Cool and damp, maybe even wet. Had some heavy condensation last night, with the ground wet but no visible rain. It did rain yesterday, and in typical Houston fashion, what you got and when depended on where you were. I was everywhere from the west side up to Conroe, and down to Friendswood, then back, and never got more than occasional light drizzle. There was plenty of evidence of places that got dumped on, and places that didn’t see a drop. I’m hoping for dry today… I sure hope I can get some stuff done this week, and not get rained on. It was 73F when I went to bed, and the air conditioner was running. Fall in Houston.
Kids are back in school, and all the contaminated water in the pipes somehow got transmuted to clean drinkable water overnight. Assuming there was any contamination in the first place. Nothing changed for me.
Did my pickups. Hit the reStore and the old Sears scratch and dent outlet too. Ended up with some spray paint (industrial grey, Cat yellow, John Deere green, OSHA blue) for my workshop, and a new dishwasher for the BOL. Happy wife, etc. She moved it up my list and I obliged.
Today I’ve got to get the kids out the door for school, the water having been certified non-deadly. Then my usual round of errands and tasks.
I’ve neglected some preps and I am feeling behind on some stuff. Water purification at the BOL. Storage of drinking water at the BOL. Rotating hurricane supplies here. Small engine repair day, and gas storage rotation… it’s not all about freezers and food, but that is what I’ve been focused on. DEFINITELY need to get the defensive tool situation at the BOL sorted out, and stocked. And the long term medical supplies, etc.
Christmas is coming too, and the prepper in me says, shop early and get it done. I usually have at least a couple things put by for most of the people in my life by now, but I’ve been focused on other things, namely the BOL, and not on gifts. I’ll need to look for stuff for that this week and next too. Oh, Christmas decor needs to get set up here too. Time is flying by.
So, what does YOUR end of year look like? Mad dash, or slow fade? And how’s your stacking going?
I hope you are stacking all the things!
nick
First!
Naw, let’s not start that…
50F and clear. 72%RH. Sunny and blue sky. A bit blustery.
Should be good for my needs.
n
Forrest post!
I need to get into the forest behind the house just to check things out, look for signs of trespassing, check for other possible problems. Have been meaning to do it for a couple weeks but haven’t gotten around to it because I’ve been busy and the weather has been lousy. No real storms or anything but it’s been almost continually overcast, windy, and drizzly, with temperatures in the thirties. Yes, I can spend an hour in the forest if I need to, but do I really want to?
Stored food is still OK here. I’m adding slightly to cans but that’s it. I think I’m right about at the threshold of being able to use what I have stored before it gets too old. I use the method of storing what we’d eat anyway and rotating through it rather than setting aside things specifically as “preps” food.
I just made a large ammo purchase for the guns that I don’t have. I’m not being sly when I say that. I literally don’t have guns at the moment. The-idiot-who’s-doing-her-best-to-ruin-my-life got into a screaming argument with someone she’d been doing a side hustle with, over division of money of course, and told him not to come to our house anymore because her husband has guns. -facepalm- Nice work, genius. I took my firearms out of the house immediately, lest they be seized because “I” pose a risk of violence or whatever BS would be used. It’s been a couple months, so it’s probably safe to recover them, if I can find the time. Yes, I’m still pissed off about it.
EDIT: Dang it, some pretender beat me to the status of First Poster while I was typing that.
https://hotair.com/karen-townsend/2022/11/30/uvalde-school-shooting-victims-mom-files-lawsuit-against-gun-maker-school-district-law-enforcement-n514389
Blame the gun maker.
Blame the gun seller.
Because Bloomberg.
What is your personal protection detail carrying, Michael, you hypocritical pos, and why do I suspect that the list includes items I would not be allowed to carry, or perhaps even own?
Re: Doctor search. My doc didn’t retire, but I just felt like a paycheck for him. I didn’t have any issues with the care, but he was overly cautious in rechecking bloodwork if something was even slightly out of normal. Think rechecks every 3 months. I could even tolerate that, but it was impossible to get an appointment if you were actually sick. I had a raging sinus infection, and couldn’t get in for a week. Screw that. I went to urgent care and began a search for a new doc.
I asked around and checked on my insurance website for participating doctors (which is essentially all of them). My goal was to get one close to our house if possible. I was under the mindset that it may take a few tries to find the right one. I’ve stayed with my first choice. He is close to the house, younger than me, hasn’t freaked out about covid, is rational, and doesn’t rush through the appointment. The wife switched to him too and she likes him too.
Interestingly, at my last appointment, he had a resident there doing a rotation and I was one of the guinea pigs. I didn’t mind, happy to help them get even a little bit of training knocked out.
Oh, and the frequent rechecks form the doc weren’t for anything immediately urgent like some of you guys have. Think lipid panels that are slightly off. Yes, need to monitor, but I felt like a piggy bank.
I have Christmas shopping for the wife done. Her big gift was a combination birthday and Christmas gift, and that happened earlier in the month. Everything else ordered online. In the process of getting the boy’s gifts. Everything likely to be purchased online with one exception. We got him a pair of sweat pants at Costco last month, and he requested more. I went yesterday and picked up a couple pair. I’ve learned to not wait if you want something from there. if you see it, get it.
Here’s a bit of ggooole weirdness.
I searched on ‘scaffold collapse abu dhabi 2000’ (no quotes)
and get a result page with 8 pages of results. Click on next to go to page two, and suddenly there are only 2 pages of results.
There is a note that they’ve hidden “similar” results, and clicking on “run the search will all the results shown” get 10 pages of results.
Clicking next gets page 2 of TWO pages, with no note about ‘hidden’ similar results.
Just one more example that google isn’t trustworthy.
n
(I was hoping to find an article about a scaffold collapse while I was there, in which I remember the site supervisor being quoted “No one can be blamed for this accident, it was those poor peoples’ fate to die.”)
I predicted this a year ago:
HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra reminds you to get an updated COVID vaccine if it’s been two months since your last
Not no, Hell no! This is just crazy. A clot-shot every two months? No.
I am NOT an expert and I didn’t stay in a Holiday Inn Express last night, so take this with a grain of salt.
TPTB do a HORRIBLE job on explaining water system issues and the press hypes everything.
My understanding is that every water system has leaks. It is virtually impossible to build and maintain a system that won’t develop leaks. So to maintain water safety the system must maintain enough pressure that water is always flowing out of the leaks. Whenever the pressure drops too low, they may have had contaminated water enter the system. To verify the system, they them flush enough water to replace everything in the pipes and then test to make sure the water is clean.
That does raise the issue that YOU may have contaminated water between the main and your tap(s). If you have had a boil water notice, it would be prudent to flush all your taps to ensure you have clean water. Although there is probably enough chlorine left in the treated water to keep it safe, Probably. I flush my water system, but not thoroughly.
We probably have experts here that can tell me I am full of it and give better advice. 🙂
Additional damage control for Fauci after the deposition last week. At this point Herr Doktor is facing a life in seclusion even if he evades criminal prosecution. God help him if something is found to be wrong with the jabs.
Listening to a podcast yesterday, I heard the analogy that consulting Fauci about what to do concerning Covid was like asking Osama bin Laden to advise on rebuilding the World Trade Center.
Thank the Orange Man for that brain fart.
Well, Steve, I have always thought you were number 2. 🙂 🙂 🙂
Everyone even slightly involved gets sued. Even Uber or the taxi driver is that was the mode of transportation. It is the lawyer lottery. Sue everyone, get a settlement from all of them. That is cheaper than going through litigation.
Here years ago, a drunk climbed a fence around a small airport, stole a plane, and crashed killing a person on the ground. The airport, fence installer, plane mechanic, manufacturer of the plane, manufacturer of the tires, the fuel company, the bars that served the liquor (who threw him out for being drunk), the liquor store, were all part of the lawsuit. For most of the entities it was cheaper to “donate” to the lawyer rather than spend thousands on their own lawyer to defend.
For some people of a certain color, getting a family member shot by the police is the equivalent of a winning lottery ticket. The deceased member, of course, is the kindest person around, gives their shirt off their back to anyone, helps anyone in need, sweetest person around with no flaws.
Except that rap sheet spanning multiple pages, gang tattoos, multiple incarcerations and general inability to get through high school. Biological father could be anyone of 27 men. No actual father present. Basically, the individual being demised was a benefit to society but instead gives their family the winning lawsuit lottery ticket. Along with the scumbag lawyer “hired” by the family. The only positive point is the person is no longer on the welfare rolls.
Here Zavian Dobson was hailed as hero for protecting another person from gunfire and is worth more financially to his mother and family dead than he was alive. In my opinion he just jumped out of the way and landed on the other person. Because it was probably gang violence the cops and the media decided to spin it to make out the kid was a hero. A question that was never asked is why he was a target of gang violence. The information was never brought forward.
And in other news. Booked tickets to Callaway Gardens and their Christmas light show. A long drive down, about 5 hours, maybe a little more due to Atlanta traffic. Will drive down one day to see the lights, spend the night at a hotel 20 miles away, and drive back the next day. If it is good next year, we will book one of their overnight packages (two nights minimum) and stay on the property. Friends in Atlanta say it is really an awesome light display.
Expensive. But why have I saved money if I am not going to spend the money? Saving money during the working years to have money to enjoy things during the retirement years.
Arabs don’t do maintenance. If their god wants the truck to run, it will run.
Arabs don’t do engineering calculations. If god wants the crane to fall over when it’s hoisting a load, it will fall over.
These statements are not 100% correct, but I don’t think I’m off by more than a couple percent.
I flush my water system, but not thoroughly.
– but how do you know you aren’t bringing the contaminated water INTO your local pipes by doing so? And how do you know that you’ve run all the contaminated water out?
If the pipe feeding my house has no flow, the pipe in the street can be contaminated but I’m fine. In fact by allowing my pipe to flow it brings the contaminated water INTO my house. The problem is the same for my street vs the main at the end of the block, or the neighborhood.
Without knowing where the contamination is, or even if there IS any contamination, there is no way for me to know if I’ve cleared it or only brought it closer to me.
To be sure, the ENTIRE volume of the whole system, plant to faucet, would have to be replaced, and probably more than once to ‘wash’ the contamination out. Since we know that didn’t happen, there must still be contamination in the system if there ever was.
Simply having everyone run their faucets (all of them including laundry, hose bibs, and ice makers) would cause the pressure to drop to low levels (we saw just that during one of the last hurricanes, and during the freeze) starting the cycle over again…
n
(my neighborhood, my street, and my house were all repiped in the last couple of years, we should have minimal leakage locally, so any leakage elsewhere would have to be transported to our neighborhood to affect us, and we have no way of knowing the current state of any drop of water in the system.)
added- in other words, you can’t trust the state of your water, now or ever, but most of the time, it’s fine. unless you live in Flint MI.
n
As a minimum, I RO all our drinking water. I prefer distilled and keep four gallons on the counter in glass brewer jugs. I really want to plump in a ~20 gallon auto shut off distiller, but don’t want it in the garage. It gets too hot in there during the Summer. I might be able to squeeze the distiller* in the laundry room, though.
I drink Smartwater when traveling. Use my Grayl filter in the hotels.
*I almost wrote “squeeze it in the laundry room”, but Mr. Ray is reading.
“God help him if something is found to be wrong with the jabs.“
Hoping y
Gee, didn’t someone here predict this eons ago:
Check your 401(k)’s fine print! Because now Biden wants to raid YOURS to fund net zero and ‘diversity’. But why should his woke agenda put your retirement at risk, demands ANDY PUZDER
Small steps. First “Hey ESG is good for the planet” next “just give your money to the goobermint, we know what’s best for you.” Our entire goobermint sucks dead bunnies.
This was well known even when I started flight school back in ’79. I imagine they still contract out maintenance instead of training their own mechanics and test pilots.
As I understand it, current legal thinking is that 401(k)s, 403(b)s, and mutual funds do not give you personal ownership of any stocks, so they can be seized and replaced by assets of equal value. “Equal value” is a tendentious term, and “credits in the social security lockbox” would be acceptable.
Understandable. Then you give me this.
Are taunting me? Making a snarky comeback easy? Oh the pain. 🙂 🙂
SteveF writes:
The commonly used word is “Inshallah”, meaning “If it is the will of Allah”. A Believer need make only a token effort (or no effort at all) to accomplish something, because if it is Allah’s will, it will happen. And if it isn’t, then all the effort in the world won’t change that. It’s at least part of the reason why Muslims are so fatalistic; men can’t control things, and only Allah does.
So if a Muslim makes a promise or an assurance and includes the word “Inshallah”, then he’s saying that if it doesn’t happen or doesn’t work, that was God’s will, and it isn’t his fault.
MrAtoz says:
This was at least part of the reason why the Afghanistan military collapsed so completely when Biden pulled out the American “trainers”; the Afghan mechanics hadn’t actually learned anything.
Written that way makes it sound like they’re just too good to do the maintenance. There’s that, too, but even when they can hire mechanics and engineers and other people to maintain equipment and infrastructure, they won’t if not pressed.
The only way Arab nations have electricity is to hire someone to run everything to provide electricity. Having Arabs run the plants and just hire people to do the icky or boring parts won’t cut it because they’ll zero out the maintenance budget and pocket it.
Ditto for keeping the military trucks running. They can’t just have an Arab in charge of the motor pool and hire mechanics for the icky and boring work. They have to hire a foreigner to be in charge of the motor pool and ensure that the work is done.
Caveats: I haven’t been there and seen it myself in the past several decades. (Though everything I’ve heard and read suggests that nothing has changed.) I’m definitely prejudiced against Arabs; I neither like nor respect them as a group, and put up with individuals only to the extent that they’ve left their heritage behind and become Westernized.
only to the extent that they’ve left their heritage behind
– except that they can’t without becoming apostate, which marks them for death by other muslims.
n
Mr. OFD would be all over me. As usual. Miss him.
>> Arabs don’t do maintenance. If their god wants the truck to run, it will run.
No coincidence that most of those trucks are Toyotas.
The Dems have been talking about seizing the 401(k)s and private pensions since the 90s. Convening Congressional hearings on the subject has always been a sign that their hubris has reached dangerous level in the House and they are about to be swept out of power like they were in 1994, 2010, and, barely, this year.
Biden can’t do it on his own with an interpretation of statute.
The problem with seizure is that it can only be done once, and the amount of money available at this point wouldn’t touch even half of the debt.
Some days I really enjoy annoying the snot nosed little zit heads on Arstechnica. Liberal little snots that have never really held a meaningful job. No real understanding of how freedom of speech works or how the constitution really works. I always get downvoted which supports my prior statements.
And in other news. I don’t know if I mentioned my upgrading my MacBook Air from the M1 chip to the M2 chip. Upped the memory to 16 Gig and the storage to 1 TB. Seems to be the recommended sweet spot for the MacBook Air.
Got a nice trade in on my old Air that had display problems. A problem in the hinge that Apple said was due to personal damage and not covered by warranty. $500+ to repair. Uh, no thank you. I argued with them for awhile before a manager offered me the normal trade in value. Tack on to that my 10% veteran discount, plus another 10% because of the hassle in the store, and it was fairly good deal.
I wanted the new Air for the MagSafe, larger function keys, slightly smaller but brighter display. So it all worked out.
I got the blackish/blueish color. Looks really nice. Does attract fingerprints. People are all over Apple for that problem. My Microsoft Surface Laptop has the same issue so no big deal. I just wipe the fingerprints off. A case also helps.
I was concerned about the notch at the top of the display but Apple IOS apparently adjusts menus to miss the notch and I have no problems with any programs missing menus.
The machine is fast, light, good display, good keyboard, excellent trackpad. Battery life is outstanding. I have used the machine for about 5 hours a day for three days and the battery was still at 20%. Not heavy use but enough to convince me the battery would last an entire overseas flight while watching a movie.
Like most things Apple stuff is easy to accomplish, or very difficult to figure out without the help of the web. I really don’t like not be able to use CTL-C,X and V. I have to used Command-C, X, and V. Only reason I can think that Apple shunned the use of the CTL key was because Microsoft and others used the combination, or because Apple just wanted to be jerks.
Using the supplied office apps, Page, Numbers, and Keynote is different. All seem to handle Microsoft documents just fine.
Quicken is terrible and is missing some useful functions or the functions work strange. TurboTax seems to work OK although is missing a couple of nice features.
I am NOT going to abandon my Windows machines for most work.
Another problem is that seizing the 401(k)s means that suddenly the 20% of the population who do meaningful work in society will have nothing to lose by shrugging in the Ayn Rand sense of the word.
Things will get sporty. More than they already are.
Fasten seat belts. Here we go again.
You know that and I know that, but I don’t think that the spendthrift politicians and faceless bureaucrats know that, or they think that The Government can prevent it, or they think that they can get their snouts in the trough before the gravy stops.
Back home from a trip to UT. Had been watching the weather reports, so had determined that Tue was the best day to travel between storms.
Work up Tue 515am to 6-8 inches of snow on top of the car in the hotel parking lot. But, was prepared, so had a snow brush to take care of that. Got on the road about 7am. Most of the snow then was south of us (in Layton UT) due to ‘lake effect’ snow from the Great Salt Lake. Our route is north then west (I-15 then I-84 to Portland), so roads were plowed and clear most of the way.
Had some worries about the Blue Mountains (just east of Pendleton), since that part of I84 was closed from Ontario (OR/ID) border to Pendleton Monday. But the roads were well plowed, so no issues other than a few bits of packed snow in one of then lanes.
Had thought about staying in Hood River OR overnight (that’s about 10 hours of driving), but the weather forecast showed some incoming snow, especially up in the home area. Had a bit of snow falling along I84 from Hood River to Troutdale OR (just east of Portland where the Columbia Gorge starts), but nothing sticking or causing much slowdown.
Troutdale to Vancover WA (Vantucky, I guess) was very slow – I managed to hit rush hour there. But no weather/road issues until Bremerton WA, where the snow started. It was heavy – sort of like the Star Wards ‘light speed’ thing with the snow coming right at you. Roads quickly started getting snow – about 2-3 inches, so slow going. But the Highlander (2019 with AWD and the Snow mode) worked just fine, although I was stuck behind a VW that was going 15 mph the whole way.
Some fallen trees and branches blocking the road from Poulsbo to the Hood Canal bridge. Then onto the Pardise Bay road – 3-4 inches on the road, some more trees/branches in the way. Some prior tracks from previous cars, to help stay on the road.
Got home, and the house was dark. Had seen some blue flashes near the house as we were driving by, so suspect some power transformers shorting out. Had my lantern FLASHLIGHTS ready, plus more FLASHLIGHTS (of course).
But, preps for power outages have been made. Moved the generator a few feet in front of the garage door, hooked it up, and flipped the bypass switches to get some house circuits working. By that time, it was close to 11pm, so went to bed with extra blankets.
Power switched back on about 330am; quickly dressed to shut down the generator and then back into the bed. (Something to be said about sleeping in your own bed after a week-long hotel stay.)
Some minor adjustments are needed to the power bypass. For some reason, I didn’t get the fridge on the bypass circuit. A heavy-duty extension cord fixed that, but need to get an electrician to help out (I also want him to install some whole-house surge protectors on the panel. )
So, long trip, fun times with family, not a bad drive, and preps with a proper car (snow brush, and chains which I didn’t have to use) and the home generator made things less of a hassle. Roads have been plowed, snow has stopped (although a possibility over the rest of the week), and a quick run to the local village store to get a gallon of milk was accomplished.
Now to catch up on all the email from the week. But, being retired means I can stay home.
Cite, please. Go back through the site’s posts and find comment for each of eleven of the past fourteen days which demonstrates a fundamental misunderstanding of the US Constitution or government operation. Your reply will exceed the site’s defined limits on links in comments, but I’m sure that one of the admins will release it.
They know. If they weren’t aware of it, Roberts and Kavanaugh would have given Biden the large employer jab mandate leading to a mass shrug, particularly among the people foolish enough to still get on an airplane regularly for business travel while making less than six figures.
And the box food that is now missing at the stores is Hungry Jack potato flakes that makes such good mashed potatoes without having to, you know, cook. HEB, Kroger, and Walmart are out of stock. HEB even turned the shelf price sticker upside down which is their sign for don’t even ask.
Is it time to bring out the troll hammer ?
Peanuts: Religious Differences
https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/2022/11/30
Oh yeah, that is a big one. I will only eat them if you cook it. Like Squirrel.
Pearls Before Swine: Telemarketer Calls
https://www.gocomics.com/pearlsbeforeswine/2022/11/30
Oh my !
Wait, does that mean that Pig is a billionaire ?
Lots of those people are getting shown the door at their “jobs”.
Hmm, baseless accusations, overly familiar, adversarial tone…
Probably.
n
No, I really do enjoy it.
The big bruh-hah-hah is now about Musk, Twitter and how he is letting people use the platform to spread what others think is disinformation and how this speech should not be allowed, stopped by the government.
Here is a clue oh witless one, the government cannot suppress speech. It’s in the constitution. The owner of a site has complete control over the content, period. The government cannot interfere, period. The attempts by the government to suppress posters is unconstitutional, period.
When Trump got banned from Twitter, that was Twitter’s right, Period. Trump getting reinstated it Twitter’s right, Period.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/11/shock-video-philadelphia-parking-officer-survives-ambush-execution-attempt/
That is a disturbing video. More disturbing is realizing how much more of that sort of thing we’ll be seeing.
n
“Texas grid vulnerable to blackouts in extreme scenarios, ERCOT says, as it adds storage to assessment”
https://www.utilitydive.com/news/ercot-winter-resource-assessment-storage-uri-texas/637589/
“ERCOT’s Seasonal Assessment of Resource Adequacy, or SARA, shows forecasted peak demand of 67,398 MW this winter with about 87,300 MW of resources available. But in extreme situations with higher demand, unexpected generator outages and low wind output, the grid could be short by 9,000 MW or more.”
Until ERCOT does what we used to do at TXU, verify, verify, verify, I would assume that ERCOT is subject to extreme weather events. Ronald Reagan said it best, “Trust but verify”.
And when I say verify, I mean build a team of engineers who visit each power plant site annually and verify peak power generation and fuel on site. We had nine engineers and technicians for 45 power plant sites.
“We see demand having grown. [There is] upwards of about 5,000 MW more than we saw in last year’s SARA report,” Vegas said. “Texas is adding a city the size of Corpus Christi every single year in population, and the associated economic growth that comes with that is driving increased usage on the grid.”
https://www.utilitydive.com/news/ercot-winter-resource-assessment-storage-uri-texas/637589/
This is a serious issue. We need to be adding base load power generation here in Texas that can function at 85% capacity factor. These wind turbines and solar power plants that run maxed out at 15% capacity factor are a joke. And everyone now knows it.
Two dead as southern states are hit by TWENTY-THREE tornadoes overnight and Florida, Alabama and Georgia are warned to brace for more this morning: Hail the size of tennis balls dents thousands of cars
for the record.
n
“Texas is adding a city the size of Corpus Christi every single year in population,
– everywhere inside the loop they are doing infill development. They are slapping up townhomes with 12ft fences around them in sh!tty neighborhoods. They are tearing down single homes on three small lots, and building 6 tall skinny ones in their place. They are closing cr@ppy car dealers and building multistory mixed use developments on the land. Near me they are buying single homes on one acre lots and building 12-20 units on the lot. They are tearing down warehouse and industrial space to replace with high density housing near my kids’ old school.
Out 290, they are building high density suburban neighborhoods in the middle of fields. Same out 249 in Montgomery.
The amount of new home building in Houston and surrounds is shocking.
Also shocking is the rapid fall from grace for some older developments/cities like Champions and Champion Forest. Nothing but halal takeout and hair braiding places as the houses sit empty or deteriorating.
n
The amount of new home building in Houston and surrounds is shocking.
I just found out that we are getting a third neighborhood south of us, over in the swamp. That makes a total of 40,000 new homes to be built south of us in three neighborhoods. There is a second HEB planned now along with another strip center. There are full plans available which means people are spending money.
BTW, all of the new houses are on 50 foot lot lines. No yards, nobody wants yards anymore. But the houses all come with a glorified two car garage which is really a car and a half garage. Especially if the guy is driving a pickup. Or mom is driving a large SUV. So there are vehicles parked all over the streets in these new neighborhoods.
Indian families do not like to buy used housing and they will accept high density.
That is the demographic driving the growth in Austin squirting up Parmer Lane from Apple’s campus locations all the way up to where the road turns into Ronald Reagan Blvd. and intersects with I35 north of Georgetown.
Wherever the new HPE campus is going, you are going see a lot of home construction activity.
One big change in the SARA for this winter: For the first time, ERCOT has included battery storage as a resource in its assessment.
“We saw the performance of batteries over the course of this last year, so we included a modest amount … just under a gigawatt of battery storage,” Vegas said.
https://www.utilitydive.com/news/ercot-winter-resource-assessment-storage-uri-texas/637589/
It is my understanding that the new battery power plants are good for four hours at full discharge. That is almost worthless. Call me when you can generate power at 85% capacity factor for a week.
“Fleetwood Mac Christine McVie Dead at 79”
https://www.tmz.com/2022/11/30/fleetwood-mac-christine-mcvie-dead-dies/
Wow, I saw them in concert in Feb 2020, right before the Koof got cranked up. I had no idea she was that old.
Hat tip to:
https://www.drudgereport.com/
Every 100,000 Jesus Trucks will be 2,000 MW of additional load for 8-10 hours a night if Tesla’s numbers are consistent with the F150 Lightning’s.
Summer 2024.
LOL! I didn’t even get to read the troll shite before it was hammered. Thank you!
And a moderate proposal for Gov. Abbott since he is deploying Guard troops to the border:
Deputize any resident that wants to be allowed to take their shooters guns to the border and engage in “shooting fish in a barrel.”
Just kidding. I hope the troll reads this and cries.
“Starlink Speeds Continue to Fall in the US, Canada Amid Network Congestion”
https://www.pcmag.com/news/starlink-speeds-continue-to-fall-in-the-us-canada-amid-network-congestion
“According to Ookla, the median download speeds for Starlink are falling as SpaceX tries to wrestle with ongoing congestion issues facing its satellite internet system.”
“In Q3, the median download rate for Starlink subscribers in the US fell to 53Mbps, a decrease from 62.5Mbps in Q2. In Canada, the Q3 median download speeds reached only 65.8Mbps, down from 75.7Mbps.”
Still not bad.
“To address the congestion issues over the long-term, SpaceX is working to launch a second-generation Starlink network, which will span nearly 30,000 satellites. The company still needs approval from the FCC, but it’s facing objections from rival companies, environmental organizations, and some astronomers.”
Man, Musk’s organizations are getting a lot of knives in the back lately. Must mean that he is getting things done.
Fleetwood Mac with Christine MacVie singing “Over My Head”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXveFeQFyuU
“Elon Musk Has Advice for the Fed. The Central Bank Might Want to Take It.”
https://finance.yahoo.com/m/38a2faaa-7f43-35e5-8861-287d3e222617/elon-musk-has-advice-for-the.html
“The Tesla CEO tells the Federal Reserve it should cut interest rates or else. He says the central bank is ‘massively amplifying the probability of a severe recession.’”
Yup.
“Don’t Stop” played constantly during the 1992 Dem convention. They’re at least as old as Clinton.
Did something happen to Tracy Chapman? Letterman has one of her “Late Show” performances posted to his YouTube channel today, and he’s been kinda creepy regarding musician deaths with the channel.
I didn’t see anything on the Googles.
My wife was to fly out to CA to visit her dad in a couple weeks. I got her a ticket with my remaining AA miles. Her dad came down with Covid and had to go to the ER. He has other issues that are more concerning. The hospital put him in isolation so she wouldn’t be able to see him. AA cancelled the ticket and refunded the miles with no problems. Apparently its a Covid policy. I’m amazed.
Sadly, I see signs in all of the parents of not too many more years in the future. Getting old is not for the timid.
I don’t have a problem with this. Trespass and yeah, events happen.
I’ve been really impressed with the 13″ MacBook Pro M1 8 GB and 256 GB storage. Battery life is incredible, and I can charge it using an Anker USB-C adapter I carry on trips for my Kindle and, occasionally, a Switch Lite.
The killer app for me is the docking ability — light years better and more reliable than Windows or Linux.
I’d need to see another big PC vendor step up with a serious effort running Windows before I’ll believe that ARM is the future, however. Chipzilla does a lot of engineering leg work for the major players.
Of course the airlines are going to bow and scrape to the White House, especially AA, based in Chicago.
IIRC, the airlines got bailed out in a huge way.
I found a thing. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09W4PPSNR?tag=ttgnet-20
It’s a 100 watt LED light made to hang from a hook. Like a swag light on a chain. I know exactly where I want to hang it. Getting power to it isn’t a problem. Getting a ladder tall enough to hang the light is a problem. I don’t have a ladder tall enough to reach 16 or 18 feet up. If the motorhome ran, yeah, park it in there and then I can use one of the ladders I have. I’ll figure it out.
Once it’s done, DAYLIGHT on demand in the middle of the night.
Wear sunscreen.
I found a thing. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09W4PPSNR?tag=ttgnet-20
It’s a 100 watt LED light made to hang from a hook. Like a swag light on a chain. I know exactly where I want to hang it. Getting power to it isn’t a problem. Getting a ladder tall enough to hang the light is a problem. I don’t have a ladder tall enough to reach 16 or 18 feet up. If the motorhome ran, yeah, park it in there and then I can use one of the ladders I have. I’ll figure it out.
I use a 35 foot boom lift to install the 150 watt and 200 watt LED light fixtures in my warehouse. Costs $300 plus tax per day rental at Aztec Rentals. Highly recommended. Home Depot has them also for $330/day.
https://www.winsim.com/lynn_replacing_warehouse_top_light.jpg
To replace the light bulbs in the two light fixtures in the office stairwell, I bought a “WERNER 26 ft. Reach Aluminum 5-in-1 Multi-Position Pro Ladder with Powerlite Rails 375 lbs. Load Capacity Type IAA Duty”. I elevate one side all the way and elevate the other side halfway from the middle landing on the stairwell.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/WERNER-26-ft-Reach-Aluminum-5-in-1-Multi-Position-Pro-Ladder-with-Powerlite-Rails-375-lbs-Load-Capacity-Type-IAA-Duty-MT-26IAAXTHD/313982744
I found a thing. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09W4PPSNR?tag=ttgnet-20
It’s a 100 watt LED light made to hang from a hook. Like a swag light on a chain. I know exactly where I want to hang it. Getting power to it isn’t a problem. Getting a ladder tall enough to hang the light is a problem. I don’t have a ladder tall enough to reach 16 or 18 feet up. If the motorhome ran, yeah, park it in there and then I can use one of the ladders I have. I’ll figure it out.
I put 11 of this 200 watt light fixture in my warehouse. I have four of the 150 watt outside.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08DFQ84CM?tag=ttgnet-20/
I’ve got four more to replace and I am done.
I’d need to see another big PC vendor step up with a serious effort running Windows before I’ll believe that ARM is the future, however. Chipzilla does a lot of engineering leg work for the major players.
I know, it would be a huge move for the Windows market. The hundreds of vendors would need to be forced by Microsoft which I just do not see happening. I do see the nanny states of California and New York limiting computer power usage more and more over time, forcing very low power cpus though.
I was too with my older M1 MacBook Air. When doing the upgrade, I was vacillating between the PRO and the AIR. Both were the same price in the same configuration. I opted for the AIR because it had a slightly larger screen, and the design did not look so dated. I also liked the blackish/blueish color of the AIR. Yeh, a limp wristed reason, so sue me. I don’t believe that either system is a wrong or bad choice. I am impressed with the MacBook Air.
I opted for the larger memory and bigger disk. Apparently the 256 GB SSD is slower on the AIR than with a larger size SSD. Something to do with the chipset and how they are configured. 512 GB probably would have been OK. I opted for the next step up to sort of future proof my decision.
Regardless, both are impressive machines, the PRO and the AIR. I wish Quicken would run on the MacBook with comparable success. Some things just don’t work like they do on the Windows version. Maybe I am just being stubborn.
I have noticed that processing pictures in Lightroom does not run as fast on the MacBook Air as it does on my Windows desktop. I use a 2 TB M.2, the fastest available a year ago so the machine is rather speedy. No surprise there. I don’t know if the AIR is throttling due to CPU heat as there is no active cooling mechanism. Windows 11 installed in under a minute, system boots in 14 seconds from power on to full graphical interface.
I had an i9 64 GB MacBook Pro at the last job, and the power consumption was actually decent for the amount of power the machine offered. Apple knew what to do with the advanced management capabilities of Intel hardware. Windows and Linux are still playing catchup.
Microsoft may have to design the silicon or at least a reference design that somebody like HP can take to TSMC. Even then, however, the number of players in the market who can handle something like that are limited and have to live in fear of angering Intel.
Adobe spent decades optimizing for Intel, especially once Apple dropped the Power PC. IIRC, they weren’t happy about Apple’s decision to drop x86_64 completely.
OS X/Cocoa binaries are semi interpreted, and I imagine that there is some x86_64 code remaining in Lightroom, running under Rosetta.
I remember installing some application on the MacBook, and I do believe it was Adobe Creative Cloud, there was a mention of having to install Rosetta before the installation could continue.
The slowness of Lightroom exporting in two different formats at the same time (JPG and DNG), indicate to me that the Air is not suited for processing large volumes of photographs. What I am exporting are about 250 pictures that have been cropped, white balanced, and some exposure compensation. Since Lightroom is a non-destructive editing process, the changes have to be applied while exporting.
On my desktop this same process for 200+ pictures take about 3 minutes. Thus far on the MacBook Air it has consumed 20 minutes. A significant difference. My desktop CPU will peg at 100% on all 16 cores for the three minutes, CPU temperature will rise to 100C, water cooling handles the heat without difficulty. I have no idea what is happening with the MacBook Air. It doesn’t get warm. It is really sucking down the battery. Loss of 20% in the last 20 minutes so something is working hard.
I wanted a touch bar Mac laptop after getting used to it on the last job’s standard issue $6000 Apple laptop. Of course, that exact machine was a bit beyond my budget.
I snagged a really good deal on the Pro as a refurb near the end of the M1 production.
>> This was well known even when I started flight school back in ’79. I imagine they still contract out maintenance instead of training their own mechanics and test pilots.
Trucks are one thing, but planes? Gotta think those Arab test pilots would be a bit reluctant to take off in planes worked on by Arab mechanics that weren’t supervised by Americans.
Normal people call it “Defending your country against foreign invaders”.
PLT’s have hissy fits and worry about their domestic help.
So I stopped at the goodwill outlet (the bins) and had a fantastic forage.
14K Gold vintage mens wristwatch, Lord Elgin, 21 jewels, probably from the ’40s selling between 200-400$ on ebay.
Ubiquiti UniFi AP LR
Ubiquiti edge router PoE 4port
Ubiquiti Tough Switch PoE 8port
and some netgear and cisco/linksys gear
There are sports cards to go thru, pewter, and there might be some sterling display pieces too.
Good haul.
n
Speaking of going Galt, that’s one of my options after The Child is grown. I can live on practically nothing and I don’t see much reason to continue to work for a society which contemns and steals from me.
So far, both the edge router and the AP check out fine.
watch is running.
Woohoo
n
>> Biden can’t do it on his own with an interpretation of statute.
The problem with seizure is that it can only be done once, and the amount of money available at this point wouldn’t touch even half of the debt.
Uncle Joe will sign whatever so-called EO that TPTB slip into his inbox.
>> Like most things Apple stuff is easy to accomplish, or very difficult to figure out without the help of the web. I really don’t like not be able to use CTL-C,X and V. I have to used Command-C, X, and V. Only reason I can think that Apple shunned the use of the CTL key was because Microsoft and others used the combination, or because
AppleSteve Jobs just wanted to be jerks.FIFY
>> Some fallen trees and branches blocking the road from Poulsbo to the Hood Canal bridge. Then onto the Pardise Bay road – 3-4 inches on the road, some more trees/branches in the way. Some prior tracks from previous cars, to help stay on the road.
Would be interesting to see how a Tony-mobile with FSD turned on would have done.
>> BTW, all of the new houses are on 50 foot lot lines. No yards, nobody wants yards anymore. But the houses all come with a glorified two car garage which is really a car and a half garage. Especially if the guy is driving a pickup. Or mom is driving a large SUV. So there are vehicles parked all over the streets in these new neighborhoods.
Don’t worry, as soon as “Karen” gets herself elected (nope, no need for any recounts) as HOA President there will be no more on-street parking.
>> To replace the light bulbs in the two light fixtures in the office stairwell, I bought a “WERNER 26 ft. Reach Aluminum 5-in-1 Multi-Position Pro Ladder with Powerlite Rails 375 lbs. Load Capacity Type IAA Duty”. I elevate one side all the way and elevate the other side halfway from the middle landing on the stairwell.
Yikes, pictures or it didn’t happen…hopefully mrs. lynn isn’t watching.
Be careful.
>> To replace the light bulbs in the two light fixtures in the office stairwell, I bought a “WERNER 26 ft. Reach Aluminum 5-in-1 Multi-Position Pro Ladder with Powerlite Rails 375 lbs. Load Capacity Type IAA Duty”. I elevate one side all the way and elevate the other side halfway from the middle landing on the stairwell.
Yikes, pictures or it didn’t happen…hopefully mrs. lynn isn’t watching.
Be careful.
I had two of my guys holding the ladder when I went up on it. It is a very stable ladder. I just wish I was stable.
Tripped over the dogs walking thru fresh snow to care for the rabbits this evening. I took care of the rabbits, smashed loose some ice that had formed from leaky water nipples, tightened said water nipples. Checked conditions of all the rabbits. My best doe had wetness on her fur from sitting under her leaky water nipple so she got a handful of straw to dry out. She likes my husband so he will check her better tomorrow. we’ve had some cold weather, 0° F, and wet fur kills. will spend extra monitoring water nipples and condition until this lets up.
The trip and fall didn’t hurt at the time. 20 minutes later I’ve got bulgey veins in my calf. That does not look right. Husband snapped a pic and texted to our Dr friend. Elevate, ice, rest and come see him tomorrow.
The dogs are unrepentant. I’m cranky.
we were out late ish at the mystery movie. Uncle Buck. Great fun. I’d never seen it. The comedic timing was delicious. I enjoyed it even when the film fumbled through slap stick.
I turned four gallons of cow milk into feta this week. It’ll be ready in time for Christmas gifts. I need to weigh and see what the ratio of cheese from milk is. I nearly screwed up the second batch by absent mindedly stirring about 10 minutes after I’d added rennet. Big no no, as the curds are forming and it’s far too early to break them up. I got away with the error, though the yield is definitely smaller on the second two gallon batch. I make feta in two gallon batches because that is how much milk fits in my pot, and how much curds fit in my cheesecloth and strainer. I use Janet Hursts cheese making book. She has entertaining stories woven between the recipes and it’s a good read even if you never make cheese in your life.
Feta is good, and fairly low effort for the product.
we were out late ish at the mystery movie. Uncle Buck. Great fun. I’d never seen it. The comedic timing was delicious. I enjoyed it even when the film fumbled through slap stick.
I’ve seen it a dozen times and I still laugh. He terrorized his nieces boyfriend, bug. I laugh myself silly when I see bug in the trunk. And when he troops through the house with a hundred teenagers in it, that was hilarious.
And his car ! Every time it backfires, sounds like a bomb going off. Whoever did the sound on that movie should have gotten an Oscar.
My middle brother took his family to Morocco for Thanksgiving. All six of them came back with the Koof. And my son was staying at their house taking care of the dog. They gave it to him too. My brother is wondering if they infected everyone on the plane.
“The Best Science Fiction Books with Cats in Them” by Dan Livingston
https://best-sci-fi-books.com/the-best-science-fiction-books-with-cats-in-them/
I have read “The Pride of Chanur”, “Beast Master”, “The Cat Who Walks Through Walls”, “Memory”, “On Basilisk Station”, and “Alien”.
I have a couple more but am drawing a blank at the moment.
“The Door Into Summer” 😀
Sorry, fat-fingered the thumb.
Any such list without The Door into Summer is just asinine.
And add The Zero Stone in as well. Both books with real cats, not just aliens with similarities to cats.