have a fitbit Ionic, purchased in 2019. Works fine, but got a recall notice stating possible battery overheating issues. Fitbit will give a full refund, and offered a discount on a new device.
Much cheaper than a FitBit…third-world solution.
You boys keep your third world stuff and go play in your mud huts. I’ll stay here in the first world and watch baby Yoda.