Clear and pleasant again, with some clouds. It sure was nice yesterday, with only an intermittent threat of rain from some cloudiness, and a bit of humidity later in the day.
Finished up my shade tree mechanic LARPing. Got the Ranger running, and picked up a replacement wiper for the rear window of my Expedition. I c’nae believe how hard it was to find the correct wiper, or why Ford went with a completely different attachment means for that one wiper. AdvanceAutoParts, and Autozone had me running around, but O’Reilly had the parts I needed. I’ll check with them first next time. I bought a second wiper as a spare and it was the last one they had. More reinforcement for the idea that if you think you might need it, you better stack it.
I also shipped my ebay sale and couple of other things I’ve been putting off for no good reason.
D1 had a play at school last night and tonight, so we went to see that. Every kid was miked, ever mic was too loud. I know I’ve got hearing issues, but I couldn’t get but one word in 10. Daughter is following in the wife and my footsteps with her work backstage. Mixed feelings about that. It was a great learning experience, and it put us both where we are now, but times change, and I’m not sure I’d want to be working in the industry now.
I suppose that is true for most parents.
Today I’ve got a couple of pickups, and some driving to do. Then I’ll have more sorting and stacking at my storage unit. Wife and D1 are headed to GS camp for the weekend after the curtain comes down on the show tonight. D2 and I are home alone. Might just load up the truck and head to the lake after swim practice Saturday. There’s plenty to do up there, if I get bored with all the stuff that needs doing here…
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WRT site issues here, please keep reporting them, but bear with us as Rick tries to sort it out.
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And for pete’s sake, stack some food. Don’t forget fats. Peanut oil stores well, and can be used in place of butter in most cooking. Lard in sealed plastic buckets should last a long time too. With the decrease in sunflower oil exports from Ukraine, people will have to buy other oils, which will put pressure on them as well. Get some, even if you don’t use much now. It’s relatively cheap, stores for a long time, and is an important prep. Salt and vinegar too, in mass quantities, mainly for food preservation, and a few jars of ‘pickling spice’ wouldn’t be a bad idea.
FWIW I like multiple smaller containers, rather than one big one. It lasts longer if you don’t have a giant container open, you can more easily share a smaller container, and if one is spoiled the rest will still be ok. To me, multiples are better, even if the unit cost is higher. The most expensive prep is one you have to throw out without using. Had a rat (might have been the possum) gnaw a bottle of peanut oil this week, made a mess on the shelf. That was just one liter damaged, not the whole supply. I could have used what was left in the bottle for frying I suppose if desperate, or as lamp oil, but I just tossed it and replaced it. That might not always be an option. So….
Stack something.
nick
69F and 96%RH this morning.
That’s pretty damp.
n
Ford has, by my count, three different cabin air filters for the 2016 Explorer, based on different size/shapes of filter boxes installed in the vehicle. I went through two at Autozone before finding the right one at O’Reilly. I have had situations, however, where O’Reilly lacked something Autozone had on the shelf. Fortunately, where I live, both are within a few hundred yards of each other.
Also, don’t buy first model year Ford of anything.
The new Ubuntu release, 22.04, has frozen twice waking from sleep on my T470 ThinkPad since upgrading yesterday where the last few releases have been flawless.
I usually run Windows 10 on that machine, but I keep a current Ubuntu release on a partition in case something comes up where I need that capability.
I have the nagging feeling the troll activity as of late was the leading edge of something for which the site issues are the latest iteration.
The pseudonym is a Boost constant. The library is a Hot Skillz right now.
Someone might aspire to “play developer on TV” but does something related in the mean time, until standards slip.
Related to what Nick said at the top of the page, we don’t encourage our kids to go into anything computer tech related or healthcare. The management ranks of both fields are filled with pretenders who couldn’t do the actual work if their next meal actually depended on it.
@Nick
“Daughter is following in the wife and my footsteps with her work backstage. Mixed feelings about that. It was a great learning experience, and it put us both where we are now, but times change, and I’m not sure I’d want to be working in the industry now.”
Learning to develop expertise at a young age is a good thing. Once you realize you can do it, it’s easier the next time, then it becomes a skill set of it’s own.
Second Greg’s comment above re computer tech. Reluctantly, I’d add most forms of engineering. Management is replete with advanced degrees ticking diversity boxes in favor of abilities.
Doing Theater in high school is not a commitment to working in the industry. I have fond memories of my backstage time, and being part of a project that requires significant coordination and cooperation with a large group. And exposure to the performing arts doesn’t hurt. (I’m not so sure of that last part, given the LGBTWTFPedo orientation of the Arts these days.)
re: stage microphones.
In the 1970’s, we didn’t have them. Actors and singers needed to project their voices. I didn’t recall saying to myself: “Boy, I wish they had stupid microphones taped to their faces so I could hear them better. And also the rubbing of the cables against their clothing. And the weird volume changes when to singers get close to each other and their mics pick up both of them. And the static bursts when there are connector problems.”
Also, get off my lawn.
As predicted, AMZN is tanking this morning. Not quite as bad as Netflix last week, but we will see what the end of the day looks like.
The Wall Street traders will start heading out for strippers and steaks or TeamViewer visits with the dominatrix in about an hour so things will be slow until later on this afternoon.
Meanwhile, back at Netflix, heads are starting to roll. Where do the employees go to rant? Twitter!
https://nypost.com/2022/04/28/angry-netflix-employees-take-to-twitter-after-getting-laid-off/
Many Twitter employees are about to join Netflix staffers on the unemployment rolls.
DIS is still hanging tough, but The Mouse continues to cook the books a month after the quarter ended.
I wanted to add something about that battery cable repair device. Since you assembled it dry, go back soon and take it apart. Add some oil or grease to the cable strands. The idea is to saturate the area to keep moisture out. If it is already wet, use a heat gun to raise the temperature above the boiling point of water. Be careful to not melt the insulation. This will drive moisture out, and the hot cable will wick grease or oil better. You can use any oil or grease, but silicone grease (DC4) is best. Fill the cavity of the repair device and insert the cable. Wipe the cable clean. This will last the life of the car. Just check the setscrews for tightness occasionally.
Some people use RTV (Room Temperature Vulcanizing silicone adhesive-sealant.) That is OK, but makes disassembly difficult. Most RTVs emit acetic acid while curing, and that is corrosive. I also worry that moisture might wick its way past the RTV into the cable strands. Grease is better and more serviceable.
I once had a positive battery cable whose insulation had shrunk back from the molded clamp, just enough that corrosion formed on the copper. I soaked it in a solution of hot water and baking soda, dried it with a heat gun, and soaked it with oil. After wiping the excess oil, I covered the area with some wheel bearing grease, wiping off the excess. Lasted the life of the car. Why wheel bearing grease? I changed to another grease type, and had a one pound can lying around. Tenacious stuff.
I started life in the rust belt. Corrosion is the enemy, and never sleeps. Oils, waxes, and greases can keep corrosion at bay, but it always wins. Its close relative is entropy.
As for rear wipers, I always remove them. They get in the way of dusting the car, and can lead to nasty cuts. I almost never drive in the rain, and a rear wiper doesn’t seem to do much. Useless here in the desert. I sometimes worry that the “safety” geeks will someday require side window wipers.
Same for windshield washers. Now that cars have low washer warning lights, I keep a little fluid in the reservoir, just to keep the pesky light off. I don’t even need windshield wipers. I treat my glass with Rain-X, so most crud just slides off. My older cars have the wipers stored in the trunk, just in case I need them to show to a police officer. They install without tools. The newer cars have arms that are hard to remove and replace, so I keep old blades on. I used to take the blades off, but worried that I might accidentally turn the wipers on and scratch the glass.
Here in UK, most third-party car accessory shop s, such as Halfords, stock generic windscreen wipers with universal fittings, or at least model-specific fittings, generally cheaper than OEM replacements. I can’t remember the last time I fitted OEM wiper blades to any of our cars, unless it was an MOT-mandated replacement at a dealer.
MOT – annual roadworthiness test, so-called because it was originally imposed by the then Ministry of Transport. Has to be performed by an accredited testing station, for a prescribed, relatively small, fee.
G.
I would argue that dialect grease is a much better option. It is designed for electrical connections to make them weather proof. I used the stuff on all my boat connections including the trailer. Before I had LED lights I used the grease on the light bulbs and sockets.
Honda does wipers the right way. You can replace just the rubber insert. Cheap and easy.
Ray, DC4 is a dielectric grease. Technically, it is not a grease, because the thickener is not a soap, but rather an inert silica filler. It was originally made by Dow Corning, but is now available from several manufacturers. Since it is expensive, I have substituted other materials for less demanding uses, such as battery cables. My environment is pretty benign.
Some people use DC4 on connectors at UHF and beyond frequencies. I would have to look up its properties, but there are other compounds formulated specifically for RF.
Yep, we have the generic wiper fittings too, most of them come with about 8 snap in adapters to match the OEM nonsense. For the life of me I couldn’t find one that fit the weirdo choice Ford made on the Expy. Most of the in store cross reference books don’t even LIST a wiper choice for the rear on the Expy. The one I found was aftermarket. The computer listed two brands, Bosch and this one, the Bosch did not actually fit. The counter guy couldn’t believe it, and helped me in the parking lot until we found the right one.
Watch “Just Rolled In” channel on youtube to see some incredible vehicle wear and damage that people are still driving around on… most of the problems are caused by hitting something, road salt, or stupid people trying to save money.
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so the “bulb” grease will work for the cable end too? I have some of that.
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Wipers and fluid are pretty much required here, if I didn’t drive in the rain, I’d never get anywhere. And when it’s not raining, the thick yellow tree pollen is on everything.
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“ I didn’t recall saying to myself: “Boy, I wish they had stupid microphones taped to their faces so I could hear them better.”
–this, and all the reasons you listed. It really does the kids a disservice to develop dependence on mics at the beginning of their journey. The kids need to learn to make the sounds on their own. No mic can pick up what isn’t there. And while there is some benefit to some kids in learning to use the normal and latest technology, they aren’t being taught to use it correctly, and only a couple of kids ever run the sound, while 40 learn bad habits performing.
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Almost all of the increase in the stock market was in the FANGs or FANGs plus a couple of names. It’s an aberration that they were up and they are just returning to the mean. I hope y’all got out while you could. Probably be some bargain seeking, buy the dip action… but who knows. Could be the trigger for the general collapse in the market.
Glad I’m not playing.
n
Ah, shades of the old Anco vs Trico days. Many American cars used these in the 1950s and beyond, and both were good quality. The Trico design replaced the whole blade. The Anco design had “pushbutton” blades that allowed the rubber (reinforced by a molded-in stainless steel strip) to be quickly replaced. The Anco design (without the pushbuttons) was widely copied. The original rubber refill is hard to find. The more common rubber refills use two stainless steel reinforcements and a clip at one end, and they fit most current blades. That clip is a source of accidental cuts. The reinforcements are also a little difficult to insert, and it is common to miss one or more of the guide prongs, which can scratch the glass. If someone else installs a blade, make sure it was done properly.
Some astronomy news–
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-10766719/Aprils-SECOND-new-moon-arrives-weekend.html
Black moon rising! April’s SECOND new moon arrives this weekend along with first solar eclipse of 2022 – as Venus and Jupiter get hearts racing with spectacular celestial ‘kiss’
I left the Detroit area in 1968. Their expressways were mostly below the surface streets, and crud blew down on cars. I commuted about 23 miles each way, mostly in VW bugs. Windshields took a beating, as did the whole car. I replaced windshields about every other year, due to sandblasting and scratches from wipers. Like Italian horns, our windshield wipers were wired to turn on with the ignition. 🙂
I used to buy one wiper blade from the VW dealer. I would put it on the driver’s side, and put the driver’s side blade on the passenger side. We were frugal xxxxxx cheap! The blades didn’t last long because of the frequent debris and poor rubber quality. Some people converted their VW OEM wipers to Trico, which was considered better, but I made do with OEM. At least they were cheap to replace. Some newer cars have different size blades on each side, so that trick won’t work.
This is probably not getting the attention it deserves..
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-10767787/Water-levels-Lake-Mead-reservoir-drop-low-reveal-1971-intake-valve.html
Could Lake Mead dry up? Water levels in the reservoir have dropped so low the original water intake valve is visible for the first time since 1971 due to ongoing MEGADROUGHT
The new station is a ‘low lake level pumping station’, designed to allow officials in Las Vegas to pull water from very low down in the reservoir – about 875ft above sea level.
Doa Ross, from the authority, said the station will serve as the main pump for Las Vega. Adding: ‘While we are in a situation where our first intake is now exposed out of water, this community had the forethought to plan for this, knowing that the drought is not going away.’
Lake Mead and Lake Powell, both fed by the Colorado River system, are critical reservoirs, providing drinking water, power and even irrigation for farms.
The sound mix on a lot of “professional” work seems to be getting worse the longer the “working” from home continues.
All of the obvious “Picard” reshoots involving James Callis (Look! Baltar! You like Baltar!) on this season of “Picard” leave the actor’s dialog unintelligible.
I first noticed the problem with “Ghostbusters: Afterlife”, but most of that flick’s sound work was done before the pandemic.
Only a matter of time before the western states try another grab on the Missouri River
Thank you, Geoff! Just last night I was trying to guess what MOT stands for. Watching the old Lovejoy series, and they had to send the car to the shop for its MOT inspection. I had not searched it yet. But, see?!?!? The Internet answers my questions even without Google! 😀
@pecancorner:
As Nick has said, the breadth of knowledge here is incredible.
G.
While we’re on the subject of little things on cars, yesterday the driver’s side mirror on my Jeep just fell off into the road. Not the whole apparatus, only the glass mirror. After 21 years the glue just released from the base. Alas, it broke, because all it is is a piece of flat, glass, mirror.
I’ve ordered a new one ($12 , free shipping… it would cost me that between gas and time and purchase to go try to get one in town or get an Auto Glass place to cut one).
Once years ago a kid knocked the whole side mirror piece off, and I glued it back with plain Hot Glue, and it was still there when we sold the car. But for this mirror, since it is flat, my husband suggested I use two-part epoxy.
I can’t decide if the factory just gluing it in place originally was “good design”, making a broken one easier to replace; or “cheap design”, since it wasn’t even held in place with a metal or plastic rim like any ordinary hand mirror would be.
Chrysler. Circa 2000. Cheap.
That would have gone into the pipeline after they got rid of Iacocca in 1992 but before the Germans took over in 1998.
Apparently the idiots at Finanv
The new “straw” for Lake Mead was finished a couple of years ago. It is a large water tube to move water from the lake to a processing plant for city water, etc. It was bored out by a large machine right under and up into the lake. I don’t think Musk’s Boring Co. did it, though. Predictions are the current “straws” will all dry up in 20-30 years. I’m not sure why they can’t cut them down so they are under water again.
Financial Times dont know 1% from 10%
https://hotair.com/ed-morrissey/2022/04/29/wamazonpo-musks-bid-for-twitter-could-still-fall-apart-you-know-n465844
Well, OK, color me ignorant. Learned something.
Apparently the super ProgLibTurds are out to cancel Chris Pratt because he is a no-good, stinkin’ Christian and not a Dumbocrat.
HuffPost does their part to stir up outrage over Chris Pratt’s faith and ‘rumored political affiliation’
Don’t people have something better to do? Oh, wait, ProgLibTurds.
I smell a rat. Or, to be more specific, a mouse.
I am a firm believer in this too. Also, it’s just easier to use smaller containers. Ever try scraping those last few tablespoons of peanut butter out of the bottom of a 5lb can? Or, trying to get the last squirt of ketchup out of a 2lb ketchup bottle? Infuriating!
Invert and drain.
Big ones and small ones.
Viscosity and time permitting.
That’s what a 12-inch funnel and a ringstand from the chem lab catalog are for.
Leaving ketchup in the bottom of a bottle is near sacrilege.
Also makes breaking 5-gal buckets down into smaller containers much easier.
Incorrect. That would be a total lunar eclipse.
I’m going to correct that definition to:
”A new moon is when our natural satellite has 0 percent illumination by our sun on the Earth facing side.”
Why yes, there is a star party this weekend, at Mt. Pinos, how’d you guess?
No wonder she’s crying:
Gosh, that’s too BAD: Elon Musk may fire Twitter’s TOP advocate for censoring conservatives (who they paid $17 MILLION just last year)
I’d be crying too. She knew she’d be gone soon after the takeover. It can’t happen too soon. Her resume probably reads “I got paid $17 million because ORANGEMANBAD!”
Both incorrect. New Moon is the second novel in Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight saga. Duh.
Yeah.
Heh. A fellow member of AVAC wears a pin from that movie (his wife gave it to him), just for laughs.
She’s crying because she finally has a boss who doesn’t have any interest in having sex with her, and she doesn’t know how to deal with him to justify her existence on the payroll.
NYU Law? Tears? Please.
The re-IPO will be real fast. It won’t take long to fire all the useless people on the staff.
A local rancher offered Elon 100 acres for a new HQ up in north Williamson County, near Salado/Jarrell, but the people up there are severely anti growth. Infrastructure for an office like that doesn’t exist on I35 between Georgetown and Belton.
I still think that would be too close to Austin. At CGI, we got our fair share of Progs willing to make the commute, and “work from home” was limited by an agreement for the tax breaks with Belton, Bell County, State of Texas, DoD, and the Federal Government.
Nope. A new moon is running around the yard naked after a hot shower.
Well, got most of my pickups done. Got D2 to swim practice, and we were even 5 mins EARLY. I must be slipping.
Cold pizza awaits us for dinner. And it has disgusting mushrooms on it. I didn’t have to cook,so there is that.
Beautiful evening. Cool breeze, warm temp.
N
Disgusting mushrooms? No such thing. The only thing disgusting on a pizza is cilantro. Of course that’s true if it’s on anything, afaic. Picked up up some pickled tongue to have before dinner tonight. Yum!
Musk responds to AOC’s sexually suggestive comeons:
https://twitchy.com/dougp-3137/2022/04/29/im-dead-elon-musks-comeback-to-aocs-criticism-is-the-lol-of-the-century/
Just had a long and productive call with a (soon to be MY) septic contractor about the BOL.
~$20K, which is a bit more than we were hoping. A basic system is ~$12K-14K, the drip design adds cost, and there are site issues. So I’m no surprised, but it’s a big freaking number.
n
Vital element in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.
This just came across my email from the CDC’s Health Advisory Network
A person has tested positive for avian influenza A(H5) virus (H5 bird flu) in the U.S., as confirmed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and reported by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment on April 28, 2022. This case occurred in a person who had direct exposure to poultry and who was involved in the culling (depopulating) of poultry with presumptive H5N1 bird flu.
Starting in January, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) detected highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) A(H5N1) virus in wild birds in the United States followed by multiple detections in U.S. commercial poultry and backyard bird flocks [1,2]. Detection of A(H5) virus in one person who was involved in culling of poultry does not change the human health risk assessment, which remains low for the general public. People with work or recreational exposures to infected birds are at greater risk of infection and should follow recommended precautions. The purpose of this HAN Health Advisory is to notify public health workers, clinicians, and the public of the potential for human infection with this virus and to describe the CDC’s recommendations for patient investigation and testing, infection control including the use of personal protective equipment, and antiviral treatment and prophylaxis.
Oh Rick…. are you messing with the comment editor?
That last comment was very strange when I pasted the text into the edit box. And the comment tool forgot who I am.
n
I wanted it to look like this —
which I got by ctrl shift v pasting instead of regular pasting. Regular pasting got me some boxes around the text and stuff.
I’ll forward you the email I cut it from…
n
Eight rabbit kits were born on January 20 2022. One was DOA, a second was half the size of littermates and died early. I’m keeping a single female from the litter and she will be bred late July. If she does well she will replace an old breeding doe.
The remaining five were slaughtered and processed today. They’all be vacuum packed and frozen tomorrow. The dogs ate the offal for dinner and are busily burping and picking their teeth in the sunshine. Slaughter went quickly and smoothly with the exception of the final rabbit. She moved, I missed with the bolt gun and she woke up as I was slitting her throat. Things got rapidly messy in the few seconds it took me to regain control of her body for a better kill.
Clothes are in the wash. I’m getting cleaned up.
Was almost tidy until that last wee beasty.
The septic guy and I were chatting about supply chain issues and shortages.
He has something different out of stock about every month. I’ll be buying and stacking stuff if it’s available.
225A residential breaker panels are very hard to find in the area this month.
And I’ll need one.
n
The dog has learned to climb up onto the kitchen table. Ate my pizza tonight. He might be on the block…
n
Dog, pizza
That’s some prime protein there.
The military industrial complex will be testing some new weapons in live fire drills in the Ukraine…
n
Cops are working street racers and are VERY chatty tonight. They are having a hard time finding the groups so they’re talking about other things.
Like how to press a driver who has fake temp tags (a favorite in Houston) to get an admission, what tactics work, etc.
They’re telling stories about different stops.
n
@rick the page doesn’t remember me, asking for a name/email every time, even though I’m logged in.
@RickH, I wanted to comment on the site and editor. I am not having the problems others have, except for an occasional slow load. That only happens about 10% of the time, and only takes <10 seconds here, so not bad at all. Other loads are speedy, but not as fast as other sites; strange, because this site has always been fast in the past.
The editor now works fine on my phone, and no longer deletes posts while composing. I went through an Android UI (?) update, but the Brave browser was not updated AFAIK. Just works now. Chrome has always worked. Self-healing? Does not help troubleshooting.
On the W10 computer, everything seems to work fine with the editor. Also have occasional slow loads. Since I compose in Word and paste into the editor, not much of a test. I did try some formatting on a couple of posts, and all seemed to work fine. No disappearing posts that others are complaining about.
My name and email address are blank starting some time today, on all devices and browsers. First time that has happened.
Interesting that I am having a lot less trouble than others. I must live right.