Tues. Jul. 12, 2022 – I like fixing things.

Hot and humid.   Record hot? Maybe.  Maybe not.   Pretty dang hot though.   Yesterday was well into the 100s, even in the shade.

I got part way through cutting the grass in the back yard, ran out of battery.  That is the downside to electrics, not being able to refuel and continue with minimal interruption.   You either need to wait, or exchange the battery.   On the other hand, if I’d paid attention, I’d have pulled the battery and put it on the charger at the end of the last use.  It’s more than enough to do the back and the front  most weeks.

While waiting for the battery to charge or some sense to break into my skull, I fixed a couple of the gas string trimmers I’ve had sitting around.   I usually use the electric one, but that is broken at the moment, and I wanted to finally take a good look at some that I’d gotten cheap, but just put to the side for later.   Well, at 100F, later decided to come.   Air, spark, fuel.   Which aren’t you getting?  Solve that and the thing will run.   On the small gas yard tool engines, it is usually the air filter is so clogged the thing can’t get air, or the gas lines have fallen off or rotted in the tank, or the primer bulb has failed.   I had one with a bad primer bulb AND rotted  hoses.  I had one with rotted hoses. And I have one with a bad spark plug wire.   I replaced hoses and filters, and swapped stuff around until I had two that ran.  Popped on the trimmer head, and… it was fubar’d.    So I didn’t get the yard trimmed.   Oh well, maybe today.  I did feel pretty good about getting two of them running.  Even if the attachment was broken.

I took a break from working in the heat and did pickups.

Picked up a bunch of building materials for the BOL and the attic here.   Chatted with the auctioneer, mentioned I was looking to make some crawdad traps, and he said he had one on the shelf I could have.  Sweet!  Now I’ve got a real one to use as a model for my DIY effort, and I think I’ll buy a couple more as they are only ~$10 with free delivery.   I’ll let you know if I successfully sample nature’s bounty…

Scored another chest freezer (actually two) in last night’s auction.  Half off isn’t bad.  New in box too.  They are only 7 cu ft, but that is a good size for the BOL, to run on battery backup or solar, and I’m unlikely to lose both at the same time, so I wouldn’t lose all my frozen food to a mechanical issue, like I might with one big freezer.

Still didn’t get to lowes or Costco.   Today for sure.  I need PEX and fittings and a variety of hardware for the BOL, and I need to do my normal Costco buys.  I don’t know why I’m having such a hard time getting to the store.


In the wider world, political violence seems to be increasing.  Our own situation is getting more precarious.   Groups are now soliciting the murder of Supreme Court justices.  No other way to look at the offer of “bounties” for real time location info on them.  They’ll claim it was just to harass them and ‘protest’ but it will get someone killed.  They’ve already tried once.

Food insecurity and price inflation is on everyone’s lips this week.   There are people saying it will get better later this year, and better after that.   But there are plenty saying it will be longer than that and far worse.   I’m stacking food. But then you all know that by now.

I’m looking at supply chain for construction and maintenance stuff and I’m stacking that too.

I am even buying new underwear.   I bought a lot of it at the same time, and so I have a lot of it that is all wearing out at the same time too.  Time to do something about that.    That is one risk with one-time, or bulk purchases.   The stuff will either expire, or wear out at about the same time, and you have a bigger whack to replace it.   Better to spread purchases out in time and replace them on a staggered schedule too.   Real Life ™ doesn’t always work out that way though, and better to have it than not.

Clothing is not something that has been hard to get, since our current run of prosperity started decades ago.   But specific items might be out of stock or unavailable in the future.  If it’s been a while since you bought basics, you might want to evaluate the condition of your drawers. 😉

And if called for, stack it up.

nick

 

96 Comments and discussion on "Tues. Jul. 12, 2022 – I like fixing things."

  1. MrAtoz says:

    Clothing is not something that has been hard to get, since our current run of prosperity started decades ago.   But specific items might be out of stock or unavailable in the future.  If it’s been a while since you bought basics, you might want to evaluate the condition of your drawers.

    There are YT tutorials on making undies. One thing I may still try is sewing. Hand then machine for kicks.

  2. Robert "Bob" Sprowl says:

    RE clothing:  buy in bulk but stagger the starting dates.  Mark them in groups, use group one regularly, using group two rarely.  When group one wears out buy again.  

    Don’t forget shoes and boots.  I have eight pairs of boots.  Some are very worn some are still in the boxes.  

  3. Greg Norton says:

    Don’t forget shoes and boots.  I have eight pairs of boots.  Some are very worn some are still in the boxes.  

    Keep an eye on the soles and foam components of the pairs still in boxes. As the sneaker heads can attest, long term storage of shoes has been an increasing problem over the last 20 years as material quality has been shortcut in the push to Hecho en China.

    I’ve even seen, first hand, problems with Vibram soles delaminating on pairs of shoes I haven’t used frequently during the pandemic.

    I think I’ve taken every shoe in my closet to repair at some point in the last two years for various issues.

  4. EdH says:

    Looks like there was an explosion testing an engine on Starship.

    Apparently mostly unburned fuel externally?

    Dramatic but didn’t seem to affect the vehicle much.  Structures built to carry a mass of 1,000,000lbs at 3.5g are pretty sturdy.

  5. Nick Flandrey says:

    @greg, you have the right of it with the shoes.  I’ve commented many times about my “journey” learning about men’s footwear, I think.  Some days I can’t remember, having written almost 2M words at this point.

    The plasticizers break down and get gooey, or the glue releases.   So for longevity, you want rubber or leather soles, no plastic or foam overmold, and real leather or canvas.   

    So many modern shoes and boots use cardboard and glue where they should use stitching and leather.

    I’ve got more shoes and boots right now than your average TikTok influencer.   Some need to go to the factory for repair and refresh.   The particular boots, it’s actually cheaper to have the factory do it.   

    Quality cowboy boots are almost all natural products, and can be rebuilt a long time.

    n

    \

    (and I’ve been collecting basic cobbler stuff for a couple years now too.  So far, I’ve just re-glued some things.)

  6. Nick Flandrey says:

    92F and rising.  humid too at 65%RH.   Sun beating down.  Yikes.

    well, still have work to do.

    n

  7. MrAtoz says:

    Off to see Thor today with D3. Hopefully it is at least a good popcorn flick.

  8. Nick Flandrey says:

    @MrAtoz, let us know your reaction.   Critical Drinker thought it was a stinker.  Review has spoilers.

    https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=critical+drinker 

    H/T zendo deb   https://wheelgunr.blogspot.com/

    n

  9. drwilliams says:

    I’ve even seen, first hand, problems with Vibram soles delaminating on pairs of shoes I haven’t used frequently during the pandemic.

    I used to love Ecco shoes. I had four pair when the oldest cracked across the “Ecco” molded into the sole. Chunks fell out. They were less than a year old and the company would no stand behind them. As the rest of them succumbed to the same rot, I realized why: the sole material was defective on every one. 

    Properly made Vibram will last for decades. The carp made with “earth friendly” plasticizers will fail without warning and kill you on a mountain trail. 

  10. Chad says:

    Off to see Thor today with D3. Hopefully it is at least a good popcorn flick.

    Just stare at Natalie Portman and try not to drool.

  11. SteveF says:

    Structures built to carry a mass of 1,000,000lbs at 3.5g are pretty sturdy.

    What I’m not saying: You know what else is sturdy? The couch which holds up your mom.

    You know why I’m not saying that? It’s because I’m mature. Whoever said that I’m childish is a liar and is trying to tarnish my good name.

  12. EdH says:

    What I’m not saying: You know what else is sturdy? The couch which holds up your mom.

    Heh.  She would have laughed at that.

    I remember schlepping her up and down the stairs in the wheelchair at my parents place. I was a good son and won’t say you’re right … but honesty prevents me from saying you are wrong…

  13. Greg Norton says:

    Chickens coming home to roost.

    https://www.zerohedge.com/political/starbucks-closing-16-stores-major-cities-due-increasing-threats-bathroom-drug-dens 

    When I briefly worked in Downtown Seattle during Spring 2013, in the renamed Sea First → Bank of America building not far from Pioneer Square, we were warned by property management to head home early on May Day given the city’s unpleasant history with the “holiday”.

    I asked, “How early is ‘early’?”

    “Before the shift change at the Starbucks. Figure 3 PM at the latest.”

  14. MrAtoz says:

    I started watching ST:DS9 on Paramount streaming and got tired of the commercials. Someone was kind enough to put “free” versions online for my viewing pleasure. Google Fiber is at work.

    I got through the Q/Vash episode in S01 and started to hunt online.

  15. Nick Flandrey says:

    I’m reminded of the classic User Friendly cartoon…

    which for some reason I can’t find online anymore.

    n

  16. Nick Flandrey says:

    And fwiw, my shoulder and arm are KILLING me this morning after all the cord pulling yesterday.   jeez I’m old.

    n

  17. Nick Flandrey says:

    104F in the sun.

    aye yie yie

    n

    mmmmm breakfast tacos.

  18. Gavin says:

    @nick

    User Friendly shut down earlier this year, after years in reruns.

    I miss Pitr

  19. SteveF says:

    “God, root, vat is difference?”

  20. Nick Flandrey says:

    Thanks Gavin, that is the way of the web I guess.   And the long term problem with digital content.

    I thought I’d linked the strip here, but search didn’t find it.

    Pytor is planning to take over the world with a linux virus, and someone asks him how he’ll get people to download it.   He says he’ll name the file “Natalie Portman, naked and crying”.   

    I had a User Friendly Minion t shirt someone ruined with stains… 

    n

  21. Nick Flandrey says:

    His observation that waiting to play games years after they came out meant you saved money on cpu and gpu was spot on.

    “The cake is a lie!”

    n

  22. Nick Flandrey says:

    Another food CEO with a warning.  Like the Goya Foods guy.

    https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/costco-ceo-warns-consumer-recession 

    Craig Jelinek, CEO of Costco Wholesale Corporation, on Monday, who said overall “the consumer isn’t doing bad,” but also mentioned, “a lot of people, right now, they’re in a recession because they’re just trying to survive by just buying gas and making house and rent payments.” 

    Sounds confusing, right? But it’s not. With some clarification, Jelinek said wealthier households still have “discretionary income to buy goods,” which means the lower tier of consumers is perhaps tapped out. 

    What’s important is the CEO of the second-largest retailer in the world said, “consumers are getting more cautious.” It’s not necessarily a sign that all consumption is about to roll over, but cracks appear in lower-tier spenders.

    He pointed out that luxury spending, such as jewelry sales, is beginning to slow, and many consumers have shifted away from buying computers and televisions. 

    Jelinek’s interview sheds more light on some consumers, especially lower-tier ones, who are pulling back on spending as their credit cards are maxed out, and personal savings are drained. Though, the Biden administration, White House-aligned economists, and Fed conveniently ignore the bottom tier of consumers and only concentrate on the aggregate — not allowing for the entire consumption story to be told. 

    This matters because 70% of the US GDP is driven by consumption. If not all consumers are healthy, it could be an ominous sign that economic trouble is ahead. 

    n

  23. Greg Norton says:

    I started watching ST:DS9 on Paramount streaming and got tired of the commercials. Someone was kind enough to put “free” versions online for my viewing pleasure. Google Fiber is at work.

    I got through the Q/Vash episode in S01 and started to hunt online.

    DS9 requires a lot of patience until a few episodes into the season where Worf shows up.

    If moving Michael Dorn from TNG hadn’t worked, the show faced the very real possibility of cancellation. The inflection point of the series is the episode “The Visitor”, which arguably turns the overall story arc into a tragedy for most of the principals if you think about it and consider Nog’s eventual fate as detailed by the showrunners in the documentary about the show, “What We Left Behind”, available free on YouTube.

    Rule of thumb — if Avery Brooks has a beard (third season) and a shaved head (fourth), the show had a firm commitment to a full seven year run from the studio and more creative freedom.

    If you lose patience, at least go watch “Trials and Tribbleations”, arguably the best hour of TV ever produced during the Stage 8/9 era of “Star Trek”.

    DS9 isn’t on Netflix?

    And, yes, the resolution is going to suck on the video regardless of source.

  24. Greg Norton says:

    Another food CEO with a warning.  Like the Goya Foods guy.

    Costco helped make this problem with the management’s generally left-biased political activities.

  25. lynn says:

    Over The Hedge: Food Downgrades

         https://www.gocomics.com/overthehedge/2022/07/11

    Yup, people are cutting back and buying cheaper versions of food.  Winkies instead of Twinkies.  Oh the horror !

  26. lynn says:

    Don’t forget shoes and boots.  I have eight pairs of boots.  Some are very worn some are still in the boxes.  

    I wear my dress boots six days a week.  By the end of six months, they are ready for the flame thrower.  I keep two old pairs for emergencies but they are well broken in.

        https://www.cavenders.com/justin-mens-dark-brown-marbled-deerlite-premium-leather-roper-boots/JUS03162.html

    My work boots are at least ten years old and holding in there. But I only wear them once or twice a week, trying to protect the toes.

  27. lynn says:

    @RickH, the website is running smoothly and well.  Congratulations !

  28. lynn says:

    Looks like there was an explosion testing an engine on Starship.

    Apparently mostly unburned fuel externally?

    Dramatic but didn’t seem to affect the vehicle much.  Structures built to carry a mass of 1,000,000lbs at 3.5g are pretty sturdy.

    https://www.space.com/spacex-starship-super-heavy-booster-7-engine-fire

    Booster number seven.  Looks like we need more iterations.

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  29. Nick Flandrey says:

    @nightraker, that’s the one, although “naked and crying” has a better sound to it in my mind…

    esp. since she’s infamous for crying.

    n

  30. Alan says:

    >> mmmmm breakfast tacos.

    Which I presume you got from your neighborhood “bodega”. 

  31. Nick Flandrey says:

    It’s easy to make money in a rising market.   Not so easy when the market is declining.

    Add these guys to zillow….

    https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/loandepot-fire-another-2000-workers-mortgage-market-implodes 

    And I wonder who really owns the loans for this stuff….

    https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/car-repos-loans-originated-2020-and-2021-are-skyrocketing 

    But money wants to be free, so …

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/07/bidens-economy-people-resorting-microloans-buy-gas-groceries/ 

    Anyone know how the peer to peer microlenders who were so hot a couple of years ago have fared?

    n

  32. Nick Flandrey says:

    It’s up to 112F in the sun.  So my heat addled brain decided now was a good time to do some cleanup and reorganization in the driveway…

    To be fair, the decision was driven by the need to get the lawn mower thru to the front yard, and it’s been sadly neglected for the last year.  And my wife is frustrated by the mess.

    But man o man is it hot.

    n

  33. Greg Norton says:

    https://www.space.com/spacex-starship-super-heavy-booster-7-engine-fire

    Booster number seven.  Looks like we need more iterations.

    I have pictures of the complex which we took from both the road and the water last week. At least three more Starships are close to completion along with a full booster stack.

    We took a dolphin watching cruise into the sound to get a look at the “Starport” from the back. We didn’t even look at the animals for most of the hour.

    Unfortunately, not knowing the logistics of the cruise, I did not take my big zoom camera. The best pictures from the water came from my wife’s iPhone.

    If you go for a launch, the south end of South Padre Island offers a very good view.

  34. Nick Flandrey says:

    This was the sign of the coming financial apocalypse only 4 years ago, now it’s  a spin worthy headline about “now is a good time for a vacation in Europe.”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11006675/The-euro-dollar-equal-time-20-years.html 

    n

  35. lynn says:

    Cool, I just got called an idiot on Space City Weather for my comment “It was 113 F on Labor Day, 1999 in Sugar Land, TX. There is nothing new about hot weather in Texas.”

    https://spacecityweather.com/overall-the-upper-texas-coast-just-experienced-its-warmest-july-day-in-nearly-150-years-of-records/

    “Yes there is something new about hot weather in Texas, it’s called climate change SCIENCE. Take a look at the data, it’s getting hotter, not cooler. And in my 52 years of living here, I’m quite certain I know it’s getting hotter. If you don’t care or don’t want to do anything about it
    that’s your OPINION. Don’t be an idiot. I teach science happy to tutor you for a small fee.”

  36. Geoff Powell says:

    @nick:

    I’m reminded of the classic User Friendly cartoon…

    which for some reason I can’t find online anymore.

    Illiad stopped posting repeat strips a couple of months ago – the end of February. And the server is refusing connections. But I have a complete (almost!) archive. Can you post a description? I might be able to find it.

    G.

  37. Nick Flandrey says:

    @geoff, it was the one nightraker linked above, but I remembered it funnier than it is…

    n

  38. Denis says:

    What a day. First,  6 hours of online meetings. Joy.

    Thereafter, I swapped in the new unmanaged gigabit switch.  Installing it, the same as its predecessor between the cable modem/router and the cabled network. Reboot the modem and everything attached to the network and wait.

    First wierdness, I had to turn off Mac address randomisation on my mobile phone to get it to connect reliably to the WiFi. Odd, but not too onerous.

    Now, on the cabled side, I can access Google and YouTube (both super fast – 100Mb down, 9 up), and my internet provider’s website, but other sites are not connecting, including this one.

    A call to technical support – they confirm the cable modem is configured correctly and working as it should. They say the problem is on my side. I have changed nothing, no settings, from what worked fine before, just installed the switch. If I connect directly to the ports on the modem (bypassing the switch), I have the same phenomenon. All I can surmise is that restarting the modem triggered a firmware upgrade, which is messing me up somehow. This is maddening.

    Have the gurus any wisdom for me, please?

    And, the cherry on top of this day – wife and I both tested COVID positive.

  39. paul says:

    I teach science happy to tutor you for a small fee.

    I’m going to pass on his generous offer.  I have little to no interest in Wakandan Science.  I’ve lived in Texas since 1972.  It’s not getting hotter.  It’s “lots of building around traditional temperature reading sites”.  Temp in a Walmart parking lot is going to be warmer than a few hundred feet away in a pasture.

  40. Nightraker says:

    Re: Cheap trip to Europe

    I was hit with the reverse by a devaluation of the dollar during a high school Xmas European holiday during the Nixon administration.  Dismayed  to lose 10% overnight of my tiny student budget.  Then I blew the bulk of it on an East German “Practika” 35mm camera.  Nice camera.

    Due to the exchange rate, the very nice Swiss saleslady diplomatically pointed out the stupidity of choosing a “Kodak” 35mm.  Duh.  The 1 roll of  Kodak film I did pop for included processing, a no-no in the States because of an anti-trust settlement.

    The German lack of a drinking age was a hit. 🙂

  41. Rick H says:

    @Denis – re sites not loading – maybe you need to flush your DNS cache on your local computer, via command prompt:

    IPCONFIG /FLUSHDNS

    (Assuming Window-based system.)

    Or, change the DNS resolver on the network card to ‘automatic’ or manual at 8.8.8.8 .  Or restart the browser.

    (Just guessing here, but those things have been helpful in my past.)

  42. Rick H says:

    @lynn – thanks for the kind comments. Page loading time is usually 1-2 seconds. A combination of things at the hosting place and some other tweaks.

    Glad to help out.

  43. paul says:

    The new window unit is installed.  The gaps are sealed enough to block light.  My scraps of insulation are being re-used again.  Win! 

    High fan on the new unit seems a hair faster than medium on the old unit.  Cooling, as in “how cold is the air” seems to have taken a similar hit.

    We will see.  I’m not exactly impressed with the lack of “gonna make you freeze” effect.  But it’s 15 EER instead of 10 EER.  Shrug. 

    Oh.  It can connect with wi-fi so you can dick with the unit on your phone.  That’s not happening.  It has a remote control.  The old one did, too.  Never used it.  I just set it at 80f and auto fan.  Knocked a bit of dust out of the filter once in a while.

    New unit is set at 76f and auto fan.  It does have a bit of heat to pull from the room.  The old unit had the room down to 88f this morning (and same for the last week or two).

  44. MrAtoz says:

    Thor was a good popcorn movie, but kind of disjointed in the plot. A schlock fest. It doesn’t really fit in to the MCU and is almost a stand alone movie featuring Natalie Portman for the woke crowd. I’m not sure why Jamie Alexander/Lady Sif was in it but, …swoon… And why did they xxx her xxx xxx? Russell Crowe was hilarious as “fat” Zeus.

    Two cut-scenes at the end, stay until the very end of the credits.

  45. EdH says:

    It’s easy to make money in a rising market.   Not so easy when the market is declining.

    Yeah, the housing market peak has passed, even in California.

    While out on a walk I noticed a neighbor had sold their place.  Checking realtor.com it went for about $550k,  $30k less than asking. When I went to map view it showed EVERY LISTING within 5 miles has the little price drop “down arrow” next to it.

  46. Ray Thompson says:

    Have the gurus any wisdom for me, please?

    Not a guru, wisdom is questionable.

    Restart everything. First restart the modem and let it fully boot and operational. Then start the Wireless router and let it complete whatever magic it desires. Then restart any devices connected physically and wireless.

    Still have issues? Change the DNS provider to Google’s DNS servers (8.8.8.8 and 4.4.4.4). They are generally fairly solid. Or you could use any of a number of public DNS servers.

    Still have problems? Eliminate the router completely and hook the computer directly to the modem. That will require a power cycle of the modem and reseting your network connection on your computer as the modem generally only responds to the first MAC address that connects. That gets reset by power cycling.

    Still have problems? I told you I was not a guru so better minds will need to get involved. Contact the ISP and inform them that there are issues, you have rebooted, computer is connected directly, computer has been booted. Escalate if necessary beyond the script readers.

  47. MrAtoz says:

    Cool, I just got called an idiot on Space City Weather for my comment “It was 113 F on Labor Day, 1999 in Sugar Land, TX. There is nothing new about hot weather in Texas.”

    Ah, yes, I teach HS science therefore I am smarter than you. It’s easy to tell he’s a PLT and “teaches” science with a political twist. The science is settled type.

  48. lynn says:

    I just verified that the Freebirds Monster Burrito is really too big for a late lunch.  I am in pain now but the downing of the burrito was an awesome task. Always get the spanish rice. And you still have to have a minimum of three visible body tattoos to work at Freebirds.

         https://www.freebirds.com/order/first-colony-fc

  49. MrAtoz says:

    DS9 isn’t on Netflix?

    I didn’t even check. It is until the end of July. I don’t think I can get through 7 seasons. And they did full 22+ episode seasons back then.

    Google is about done doing it’s thing.

  50. lynn says:

    Looks like ERCOT peaked at a new record today, 78,670 MW today at a little after 4pm.   The wind turbines provided 8,000 MW and the solar provided 8,000 MW of that demand.  

         https://www.ercot.com/gridmktinfo/dashboards

    This is about the fifth or seventh new high demand point this year.  The previous years demand was 74,820 megawatts set on August 12, 2019.  That new demand is almost 4,000 MW more, a lot of the 48 MW GE LM6000 gas turbines being installed in the Houston and Dallas areas right now for peaking duty only.  At least the undependable wind turbines are making power today, unlike yesterday.

  51. MrAtoz says:

    A couple of classic tunes for you geezers:

    The Ventures – Wipe OutVENTURES – APACHE

    Just put them on loop and chill (climate change pun).

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  52. Nick Flandrey says:

    That would be the backwoods of the third largest city in the US?  F’ing moron.

    n

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  53. MrAtoz says:

    OK28, groomer28.

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  54. Nick Flandrey says:

    Overcast and thunder-y.   Maybe Natalie will drop out of the sky?

    If we’re peaking capacity now, and building something like 200K residential units a year, because everyone in the country wants to live here (in the backwoods), we’ll be well over peak next year and after that if they don’t add capacity and be quick about it.

    n

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  55. MrAtoz says:

    OK29, groomer29.

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  56. lynn says:

    There is water falling from the skies !   I heard that this happens sometimes here in the backwoods.

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  57. lynn says:

    “Pig organ transplants inch closer with testing in the dead”

       https://apnews.com/article/pig-heart-transplant-nyu-c332493b4d6232edcf9ca389df976de0

    We are getting closer and closer to Atwood’s MaddAddam trilogy.

       https://www.amazon.com/Crake-MaddAddam-Trilogy-Margaret-Atwood/dp/0385721676?tag=ttgnet-20/

    Hat tip to:

       https://www.drudgereport.com/

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  58. Greg Norton says:

    Anyone know how the peer to peer microlenders who were so hot a couple of years ago have fared?

    Affirm stock has been beaten down severely, but big players are going to support Max Levchin until the bitter end.

    I saw Levchin speak about 20 years back at … RSA … ?

    Bright guy, but, according to Valley legend, Levchin helped Peter Theil depose Elon Musk at Paypal so VCs are going to always take his phone calls.

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  59. Ray Thompson says:

    This term is an oxymoron

    I am guessing the individual whom I will not name, has never been in the military, seen a soldier in dress uniform or knows how to spell soldier. Take away the “oxy” and you know of whom I reference.

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  60. MrAtoz says:

    OK31, groomer31.

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  61. Alan says:

    >> If we’re peaking capacity now, and building something like 200K residential units a year, because everyone in the country wants to live here (in the backwoods), we’ll be well over peak next year and after that if they don’t add capacity and be quick about it.

    Don’t forget even more capacity for all those newcomers that will want their Tony-mobiles and Jesus trucks fully charged at all times. 

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  62. drwilliams says:

    @Nick Flandrey

    Secret theme, the 70s??

    I had a good number of those toys, but I didn’t recognize any of the cereal until the closing segment just before the end.

    And oh my goodness the 70s were ugly looking.   Except the girls.   They were blond, and healthy.

    However did you guess?

    Not all the 1970’s was ugly. As you noted… girls. 

    Farrah Fawcett’s swimsuit post sold 5 million copies in the first year. It was everywhere. Her pose, her swimsuit, her photog’s blanket retrieved from his truck. Now her swimsuit is in the Smithsonian.

    Some pretty good tv shows, pre-digital effects. All in the Family, Night Stalker, the good years of M*A*S*H. Rod Serling’s Night Gallery. Tom Baker starts his run as the 4th Doctor Who.

    They had a lot of fun with the clunky Spanish-inspired furniture, which was deserved. But the decade was also known for Danish Modern and the couches were comfy and you hardly noticed the floral prints in the dark. I think I’d rather relive those colors than another year of the 21st century standard: greige

    A lot of ass-kicking and timeless stereo equipment. And Maxell…It’s good for your heads. I paid $194 for an Akai cassette deck in 1975 and never wore out a record again (still bitter over 7th Sojourn).

    Not as many outstanding  U.S. cars as the 1960’s, but the early 70’s were still good years for some models that hadn’t bloated. The Boss 302 Mustang and the Pontiac Firebird were two of the iconic ones, but the most recognizable was the 1970 Plymouth Superbird. 

    Good decade for candy. Pop Rocks, Reeses Pieces, Jelly Bellies.

    Food not so much. How did they miss Watergate Salad?

    ADDED: Some awesome wristwatches, too, including the first digital watches.

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  63. lynn says:

    >> If we’re peaking capacity now, and building something like 200K residential units a year, because everyone in the country wants to live here (in the backwoods), we’ll be well over peak next year and after that if they don’t add capacity and be quick about it.

    Don’t forget even more capacity for all those newcomers that will want their Tony-mobiles and Jesus trucks fully charged at all times. 

    Between all the new wind turbines, solar panels, and peaking gas turbines, ERCOT has had over 10,000 MW of new generation added in the last 12 months.  This is why ERCOT did not die yesterday and today.  There is another 5,000 MW of solar coming in the next twelve months and a few more peaking gas turbines.

        https://www.wattbridge.info/projects/ercot/

    The Tony-mobiles do bother me if they pull 50 amps X 230 volts = 10 kW at night.  That may keep the transformers hot at night and not cool down during the night.  We used to put big temperature sensitive fans and water cooling on our big transformers in the summer time when the demand got so high but never on the neighborhood transformers.  That could be an expensive retrofit.

    There is a neighborhood about eight miles away from me that has only a single feed.  Their transformer blew Sunday afternoon and Centerpoint is desperately trying to find another.  One of those 69 kV 200 ? amp to 20 kV 700 ? amp transformers.  The people are screaming on Nextdoor.   This is why I bought a 38 kw natural gas liquid cooled (quiet !) generator from Generator Supercenter last year.  I don’t even know when the power goes off and it comes on.  Runs both my air conditioners and oven just fine.

  64. lynn says:

    “Cowardly Uvalde police RESTRAIN officer father whose daughter was one of 21 slaughtered in school massacre as cop uses hand sanitizer in front of him and 17 run away, leaked video reveals”

       https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11007401/Leaked-Uvalde-shooting-video-shows-gunman-calmly-walk-elementary-school-fire-young-boy.html

    • “Footage of the Uvalde police response to the shooting was leaked on Tuesday 
    • It shows how Salvador Ramos, 18, sauntered through the halls at Robb Elementary School carrying an AR-15 as a teacher called for help
    • He then walked into two classrooms and fired for two and a half minutes, shooting off 100 rounds
    • The new video shows Sheriff’s Deputy Felix Rubio in the hallway, in tears being held back by fellow officers, feet away from where his 10-year-old daughter Lexi was shot dead
    • The first officers arrived three minutes later, but stood back, with one seen checking his cellphone
    • Nothing happens until Border Patrol agents ran to the classrooms and began firing at Ramos, killing him
    • Two teachers and 19 children were killed in the May 24 massacre”

    That is a tough video to watch.

    Hat tip to:

       https://www.drudgereport.com/

  65. lynn says:

    This is why I bought a 38 kw natural gas liquid cooled (quiet !) generator from Generator Supercenter last year.  I don’t even know when the power goes off and it comes on.  Runs both my air conditioners and oven just fine.

    I want to put a 60 kw natural gas liquid cooled generator on my large office building and well house (I have 400 amp service to it now) but the wife said no.  I suspect that the cost would be $40K or so.  I would have to have a natural gas line pulled about a quarter mile from the gas line at the front of my property to the office building in the back which would be $8K according to Centerpoint.

  66. Nick Flandrey says:

    NaN, you are a moron.   Clinically.  You are not smart enough to understand that you are in my house.  I am not obligated to listen to your insults of me or anyone else.   You are too stupid to understand that Bob would have bounced you the FIRST time you insulted your host.   

    You are a moron.   I am the host here.   Have been for 4 years.   I am one of three people Bob ASKED to contribute.   One is dead and the other is NOT YOU.

    You keep trying to invoke Bob, but you have done more to  disrupt this place than anyone in the last four years.  You shit on his memory and yourself when you shit on  this place.  

    Bob would not have tolerated you talking shit about people’s wives or kids either.

     –

    The only obligation I have is to Barbara, not you or anyone else.   Until she tells me she doesn’t like what I’m doing, I’ll keep doing it, as BOB specifically told me to do.

    Post away. Anything you wish: personal observations, links to news 
    sites, prepping information, ham radio stuff, advice about how to get 
    started scavenging at yard/estate sales, etc. In fact, you may want to 
    go back and pull out some of your earlier comments and turn them into 
    posts. It’s a lot easier to do that with admin access.

    Looking forward to your and [someone who has passed on]’s first posts.

    Best regards.

    Bob

    So if you don’t like it, take it up with Bob.   And until you can do that in person, better for you and what he built (and the rest of us endeavor to continue), if you left the rest of us alone.

    -nick flandrey

    15
  67. Nick Flandrey says:

    Ate dinner with visiting sibling, and the family, downtown.   The place was not busy.   The menu is a strange mix of modern and trendy interpretation of fairly traditional “American cuisine”.  

    D1 ate about half of hers, BBQ brisket and eggs.    I ate mine, but the flavors were “odd”, shrimp and cheesy grits served with a fried egg on the grits.   Wife’s salmon was ok.   D2 just got fried shrimp.  No egg for them.

    Not bad, just not ‘good’. 

    Weird.

    n

  68. ITGuy1998 says:

    Not bad, just not ‘good’. 
     

    That sums up why I don’t eat out very often. It’s not worth the money.

  69. lynn says:

    I looked back at a few dates with RBT running things to see what the troll is complaining about.  Basically all I saw was intense discussions of matters both great and small.  But, the one common denominator is that people were civil.  There were very different opinions about matters but very little (or none !) belittling of fellow posters.  Very nice !

       https://www.ttgnet.com/journal/2011/07/15/friday-15-july-2011/

    RBT was nice and let me rant on quite a few things.  Got me addicted to this place.

  70. Greg Norton says:

    That sums up why I don’t eat out very often. It’s not worth the money.

    We had a couple of decent meals last week in South Texas but most were meh. Fortunately, the hotel had a breakfast service which was decent so we only had to deal with dinner.

    A lot of places had credit card convenience fees, anywhere from 2-4%.

    Good/cheap food at Arturo’s in Weslaco. One day we’ll try going across the border to their other location which is supposed to be even better.

    Back at GTE in the 90s, Pancho’s just on the other side of the bridge was the big expense account friendly favorite when groups went to the center in McAllen. However, I think that had more to do with “dos margaritas por favor” and relative safety of being within visual range of the checkpoint than the food.

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  71. lynn says:

    Of course, there is this diatribe from RBT on gay marriage where he let it all hang out:

         https://www.ttgnet.com/journal/2011/08/03/wednesday-3-august-2011/

    With all the interest rate attention (both USA and Europe) by RBT, I wonder what he would think of the current day decarbonization causing electrical shortages across the USA and Europe.

  72. drwilliams says:

    Sorry, Greg

    Fat-thumbed the wrong thumb. 

  73. lynn says:

    I wonder if the troll lives in the Houston Metroplex ?

  74. Rick H says:

    I think it would be best to ignore any comments from any troll. 

    There are back-end processes that are helping with the effort of reducing ‘troll impact’. 

    Responding to a troll only encourages more trolling.

  75. Alan says:

    >> I think it would be best to ignore any comments from any troll. 

    This. +1000

    Zero responses and he will eventually get bored and go elsewhere. 

  76. Alan says:

    >> Their transformer blew Sunday afternoon and Centerpoint is desperately trying to find another.  One of those 69 kV 200 ? amp to 20 kV 700 ? amp transformers.  

    Has anyone checked @nick’s stacks?

  77. Alan says:

    >> Not as many outstanding  U.S. cars as the 1960’s, but the early 70’s were still good years for some models that hadn’t bloated. The Boss 302 Mustang and the Pontiac Firebird were two of the iconic ones, but the most recognizable was the 1970 Plymouth Superbird. 

    The Superbird and the Dodge Daytona were NASCAR homologation builds. I suspect that any survivors in reasonable condition don’t see much time on the streets. 

  78. Nick Flandrey says:

    The problem with ignoring troll posts and not removing them is he’s getting VERY specific and attacking people in ways that suggest a really unhealthy focus.  I don’t have any interest in the rest of the readers here having to even skim past the toxic sh!t he’s spewing.

    So anything I don’t like, or that one of the other people with the ‘delete’ power doesn’t like, goes away.

    As he’s escalating, I think it will be pretty much everything.

    And if he’s attacking one of you, we will get to it and remove it as soon as possible.  It won’t be indexed or saved in any form accessible to anyone else.

    It’s not even hard, or time consuming, just tedious to have to do it at all.

    n

  79. Rick H says:

    I miss my 1971 Chevy Camaro. White with a blue vinyl top.  I think I paid $2k for it back in 1973.

    I also miss my youth. At least, the parts I can remember.

  80. Alan says:

    Check out (near the bottom) the cornhole boards emblazoned with the Presidential Seal. No ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠expense  taxpayer dollars spared. 

    https://redstate.com/nick-arama/2022/07/12/biden-wonders-where-president-is-loses-it-on-reporter-who-says-dems-dont-want-him-to-run-n593729

  81. Alan says:

    >> The problem with ignoring troll posts and not removing them is he’s getting VERY specific and attacking people in ways that suggest a really unhealthy focus.  I don’t have any interest in the rest of the readers here having to even skim past the toxic sh!t he’s spewing.

    @nick, yes, agreed, delete them all.

  82. Nick Flandrey says:

    Has anyone checked @nick’s stacks?

    – I’m reasonably altruistic, and some of my plans are probably a bit grandiose, but I haven’t been stacking public infrastructure.  But, maybe I should . . .     yeah, or not.   Become your own infrastructure provider.   Collapse early and avoid the stress.

    n

  83. lynn says:

    >> Their transformer blew Sunday afternoon and Centerpoint is desperately trying to find another.  One of those 69 kV 200 ? amp to 20 kV 700 ? amp transformers.  

    Has anyone checked @nick’s stacks?

    If I remember correctly, that is a 5 foot by 5 foot by 5 foot transformer weighing over 10,000 lbs.  That would take a lot of room on the driveway and need more than a pallet mover to move it.

  84. lynn says:

    “Biden’s Transportation Department targets CO2 emissions of cars on highways to push EVs”

        https://wattsupwiththat.com/2022/07/12/bidens-transportation-department-targets-co2-emissions-of-cars-on-highways-to-push-evs/

    Lets see, wasn’t there just a SCOTUS decision on federal agencies overstepping their Congressional mandated authority ?  Why yes, there was !

        https://www.scotusblog.com/2022/06/supreme-court-curtails-epas-authority-to-fight-climate-change/

  85. Alan says:

    >> ADDED: Some awesome wristwatches, too, including the first digital watches.

    My Dad was big into gadgets, most often the first one on the block to have the latest and greatest. I remember his Pulsar LED wristwatch. Keeping the display lit all the time would have quickly drained the battery so you had to either push a button to light the display or flick your wrist. 

    I also remember VCRs (Betamax and VHS), video games (Atari 2600 and Magnavox Odyssey), LaserDisc player, in-car mounted cellular phone, several Sony Trinitron TVs, Amana Radarange. 

    I feel bad that he missed out on the internet. 

  86. ~jim says:

    Politics and religion were always forbidden at the dinner table. If you have nothing else to add we can always talk about the weather.

  87. Alan says:

    >> If I remember correctly, that is a 5 foot by 5 foot by 5 foot transformer weighing over 10,000 lbs.  That would take a lot of room on the driveway and need more than a pallet mover to move it.

    And if I remember correctly, he has a forklift 🙂 

  88. Alan says:

    >> If you have nothing else to add we can always talk about the weather.

    Or FLASHLIGHTS. 

  89. lynn says:

    I have ordered a cheap little laptop / phone / small crap repair kit since the daughter’s ASUS laptop failed to boot today.  I tried to open it with a micro screwdriver but no joy after I got two screws loose.  There is dried milk in the same corner as the battery, is that a bad thing ?   Sigh.

        https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077D7WMZV?tag=ttgnet-20

    I offered to buy her a new laptop last Christmas.   She said she wanted a new desktop and would pick one out.  Here it is July and no chosen desktop.  My daughter has inherited my procrastination gene.

    Of course, I have complete new desktop parts sitting in front of my computer desk, under my 55 inch tv supported by my old, old, old AR-1 speakers.  AR is the old Acoustic Research company.  No, I don’t procrastinate at all.

  90. ~jim says:

    Lynn,

    Woe is you. Can I help with your troubles with the milk residue? Maybe you can help me with my colostomy flange? I’m sure it will be entertaining and informative for the entire audience.

    Or we could discuss the weather,  or even FLASHLIGHTS.

    Lumens/Watt might be a good place to start if we are adhering to the principle of scientific discussion and not how or why we haven’t mowed the lawn today.

  91. Denis says:

    Rick H
    @Denis – re sites not loading – maybe you need to flush your DNS cache

    Ray Thompson
    Not a guru, wisdom is questionable.

    Both, many thanks!

    I reduced the “network” to one PC connected to a LAN port on the Cable modem, and it is working as expected, allowing me to take part in my online work meetings today, and my mobile phone is getting a stable Wi-Fi connection to the modem/router as well.

    I suspect the new  switch (TP-Link TL-SG116) is in some subtle way incompatible with the rest of the existing installation, and is causing the weird problems with connectivity. I have ordered a new identical replacement for the good old D-Link DGS-1016D switch that failed when the power went out last week. It’s twice the price of the more modern TP-Link, but certainly worth it if it works. Fingers crossed…

    Alan

    @nick, yes, agreed, delete them all.

    What he said. Thank you for your efforts, Nick.

  92. EdH says:

    Politics and religion were always forbidden at the dinner table.

    In the Aubreyiad it was said to be  Politics, Religion and Wives…

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