@Robert “Bob” Sprowl – I also look forward to pics of your shop if you would like to share. Yours looks like a great size and is in the realm of what I would like to do. For me, that would require a move out of the ‘burbs. I make do with my dedicated added garage bay that’s 26×16. I’ve considered adding 10 feet onto the length, but not in this environment – cost vs benefit is not worth it to me.
>”This batch of Covid that is making the rounds seems to be not much worse than the flu or cold. People are not dying in large numbers.”
>”In new guidelines released Thursday, the agency no longer recommends staying at least 6 feet away from other people to reduce the risk of exposure — a shift from guidance that had been in place since the early days of the pandemic.”
I had COVID a month ago, and it was not quite as bad as flu usually is. I had the Moderna vaccine about 14 months before that. I took zinc supplements, got some sunlight, used a neti pot several times a day, and ate hot soup. I felt that the infection did not descend into my lungs to a serious extent, although I did have a fair amount of mild coughing. My only exposure was shopping at stores about five days earlier. It appears that I didn’t pass it along to anyone, although my wife thinks she might have fought it off in a day or two. She certainly got a strong exposure. She had recently gotten boosters. After I tested positive, we maintained isolation within our house. I didn’t like the experience and don’t want to repeat it. I’m not becoming a hermit, but I’m staying away from crowds and keeping my distance from people unless there is a good reason not to. I think I’ll take up wearing N95 masks when I shop.
One note about the soup. I had several cans of Campbell’s cream of mushroom soup on hand, so that is mostly what I used. My wife can’t eat them since she is allergic to wheat. One can had a best by date of 2019, the others had 2009. The soup from 2019 looked worse than the others, but didn’t taste bad. All of them had problems with the soup not mixing well with the water I added. I used a wire whisk and simmered it longer than usual, but it still didn’t look quite right on close examination – it was like a slurry of tiny globs of soup concentrate . It seemed to taste OK, but I had lost most of my sense of smell, and my sense of taste seemed to be a little off (maybe because of lack of sense of smell). Now that I have done that experiment, I will make the effort to use or discard & replace similar canned goods that I stock before they get that far past their recommended dates. It is one thing to be confident that I can eat it if I need to, and another to eat substandard food when I only get a minor economic benefit from it.
I suspect he has gotten tired of the unwarranted criticism from the troll(s). Unfortunate.
Hopefully he engages again soon. It would be unfortunate that this site was destroyed by on asshole. We could hope something unfortunate falls on said troll. Unfortunately hopes and prayers have little impact in the real world.
I can’t remember if I have disagreed with anybody here, but it would be against my nature to not disagree at least occasionally. 🙂 I have always liked respectful discussion.
>> Also concerned about Nick’s well-being. It’s not like him to be silent.
Possibly something more afoot…several frequent contributors went mute yesterday as well…and while some are from Texas, I haven’t seen anything on the news that one of Elon’s rockets failed and incinerated the entire state.
So is the end nigh? Did ‘you know who’ accomplish his mission? I guess time will tell…
It’s not clear what is going on. One possibility is that the treatment regimen needs to be extended a couple of days to finally clear out the virus. Alas, that would require a new FDA study. (FDA Delenda Est, or at least restructured.) And as you said, it seems to mainly be a contagion issue, not illness severity issue.
A good bit of long COVID seems to be psychological. A friend doing research on it seems to think there is a psych component, as 50% of the cases they studied had never had COVID. Plus, it is not unusual for a respiratory disease to have long term effects. Pneumonia had long-lasting effects on me when I had it at age 11 or 12. I was easily tired for months after, had shortness of breath when running, etc. The scars on my lungs were still there 10 years later.
I’m still here. But backing off from comment ‘maintenance’ (or overreach). My administrative role here is to provide and maintain the infrastructure of the site. And to comment as a reader, not as an admin.
I might have overstepped a bit. Backing off to where I should be. Have communicated same to appropriate people. Will comment as a reader, as my role should be.
Hopefully, others will continue to provide reasonable and polite discussion. That’s why I visit.
A good bit of long COVID seems to be psychological.
I’ve had this thought. One one hand, sure, you get a bad cold and it takes a while to get back to your level of normal.
On the other hand, what happened to all the folks, almost all women, who were suffering from fibromyalgia a few years ago?
Wikipedia says “is a medical condition defined by the presence of chronic widespread pain, fatigue, waking unrefreshed, cognitive symptoms, lower abdominal pain or cramps, and depression. Other symptoms include insomnia and a general hypersensitivity.”
Huh. I don’t know about you but when I get to feeling like that I notice I haven’t been sleeping enough, eating decent food and I’m not drinking enough to be peeing clear.
Drink a lot of water. Take a couple of aspirin when you go to bed. Get some sunshine.
I looked at the flat tire. It’s ruined. The hex headed roofing screw went in the tread and out the sidewall. I haven’t pulled it out yet.
The tires were bought May 2015. They have almost 28,000 miles. They look fine, good tread and I see no cracking on the sidewalls. If I needed tires on a trailer I would be good.
Discount Tire next week. “Put on the cheapest tires you have”. We don’t drive much.
Do not use passenger vehicle tires on a trailer. The sidewalls are not up to the task. Especially a dual axle trailer. There is a lot of strain on the sidewalls when making sharp turns. Passenger tires will pop the bead.
I use Discount Tires for all my cars, over 10 years now (may be closer to 20 years). Trust their advice, and the free pressure checks/rotations/flat fixes are a good feature. (Yeah, the freebies can be an opportunity for sales, but that’s OK.)
They will recommend the proper tires for the car and trailers. For cars, I always get the “Better” or “Best” ones. You can do research on tires on their site.
The trailer I’m thinking of is homemade. The axle looks like it’s from the front of an old car. Early ‘40s. They aligned the wheels and welded the pivot points. About 4 feet between the wheels and almost 6 feet long. I’m not sure I can get the riding mower on it. It’s good for getting concrete mix from the hardware store or a dozen bags of feed from the feed store. I might go roaring down the road at all of 45MPH.
I haven’t used it much lately. I can’t see it when it’s hitched to the truck and just barely when hitched to the Jeep. I used it all the time when I still had the Volare wagon. Easier to load and unload and kept the weight off of the car’s springs.
If I didn’t have a truck, it’s a fine trailer for hauling home a refrigerator or something like a washing machine.
Is Pep Boys still a thing? I use to buy tires for the Volare there. Four tires mounted and balanced and etc taxes and fees for shop rags, even…. about $120 total.
Sure. Tread life was rated for 30,000 miles. Maybe 40,000. Never had a problem. I miss the late ‘80’s.
Pep Boys may still be where they were. I don’t know how to get there anymore. Double-decking US183 messed up my mental maps.
I’m not against this in theory, but this has been going on since 2008.
Why??? Fourteen years and nothing running, nor will it be anytime in the near future. So far just right-0f-way with no rail, no electrification, no rolling stock. It’s democratic patronage to unions. Much of I-5 in the central valley remains two lanes in each direction and could easily be fixed for that.
Much of I-5 in the central valley remains two lanes in each direction and could easily be fixed for that.
The philosophy is that building roads just encourages people to drive. They want to force everyone onto public transportation–much easier to control.
When the power goes out, a road stays on. Traffic signals get funky and require some manual direction, but the highways work.
When the grid goes down, so does light rail. No way for people to take alternate routes around the problem. If they’re in the middle of the ride home, chances are good that many of them (and most of them under 30) will have no idea where they are if they get off the train.
Meanwhile the elected officials get driven to the presser where they make meaningless noise.
If Cali or any other state wants light rail, let them pay for it.
That looks great. I yearn for a space in which to construct a good workshop. Enjoy it!
@drwilliams
Yes, please, more chemistry! I was the one who had to look up “pozzolans”. I scored very highly in chemistry at school, but I always felt the coursework lacked a connection to real-world applications, so some more concrete topics (SWIDT) would be great.
I bought Bob’s home chemistry projects book, and read it from cover to cover. I was sad that he never managed to write the matching textbook.
I sincerely hope Nick is busy with productive matters at the BOL, and not just taking a break from here to let his blood pressure decrease…
COVID. I tested positive about a month ago. The infection itself was relatively mild, mostly manifesting in the throat and upper chest, with a dry cough, but I got a sinus infection piggy-backed upon it, which was very nasty indeed, and required strong antibiotics. I have not been feeling quite right since. It reminds me of my experience with the “swine flu” some years ago, after which I didn’t feel right for the better part of a year.
Diablo Canyon is California’s single largest power source. Officials are worried that without it, the state could have trouble keeping the lights on — and air conditioners running — during intense summer heat waves…
Since PG&E agreed to exit the atomic energy business, the growing urgency of the climate crisis — which has led to worsening wildfires, heat waves, storms and droughts — has led some environmentalists to reconsider nuclear-plant closures.
Bullpuckey. The only climate crisis is in the heads of the greenies.
Wildfires are caused by mismanagement of the forest and homeowners who build in the canyons and don’t maintain their property according to the law.
There are no worsening heat waves, storms or droughts, according to the records. All lies.
I hope PG&E looks at the economics and declines the deal. After six years of planning for 2025, extending another 10 years on 2 years notice is a planning nightmare. I’d guesstimate six months to produce a plan that says they need $3-5 billion yesterday, and Cali starts agitating for the other 49 to bail her out. Boo-effing-hoo. Tell me again how much they are paying every year for 2-4 million illegal invaders. Send them home, save the money, cut the electric generating requirements, and learn to cut your own damn grass.
I haven’t looked specifically, but it’ likely that the shutdown included early retirements for a bunch of union operators who will now feel aggrieved at not being able to reach the public teat early.
It’s tough to believe that they’re STILL pretending that Cacafornia’s “high speed rail” will ever do anything other than enrich grifting politicians and waste money. The promise was impossible as written, and no subsequent iteration was ever more feasible. Especially back when Southwest Airlines had $99 fares between Los Angeles and Sacramento. It takes time for a train to speed up to 200 MH, and time to slow down, and with the acceleration/deceleration times and the station stop times, there was no WAY to make the promised average speed.
Especially in a state with earthquakes and mountain ranges. Stupid on steroids.
If Cali or any other state wants light rail, let them pay for it.
Oh we’re paying for it, like it or not. Many of my liberal friends surprisingly see the farce too. Of course not all.
And when I say right-of-way they have so far been only building from Madera to Bakersfield, most still under construction. On the southern end of that they are no where to be seen in Bakersfield nearest is Wasco, at least they have a couple of large state prisons. These are the easiest flat parts, much undeveloped farm land, Wait till they cross the Tehachapis to LA.
Drwilliams: “The only climate crisis is in the heads of the greenies.”
No, the MAJOR “climate crisis” is adding another few million people to a desert. California never DID have enough water, and without getting more fresh water, or MAKING more fresh water, the place will collapse. Unrestricted illegal immigration will only make the problem WORSE, as the idjits there make plans to tear down Hetch Hetchy dam; the dam that supplies San Francisco with its drinking water. And shutting down desalinization plants.
The philosophy is that building roads just encourages people to drive.
Indeed. If nothing else, traffic flows will adjust, if the new road is perceived to be quicker.
In this regard, I remember the opening of the southern part of the M25, the London Orbital Motorway, sometimes called (cynically) the London Orbital Car Park.
This was built with 3 lanes each way. Within a couple of weeks, it was at capacity, due to drivers using it instead of local roads, because it was thought to be quicker. And it’s only got worse since, to the extent that they widened it, by one lane each way, within a few years, causing total chaos while they did the work. And they should do it again. But they won’t.
All because the planners didn’t realise that a new road generates new traffic. Of course, when they give a new planner the job, they amputate his/her common sense.
As witness, near me there is a roundabout. Which worked quite well. At rush hours, there were queues, as you would expect. So the planners put traffic lights on all the entries – immediately doubling (or more) the tailbacks.
Took a few years for this to percolate, but eventually they removed the lights, and reinstated the roundabout, immediately speeding up traffic flow.
But, of course, London traffic planners, especially in my Borough, are all-in on public transport, despite the fact that buses, and the tube, are running at or above capacity.
The original lie was to get people from LA to SF in the same time that the airlines use. That lie is dead these days as it will never go any farther north than it is now nor any farther south than Bakeresville. How many people are going to take a train from Bakersville to Fresno?
California Gov. Gavin Newsom today unveiled a broad strategy for bolstering the state’s water supply that includes targets to recycle more water, expand reservoir storage and collect more data on the amounts farmers use.
Newsom warned that new strategies are essential because California’s water supply will shrink by 10% as climate change brings warmer, drier conditions throughout the state.
The plan, however, has limited details, distant deadlines and does not include a water conservation mandate.
It also does not include measures to substantially address water use by agriculture, which uses about four times more water in California than people in urban areas use.
A new study by Science Advances shows climate change has already doubled the chances of a disastrous flood happening in California in the next four decades. And experts say it would be unlike anything anyone alive today has ever experienced.
Daniel Swain, a climate scientist with UCLA and a researcher involved in the study, describes a megaflood as, “a very severe flood event across a broad region that has the potential to bring catastrophic impacts to society in the areas affected.” He said a megaflood is similar to the 1,000-year flash flood events seen this summer in the St. Louis area and Kentucky, but across a much wider area, such as the entire state of California.
These massive floods, which experts say would turn California’s lowlands into a “vast inland sea,” might have previously happened once in a lifetime in the state. But experts say climate change is increasing the likelihood of these catastrophic disasters, causing them to occur more like every 25 to 50 years.
Yuuup, Gov. Newscum now talking about making water. He has had many opportunies to stop the bullet train fraud but will not do it. Now, we expect him to know anything about making drinkable water?
Yuuup, Gov. Newscum now talking about making water. He has had many opportunies to stop the bullet train fraud but will not do it. Now, we expect him to know anything about making drinkable water?
As long as public projects can employ unskilled union labor at absurd rates to get democratic votes.
Take a train? Oh, it all depends on where is the station? What kind of TSA garbage ya got happening?
Because if it’s an hour to get to the train station and pretty much an hour of being strip searched to get on the train, do you think anyone is going to take the train? Ever?
I can get in my car and drive to the north side of Dallas. About four hours and yeah, my bladder is about to burst when I get there. But, no strip searching security crap.
The ant traffic to my bait stations dwindled away over the last couple of days. I left some bait out to see if they were really done, or just tired of sugar for a while. Today the traffic has started up again, although only about a fifth of what went on for the first four or five days. Maybe a bunch of new worker ants hatched out. I made up a new batch of bait that is weaker, although what I had been using may have been weak enough. There were only several dozen dead ants around the bait station, and many of those were the result of my inundating them with the bait when I refilled the station. The “station” is just a few puddles of maybe two inches in diameter on the kitchen countertop. My wife is very understanding.
Old recipe: half cup water + half Tbsp boric acid + one third cup sugar
New recipe: half cup water + half tsp boric acid + one quarter cup sugar
That is about one third the strength, or maybe a little more depending on whether you go by the water or sugar ratio. I cut the sugar a little because the bait dried out too quickly.
I haven’t been able to find the ant nests, or even the entry point to my house (assuming they are not nesting somewhere in the house). I’ll follow Lynn’s advice to use Amdro if I can’t make boric acid work.
That is several lifetimes’ supply for me in terms of ant poison, but I may find other uses for it. It might have been better to search out a source of borax (sodium salt of boric acid) instead. That could be used for clothes washing, and might be cheaper and available locally. I have read that it is not as strong as boric acid as an insect poison, but I’m not sure why. Maybe it is essentially a matter of the difference in molecular weight affecting the weight proportions to be mixed.
@dkreck, JimB & EdH, I will be at Mother’s Tavern two weeks from tomorrow, Sat., Aug.27, at 1PM for a live country band, Road Kill Kings.
Fine offer but alas I’m booked out for awhile (well mostly paid out – damn hotels have gotten out of hand). Also while I’m 100% a Bakersfield boy I’m not that C&W (I don’t even wear a hat of any type 😀 ) I do enjoy beer and music (even some country but I’m more a rocker.) But thanks for the offer, another time I just might do it.
Now off to Riley’s Tavern with the wife for a couple of end of week brews. Guinness or Firestone 805
@CowboyStu RE Mother’s Tavern That would be a pure delight. California trip didn’t include the southern regions this visit. We’ve got folks (including you, sir) we need to visit down there. Working it into finances / work / home obligations is ever a challenge. For now – I’ll raise a cup on the 27th.
Re: That search warrant: “Show me the man, I’ll show you the crime.” -Beria
I had occasion to ride an Amtrak couple weeks ago. Had a duffle for a few days visit and my EDC bag. Happened to get on at an “unstaffed” station. There was a video camera in the waiting terminal, no other visible security. Leaving the “big city” coming the other way, there were lots more people at a major downtown hub, but again, no TSA style security groping. Just passenger herders to keep ‘em movin’ . Conductor passes thru once to see your ticket and a PA announcement for intermediate stations and the various prohibitions.
Ya know: No Sex, No Swimming, No Smoking, No Shooting. The usual appeals for dignified decorum.
>> For cars, I always get the “Better” or “Best” ones.
Years ago I bought four “Good” tires from Pep Boys for my Honda CR-V. “Good” was the cheapest grade (Good/Better/Best) but money was tight and the car was going up for sale soon anyway and it wouldn’t pass inspection with the existing tires, so “Good” was gonna be good enough. But…sure as sh!rt I bumped hard into a curb trying to pass a triple-parked truck (NYFC of course, where triple-parking ain’t a big thing) and blew out the sidewall. Waited til I had a deposit on the car and then replaced the tire. Have never bought “Good” tires since. Of course, when talking about tires YMMV 🙂
@Robert “Bob” Sprowl – I also look forward to pics of your shop if you would like to share. Yours looks like a great size and is in the realm of what I would like to do. For me, that would require a move out of the ‘burbs. I make do with my dedicated added garage bay that’s 26×16. I’ve considered adding 10 feet onto the length, but not in this environment – cost vs benefit is not worth it to me.
Where’s Nick?
>”This batch of Covid that is making the rounds seems to be not much worse than the flu or cold. People are not dying in large numbers.”
>”In new guidelines released Thursday, the agency no longer recommends staying at least 6 feet away from other people to reduce the risk of exposure — a shift from guidance that had been in place since the early days of the pandemic.”
I had COVID a month ago, and it was not quite as bad as flu usually is. I had the Moderna vaccine about 14 months before that. I took zinc supplements, got some sunlight, used a neti pot several times a day, and ate hot soup. I felt that the infection did not descend into my lungs to a serious extent, although I did have a fair amount of mild coughing. My only exposure was shopping at stores about five days earlier. It appears that I didn’t pass it along to anyone, although my wife thinks she might have fought it off in a day or two. She certainly got a strong exposure. She had recently gotten boosters. After I tested positive, we maintained isolation within our house. I didn’t like the experience and don’t want to repeat it. I’m not becoming a hermit, but I’m staying away from crowds and keeping my distance from people unless there is a good reason not to. I think I’ll take up wearing N95 masks when I shop.
One note about the soup. I had several cans of Campbell’s cream of mushroom soup on hand, so that is mostly what I used. My wife can’t eat them since she is allergic to wheat. One can had a best by date of 2019, the others had 2009. The soup from 2019 looked worse than the others, but didn’t taste bad. All of them had problems with the soup not mixing well with the water I added. I used a wire whisk and simmered it longer than usual, but it still didn’t look quite right on close examination – it was like a slurry of tiny globs of soup concentrate . It seemed to taste OK, but I had lost most of my sense of smell, and my sense of taste seemed to be a little off (maybe because of lack of sense of smell). Now that I have done that experiment, I will make the effort to use or discard & replace similar canned goods that I stock before they get that far past their recommended dates. It is one thing to be confident that I can eat it if I need to, and another to eat substandard food when I only get a minor economic benefit from it.
I suspect he has gotten tired of the unwarranted criticism from the troll(s). Unfortunate.
Hopefully he engages again soon. It would be unfortunate that this site was destroyed by on asshole. We could hope something unfortunate falls on said troll. Unfortunately hopes and prayers have little impact in the real world.
That person NOT being Nick, just to be clear.
Also concerned about Nick’s well-being. It’s not like him to be silent.
I have never disagreed with JimB.
I have never disagreed with CowboySlim.
I can’t remember if I have disagreed with anybody here, but it would be against my nature to not disagree at least occasionally. 🙂 I have always liked respectful discussion.
>> Also concerned about Nick’s well-being. It’s not like him to be silent.
Possibly something more afoot…several frequent contributors went mute yesterday as well…and while some are from Texas, I haven’t seen anything on the news that one of Elon’s rockets failed and incinerated the entire state.
So is the end nigh? Did ‘you know who’ accomplish his mission? I guess time will tell…
It’s not clear what is going on. One possibility is that the treatment regimen needs to be extended a couple of days to finally clear out the virus. Alas, that would require a new FDA study. (FDA Delenda Est, or at least restructured.) And as you said, it seems to mainly be a contagion issue, not illness severity issue.
A good bit of long COVID seems to be psychological. A friend doing research on it seems to think there is a psych component, as 50% of the cases they studied had never had COVID. Plus, it is not unusual for a respiratory disease to have long term effects. Pneumonia had long-lasting effects on me when I had it at age 11 or 12. I was easily tired for months after, had shortness of breath when running, etc. The scars on my lungs were still there 10 years later.
I’m still here. But backing off from comment ‘maintenance’ (or overreach). My administrative role here is to provide and maintain the infrastructure of the site. And to comment as a reader, not as an admin.
I might have overstepped a bit. Backing off to where I should be. Have communicated same to appropriate people. Will comment as a reader, as my role should be.
Hopefully, others will continue to provide reasonable and polite discussion. That’s why I visit.
I’ve had this thought. One one hand, sure, you get a bad cold and it takes a while to get back to your level of normal.
On the other hand, what happened to all the folks, almost all women, who were suffering from fibromyalgia a few years ago?
Wikipedia says “is a medical condition defined by the presence of chronic widespread pain, fatigue, waking unrefreshed, cognitive symptoms, lower abdominal pain or cramps, and depression. Other symptoms include insomnia and a general hypersensitivity.”
Huh. I don’t know about you but when I get to feeling like that I notice I haven’t been sleeping enough, eating decent food and I’m not drinking enough to be peeing clear.
Drink a lot of water. Take a couple of aspirin when you go to bed. Get some sunshine.
@ech
Thanks.
Pneumonia has lasting effects. Not surprising that covid is similar if the lungs are involved.
I looked at the flat tire. It’s ruined. The hex headed roofing screw went in the tread and out the sidewall. I haven’t pulled it out yet.
The tires were bought May 2015. They have almost 28,000 miles. They look fine, good tread and I see no cracking on the sidewalls. If I needed tires on a trailer I would be good.
Discount Tire next week. “Put on the cheapest tires you have”. We don’t drive much.
Do not use passenger vehicle tires on a trailer. The sidewalls are not up to the task. Especially a dual axle trailer. There is a lot of strain on the sidewalls when making sharp turns. Passenger tires will pop the bead.
I use Discount Tires for all my cars, over 10 years now (may be closer to 20 years). Trust their advice, and the free pressure checks/rotations/flat fixes are a good feature. (Yeah, the freebies can be an opportunity for sales, but that’s OK.)
They will recommend the proper tires for the car and trailers. For cars, I always get the “Better” or “Best” ones. You can do research on tires on their site.
Recommended.
The trailer I’m thinking of is homemade. The axle looks like it’s from the front of an old car. Early ‘40s. They aligned the wheels and welded the pivot points. About 4 feet between the wheels and almost 6 feet long. I’m not sure I can get the riding mower on it. It’s good for getting concrete mix from the hardware store or a dozen bags of feed from the feed store. I might go roaring down the road at all of 45MPH.
I haven’t used it much lately. I can’t see it when it’s hitched to the truck and just barely when hitched to the Jeep. I used it all the time when I still had the Volare wagon. Easier to load and unload and kept the weight off of the car’s springs.
If I didn’t have a truck, it’s a fine trailer for hauling home a refrigerator or something like a washing machine.
But yes, I understand your point.
Is Pep Boys still a thing? I use to buy tires for the Volare there. Four tires mounted and balanced and etc taxes and fees for shop rags, even…. about $120 total.
Sure. Tread life was rated for 30,000 miles. Maybe 40,000. Never had a problem. I miss the late ‘80’s.
Pep Boys may still be where they were. I don’t know how to get there anymore. Double-decking US183 messed up my mental maps.
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/california-high-speed-rail-wins-25-mln-us-grant-seeks-13-bln-more-2022-08-11/
I’m not against this in theory, but this has been going on since 2008.
I’ve added some pictures of my shop to my site.
http://fordfe.info/AL-Shop.html
Why??? Fourteen years and nothing running, nor will it be anytime in the near future. So far just right-0f-way with no rail, no electrification, no rolling stock. It’s democratic patronage to unions. Much of I-5 in the central valley remains two lanes in each direction and could easily be fixed for that.
Look great! Lots of usable space. Are you going to heat/cool the interior space?
The philosophy is that building roads just encourages people to drive. They want to force everyone onto public transportation–much easier to control.
When the power goes out, a road stays on. Traffic signals get funky and require some manual direction, but the highways work.
When the grid goes down, so does light rail. No way for people to take alternate routes around the problem. If they’re in the middle of the ride home, chances are good that many of them (and most of them under 30) will have no idea where they are if they get off the train.
Meanwhile the elected officials get driven to the presser where they make meaningless noise.
If Cali or any other state wants light rail, let them pay for it.
2011, when newly-inaugurated Florida Governor Rick Scott pulled the plug on the project in that state and the money/consultants moved on.
That looks great. I yearn for a space in which to construct a good workshop. Enjoy it!
@drwilliams
Yes, please, more chemistry! I was the one who had to look up “pozzolans”. I scored very highly in chemistry at school, but I always felt the coursework lacked a connection to real-world applications, so some more concrete topics (SWIDT) would be great.
I bought Bob’s home chemistry projects book, and read it from cover to cover. I was sad that he never managed to write the matching textbook.
I sincerely hope Nick is busy with productive matters at the BOL, and not just taking a break from here to let his blood pressure decrease…
COVID. I tested positive about a month ago. The infection itself was relatively mild, mostly manifesting in the throat and upper chest, with a dry cough, but I got a sinus infection piggy-backed upon it, which was very nasty indeed, and required strong antibiotics. I have not been feeling quite right since. It reminds me of my experience with the “swine flu” some years ago, after which I didn’t feel right for the better part of a year.
Now Newsome wants to keep Diablo Canyon open.
https://hotair.com/john-s-2/2022/08/12/gov-newsom-proposes-keeping-diablo-canyon-nuclear-plant-open-until-2035-n489369
from the LA Times:
Bullpuckey. The only climate crisis is in the heads of the greenies.
Wildfires are caused by mismanagement of the forest and homeowners who build in the canyons and don’t maintain their property according to the law.
There are no worsening heat waves, storms or droughts, according to the records. All lies.
I hope PG&E looks at the economics and declines the deal. After six years of planning for 2025, extending another 10 years on 2 years notice is a planning nightmare. I’d guesstimate six months to produce a plan that says they need $3-5 billion yesterday, and Cali starts agitating for the other 49 to bail her out. Boo-effing-hoo. Tell me again how much they are paying every year for 2-4 million illegal invaders. Send them home, save the money, cut the electric generating requirements, and learn to cut your own damn grass.
I haven’t looked specifically, but it’ likely that the shutdown included early retirements for a bunch of union operators who will now feel aggrieved at not being able to reach the public teat early.
It’s tough to believe that they’re STILL pretending that Cacafornia’s “high speed rail” will ever do anything other than enrich grifting politicians and waste money. The promise was impossible as written, and no subsequent iteration was ever more feasible. Especially back when Southwest Airlines had $99 fares between Los Angeles and Sacramento. It takes time for a train to speed up to 200 MH, and time to slow down, and with the acceleration/deceleration times and the station stop times, there was no WAY to make the promised average speed.
Especially in a state with earthquakes and mountain ranges. Stupid on steroids.
Oh we’re paying for it, like it or not. Many of my liberal friends surprisingly see the farce too. Of course not all.
And when I say right-of-way they have so far been only building from Madera to Bakersfield, most still under construction. On the southern end of that they are no where to be seen in Bakersfield nearest is Wasco, at least they have a couple of large state prisons. These are the easiest flat parts, much undeveloped farm land, Wait till they cross the Tehachapis to LA.
https://hsr.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Business_Plan_Map.pdf
The Pep Boys about 5 miles from my house is still open.
Drwilliams: “The only climate crisis is in the heads of the greenies.”
No, the MAJOR “climate crisis” is adding another few million people to a desert. California never DID have enough water, and without getting more fresh water, or MAKING more fresh water, the place will collapse. Unrestricted illegal immigration will only make the problem WORSE, as the idjits there make plans to tear down Hetch Hetchy dam; the dam that supplies San Francisco with its drinking water. And shutting down desalinization plants.
@drwilliams:
Indeed. If nothing else, traffic flows will adjust, if the new road is perceived to be quicker.
In this regard, I remember the opening of the southern part of the M25, the London Orbital Motorway, sometimes called (cynically) the London Orbital Car Park.
This was built with 3 lanes each way. Within a couple of weeks, it was at capacity, due to drivers using it instead of local roads, because it was thought to be quicker. And it’s only got worse since, to the extent that they widened it, by one lane each way, within a few years, causing total chaos while they did the work. And they should do it again. But they won’t.
All because the planners didn’t realise that a new road generates new traffic. Of course, when they give a new planner the job, they amputate his/her common sense.
As witness, near me there is a roundabout. Which worked quite well. At rush hours, there were queues, as you would expect. So the planners put traffic lights on all the entries – immediately doubling (or more) the tailbacks.
Took a few years for this to percolate, but eventually they removed the lights, and reinstated the roundabout, immediately speeding up traffic flow.
But, of course, London traffic planners, especially in my Borough, are all-in on public transport, despite the fact that buses, and the tube, are running at or above capacity.
G.
The original lie was to get people from LA to SF in the same time that the airlines use. That lie is dead these days as it will never go any farther north than it is now nor any farther south than Bakeresville. How many people are going to take a train from Bakersville to Fresno?
@CowboyStu:
How many Americans will take a train?
G.
Re: California water supplies: Gov Newsome has a new plan : https://calmatters.org/environment/2022/08/newsom-strategy-california-water-supply/ (released yesterday 11 Aug 2022).
Right now the trip I take from SW Bakersfield to S Fresno is about 1:45. Cruise set to 75 usually (maybe faster sometimes).
HSR would take longer by the time you went to station, watched them fart around then backtrack to your destination. No way.
https://www.google.com/maps/dir/S+Willow+Ave,+California/Renfro+Rd+%26+Stockdale+Hwy,+Bakersfield,+CA+93314/@35.9307767,-119.3051595,8.71z/data=!4m19!4m18!1m10!1m1!1s0x80945f6f69986af5:0xd0c00877a8772cd9!2m2!1d-119.7274003!2d36.7039852!3m4!1m2!1d-119.2421727!2d35.4998558!3s0x80ea59ddbcf98da9:0x683becb93044f1b5!1m5!1m1!1s0x80ea44400e4f71b9:0xe3d5ce6cb98d1950!2m2!1d-119.1631014!2d35.3543611!3e0
For that matter I can do SF in 4.5 hours which I did on Memorial Day this year.
…of course, Newsome’s plan may not matter: https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/12/weather/california-megaflood-study/index.html …..
About 0.00023% of those who are traveling between their start and end cities that day.
Yuuup, Gov. Newscum now talking about making water. He has had many opportunies to stop the bullet train fraud but will not do it. Now, we expect him to know anything about making drinkable water?
BTW, where are the trolls? Why are they not here telling how stupid that they think that I am?
As long as public projects can employ unskilled union labor at absurd rates to get democratic votes.
@dkreck, JimB & EdH, I will be at Mother’s Tavern two weeks from tomorrow, Sat., Aug.27, at 1PM for a live country band, Road Kill Kings.
https://www.facebook.com/MothersTavern
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10215376274342371&set=p.10215376274342371
Dehydration pervention substantces on me.
Jenny: You are not excluded!
Take a train? Oh, it all depends on where is the station? What kind of TSA garbage ya got happening?
Because if it’s an hour to get to the train station and pretty much an hour of being strip searched to get on the train, do you think anyone is going to take the train? Ever?
I can get in my car and drive to the north side of Dallas. About four hours and yeah, my bladder is about to burst when I get there. But, no strip searching security crap.
Ant Wars Report
The ant traffic to my bait stations dwindled away over the last couple of days. I left some bait out to see if they were really done, or just tired of sugar for a while. Today the traffic has started up again, although only about a fifth of what went on for the first four or five days. Maybe a bunch of new worker ants hatched out. I made up a new batch of bait that is weaker, although what I had been using may have been weak enough. There were only several dozen dead ants around the bait station, and many of those were the result of my inundating them with the bait when I refilled the station. The “station” is just a few puddles of maybe two inches in diameter on the kitchen countertop. My wife is very understanding.
Old recipe: half cup water + half Tbsp boric acid + one third cup sugar
New recipe: half cup water + half tsp boric acid + one quarter cup sugar
That is about one third the strength, or maybe a little more depending on whether you go by the water or sugar ratio. I cut the sugar a little because the bait dried out too quickly.
I haven’t been able to find the ant nests, or even the entry point to my house (assuming they are not nesting somewhere in the house). I’ll follow Lynn’s advice to use Amdro if I can’t make boric acid work.
As to source, I bought my boric acid on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B014I5X4Q4?tag=ttgnet-20
That is several lifetimes’ supply for me in terms of ant poison, but I may find other uses for it. It might have been better to search out a source of borax (sodium salt of boric acid) instead. That could be used for clothes washing, and might be cheaper and available locally. I have read that it is not as strong as boric acid as an insect poison, but I’m not sure why. Maybe it is essentially a matter of the difference in molecular weight affecting the weight proportions to be mixed.
Fine offer but alas I’m booked out for awhile (well mostly paid out – damn hotels have gotten out of hand). Also while I’m 100% a Bakersfield boy I’m not that C&W (I don’t even wear a hat of any type 😀 ) I do enjoy beer and music (even some country but I’m more a rocker.) But thanks for the offer, another time I just might do it.
Now off to Riley’s Tavern with the wife for a couple of end of week brews. Guinness or Firestone 805
@CowboyStu
RE Mother’s Tavern
That would be a pure delight. California trip didn’t include the southern regions this visit. We’ve got folks (including you, sir) we need to visit down there. Working it into finances / work / home obligations is ever a challenge.
For now – I’ll raise a cup on the 27th.
I emailed Nick. He’s upright and breathing.
Jenny, thanks for the response, great to hear that about Nick! I know that we will get together again!
One place to read the FBI warrant for the search at Trump’s place is here: https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/3598688-read-dojs-warrant-against-trump/ . Just 7 pages long.
Re: That search warrant: “Show me the man, I’ll show you the crime.” -Beria
I had occasion to ride an Amtrak couple weeks ago. Had a duffle for a few days visit and my EDC bag. Happened to get on at an “unstaffed” station. There was a video camera in the waiting terminal, no other visible security. Leaving the “big city” coming the other way, there were lots more people at a major downtown hub, but again, no TSA style security groping. Just passenger herders to keep ‘em movin’ . Conductor passes thru once to see your ticket and a PA announcement for intermediate stations and the various prohibitions.
Ya know: No Sex, No Swimming, No Smoking, No Shooting. The usual appeals for dignified decorum.
Makes you wonder how much taxpayer money goes to groomers in the U.S.:
https://hotair.com/john-s-2/2022/08/12/uk-university-investigating-after-phd-student-published-paper-about-his-own-masturbation-habits-n489403
Funny how any kind of vile crap pushed by PLT’s is “free speech”, but “groomer” gets you a vacation from Twitter.
>> For cars, I always get the “Better” or “Best” ones.
Years ago I bought four “Good” tires from Pep Boys for my Honda CR-V. “Good” was the cheapest grade (Good/Better/Best) but money was tight and the car was going up for sale soon anyway and it wouldn’t pass inspection with the existing tires, so “Good” was gonna be good enough. But…sure as sh!rt I bumped hard into a curb trying to pass a triple-parked truck (NYFC of course, where triple-parking ain’t a big thing) and blew out the sidewall. Waited til I had a deposit on the car and then replaced the tire. Have never bought “Good” tires since. Of course, when talking about tires YMMV 🙂
>> I looked at the flat tire. It’s ruined. The hex headed roofing screw went in the tread and out the sidewall. I haven’t pulled it out yet.
If we can microstamp bullets then why not roofing screws? That would change the tire repair business a bit 😉