Thur. Jan. 26, 2023 – another day, another dollar

Cold, and damp.   37F when I went to bed, and probably starting the day from there too.   It did clear up yesterday although it stayed chilly.  And once the sun went down, it got pretty dang cold.

I did get a couple of pickups done.   Went by my secondary and moved some stuff around to make room for some other stuff.   Just a quick stop, as I couldn’t shut off my truck and be sure I could get it started again.    Rust never sleeps, and neither do other forms of corrosion.   A vise grip pliers from my mini car toolkit saved the day later on.  Details in yesterday’s comments.

Mini toolkit- 6″ vise grip, phillips screwdriver.  Flat screwdriver, medium sized.  6 in one screwdriver.  Slip joint pliers.  Diagonal cutters or wire stripper- minimalist.  6″ adjustable wrench.   Roll them up in a shop towel to keep them quiet, or put them in an old snack mix can…   That little kit helps me all the time, although it mostly helps me disassemble stuff for transport and not to repair my truck.  The ‘snack mix can’ is a heavy duty steel can for japanese bar mix that I happen to have saved a dozen of.   You could use soup cans, especially if you could find a set that slightly nest… and wrap a couple of feet of duct tape around the can.  If you don’t carry a knife (and why not?) add a thin stanley knife or a wallpaper knife with break off blade tips.  The idea is it all fits in a can to keep it neat.

Admittedly, if I’d looked under the hood sometime in the last few months, I might have seen and headed off the whole problem.   Stitch in time, and all that.  But I didn’t.  I do have replacement terminal clamps in the stacks, which should save a trip to the store.  Might try putting the treated felt washer on it this time.

It’s always something.  In this case, having an understanding of the systems involved, having done the previous repair, and having a tool with me that could be pressed into service,  all helped turn a potential issue into a non-issue.  I wasn’t prepared for this exact problem but I was prepared for some sort of problem.

And that is the best you can hope for, that your preps help solve the problem.

Knowledge, and stuff, stack them up.

n

 

69 Comments and discussion on "Thur. Jan. 26, 2023 – another day, another dollar"

  1. SteveF says:

    canned green beans with onion and bacon bits added.   Can date in ‘14.

    Just a couple weeks ago I found a can of tomatoes with a “best by” of early 2015. Not sure how it got shuffled around when rotating so that it wasn’t spotted and used about five years ago, but there you have it. If it had been hash I wouldn’t have thought twice about it, but acidic food needed careful inspection. Same thing as Nick did: check the can, check the seal, open, smell, empty into a bowl, check the inside of the can, eat cautiously, eat the rest. I didn’t die of it so I guess they were fine.

  2. Nick Flandrey says:

    32F this fine day, with the bus supposed to arrive 15 minutes early.   Those of you with proto-teens will recognize the problem…   even though said almost teens are the ones who told me about the schedule change, prying them out of warm beds is not going well.

    n

  3. lpdbw says:

    I do like fresh garlic when I can but for a lot of things, the garlic salt is so convenient.    My wife has a jar of chopped garlic that she uses too, but for some reason, I never use it.

    Although we used fresh garlic  a lot, we’ve been buying the big bags of peeled fresh garlic at HEB and throwing them into a mini food processor, then packaging in tiny disposable sauce/salad dressing containers in a big ziploc bag, and throwing in the freezer.

    Need a couple cloves for a recipe?  Open the freezer and pull out one container.  Easy and convenient, and less knife work.

  4. lpdbw says:

    but acidic food needed careful inspection.

    I thought acidic food was the safest?  The problem with tomatoes, I’ve been led to believe, is that they’ve been bred to be LESS acidic over time, and that makes them more perishable and susceptible to botulism.

    I’ll have to research this later.  Unless some expert here chimes in and does it for me…

  5. Nick Flandrey says:

    Well that was less difficult, once they were vertical….  and the bus was on time.

    Frost on roofs and grass.

    The acidic food attacks the cans more than other foods, and the cans fail.   I can’t keep tomato products on the shelf because I rarely use them and the cans fail before I do.   

    n

  6. Nick Flandrey says:

    What’s the song?  Jump You F#ckers?

    The founder of an investment firm plunged to his death from a Manhattan rooftop bar on Wednesday night, cops and law enforcement sources said.

    The 46-year-old man plummeted from Bar 54 at the Hyatt Centric Times Square New York in front of at least two witnesses around 6:30 p.m., and was pronounced dead at the scene, police and sources said.

    His death is being investigated as a suspected suicide, an NYPD spokesperson said.

    Sources said the man was a founder and partner at a Connecticut-based investment company.

    This is the second time in less than four months a person plunged from the same hotel bar.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yge311sFhC8 

    At least this guy has witnesses that he didn’t have “help”.

    History might not repeat but it rhymes.

    n

  7. Nick Flandrey says:

    After re-reading today’s post, a hose clamp would have worked to hold the wire and last bit of terminal clamp in place too.     Lots of people suggest putting a couple of hose clamps and some zip ties in your car toolkit as well.   Wouldn’t hurt, but I was going for minimalist.

    n

  8. SteveF says:

    The founder of an investment firm plunged to his death

    Like I keep saying, a Depression. We just don’t notice because we have so much excess wealth… for now.

    I was going for minimalist.

    I carry about a hundred pounds of car stuff in the back of my van: tools, a jack (a good one, not the thing that comes with the car), a jump-start battery, an air pump, coolant and other fluids, and parts including, yes, hose clamps. Plus the expected blankets and flashlights – I mean, FLASHLIGHTS! – and whatever. Most trips I don’t need to use any of the above, of course, and if I do need tools, 95% of the time a small kit like Nick describes (which I carry in my 20-pocket vest) would suffice. The other 5% of the time, though…

  9. Nightraker says:

    Saving money gardening:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAmiTgdpGrQ

    The voice of experience.  

    Her chicken tutorials are good/informative too.

  10. drwilliams says:

    @SteveF

    “I’m kind of just hoping that the world will end and everyone dies and I’m still here with my stuff”

    Remember what happened to Burgess Meredith.

  11. Nightraker says:

    I carry enough stuff under the Forester’s privacy screen to negatively affect gas mileage.  There is the nice Vair air compressor, cased jumper cables and bottle jack.  Couple of inverters, lithium battery jumper kit, blanket, bright colored safety vest,.  Spare shirt, pants, sneakers in a soft cooler for painting jobs.  Box ‘o fuses.  Car cleaning kit in a bucket.  Set of soft fold down insulated grocery bags. 20-ish lb General tool kit in 20′” Stanley box with metal latches.  Heavy, long breaker bar and lug socket.  Bush/survival kit bag with openers for fences, utility boxes /spigots.  Winter gloves, disposable gloves.

    I’m sure there is more, but I’m not looking at it now.  Spare glasses in the over windshield compartment with clip-ons. I remember that Twilight Zone.

  12. Geoff Powell says:

    @nick:

    The founder of an investment firm plunged to his death from a Manhattan rooftop bar on Wednesday night, cops and law enforcement sources said.

    The 46-year-old man plummeted from Bar 54 at the Hyatt Centric Times Square New York in front of at least two witnesses around 6:30 p.m., and was pronounced dead at the scene, police and sources said.

    His death is being investigated as a suspected suicide, an NYPD spokesperson said.

    Sources said the man was a founder and partner at a Connecticut-based investment company.

    This is the second time in less than four months a person plunged from the same hotel bar.

    I have to wonder what effect this has on any witnesses. I have seen reports that the driver of a subway train who has someone jump out in front of the train requires psychological counselling afterwards. 

    Haven’t witnessed anything like that myself, thank $DEITY, but it’s always possible.

    G.

  13. MrAtoz says:

    Remember what happened to Burgess Meredith.

    Great episode. He was on several other episodes. His gig on Night Gallery “Finnegan’s Flight” is a favorite, also.

  14. ITGuy1998 says:

    https://huntsvillebusinessjournal.com/lead/2023/01/24/fannie-mae-and-freddie-mac-announce-major-changes-to-mortgage-financing/

    Don’t worry if you can’t afford a mortgage, we will change the requirements so you can. What could go wrong?

  15. Nick Flandrey says:

    @drwilliams, witnesses are always negatively affected.   Our CERT training included a module on disaster psychology and the effect on responder mental health, led by the city’s psychologist. 

     The meta thing about this particular instance for me was that the author went out of his way to emphasize that there were witnesses- ie. this wasn’t a mobster throwing a banker out a window or a ‘nailgun accident’.

    n

  16. Geoff Powell says:

    What did happen to Burgess Meredith?

    G.

  17. Greg Norton says:

    Like I keep saying, a Depression. We just don’t notice because we have so much excess wealth… for now.

    The excess wealth ran out 20 years ago. This was obvious by the time the Fed started buying the Treasuries at a rate of $1 Trillion a year which allowed people to purchase houses and vehicles they really couldn’t afford over the last decade.

  18. dkreck says:

    https://jalopnik.com/driving-100-miles-in-an-ev-is-now-more-expensive-than-i-1850031874

    fueling costs from mid-priced ICE-powered vehicles are lower than similarly priced electric vehicles. Combustion drivers pay about $11.29 per 100 miles on the road. EV drivers who charge up at home spend about $11.60 per 100 miles. The price difference is more dramatic for those who mainly recharge at stations. Frequent charging station users pay $14.40 per 100 miles.

  19. SteveF says:

    What did happen to Burgess Meredith?

    In a Twilight Zone episode, he was the sole survivor of a cataclysm. He was glad because he just wanted to read and now he had time and no interruptions. And then he broke his glasses.

    That episode was good, but the hands-down best TZ episode was the one with William Shatner on the airplane. Celluloid has never before or since mastered such a subtly nuanced artistic performance.

  20. Geoff Powell says:

    @stevef:

    In a Twilight Zone episode, he was the sole survivor of a cataclysm. He was glad because he just wanted to read and now he had time and no interruptions. And then he broke his glasses.

    That episode was good, but the hands-down best TZ episode was the one with William Shatner on the airplane. Celluloid has never before or since mastered such a subtly nuanced artistic performance.

    Thanks for that. I looked him up on Wikipedia, and he seemed to have had a long and successful life. I remember him in “Clash of the Titans” and “Search”. Never saw much “Twilight Zone”, which was both uncommon on UK TV, and of variable quality, from what I did see.

    G.

  21. MrAtoz says:

    Thanks for that. I looked him up on Wikipedia, and he seemed to have had a long and successful life. I remember him in “Clash of the Titans” and “Search”. Never saw much “Twilight Zone”, which was both uncommon on UK TV, and of variable quality, from what I did see.

    He also played “The Penguin” on the Batman TV series. And, of course, Rocky’s trainer, and a myriad of other movies and TV shows.

    The Twilight Zone usually ended in the macabre. The ending just fades to black with Burgess on steps, crying, I think, with Rod Serling’s voice over.

  22. Greg Norton says:

    Frequent charging station users pay $14.40 per 100 miles.

    Frequent use of the fast chargers also shortens the lifespan of the battery, but that doesn’t get a lot of press outside of the owners manuals.

  23. Ray Thompson says:

    Might try putting the treated felt washer on it this time.

    Use the spray Luke, use the spray.

    Haven’t witnessed anything like that myself, thank $DEITY, but it’s always possible.

    I have, twice.

    The first time was in 1968 when I was heading out on a date. The road parallels the railroad tracks for 100 yards, stop sign, then turn right across the tracks to get to I-5. This was in Rogue River. The train was coming, about 55 mph the track speed limit, car in front of me stopped at the stop sign, turned right, got smacked by the train. I walked over to the garage and told them to call the police, but they were already on the phone with the police. After the train passed and stopped, which took several minutes, I went over to the car. The driver’s head was 15 feet from the body, his wife was still strapped in the upside-down vehicle. Emergency services cut her free and I think almost every bone in her body was broken. She fell down in basically a big lump. She heaved a sigh and died.

    The second time was in 1974 on the road in front of Randolph AFB. It was dark, a four-lane highway, I was traveling in the inner lane and another car 50 yards or so in front of me was in the right lane. I saw something fly out the side of the car and thought it was a trash bag. As I got closer, I saw it was a body. I stopped as quickly as I could, which put me close to the other vehicle. His wife and kids were freaking out and I tried to calm them down. There were human guts on the broken windshield.

    I then went over to the body and saw that his head was about half gone. The guts on the windshield were brains. I also found a broken liquor bottle on the road with liquid around the bottle. They guy had been drinking. It was dark and he had on dark clothes. No way the car could have seen him.

    The police were going to charge the driver with manslaughter. I told the police that if that car had not hit the person, I would have. I showed them the bottle on the road. They ignored me and the evidence. I then told the driver that if he got charged, I would go to court on his behalf and inform the judge of the circumstances and inform the judge the police officer ignored the evidence. The police officer heard me. I never heard back from anyone, so I guess the charges got dropped.

    I carry about a hundred pounds of car stuff in the back of my van

    I do too. But I have not figured out how to keep her quiet.

  24. Jenny says:

    Garlic – winds up in most of the dinners I make. Fresh most of the time, though powdered, pre-minced, or pre-peeled all come in handy. 
     

    With fresh I flip a couple cloves from the head with my thumb. Then, I use the flat of my knife blade to give individual cloves a light smack.  That cracks the paper wrap and the clove pops free. Lay the flat of the blade against the naked clove and give it an almighty bash with heel of my hand, fingers and thumb curved up and away from the blade. I’ve never cut myself doing so,though on rare occasions the naked clove will squirt out and away like a watermelon seed.

    This yields a perfectly mashed clove that goes straight to the cook pan / pot. Takes a few seconds, no need for a specialized kitchen tool getting lost in drawers, and satisfying after a cranky day. There might be excessive garlic in dinner on cranky days for the visceral satisfaction of bashing the bejeezus out of garlic -laughter-

    Local politics are such a train wreck I can’t even read about it currently. What’s happening with our beleagured mayor is horrible. The assembly is making an example of him. If we ever find another true conservative with the intestinal fortitude to take on these criminals again I’ll be shocked. 
     

    North of us, our recently modified red flag laws put a nice, professional, christian woman through three days of bad ness at a psych ward. Her non Christian adult siblings  took exception to her embarrassing and outspoken Jesus speak, appear to have forged a court ordered commitment document, which the state troopers followed without question. Alaska Court System says there was no court order. Troopers have vowed to do better. The siblings that instigated the involuntary commitment have refused to turn the paper over to troopers. Lawyers are activated.

    Take a look at the articles on Must Read Alaska or Alaska Watchman for the most details. ADN skims over it and focuses on her weird Jesus ness. 

  25. lpdbw says:

    Celluloid has never before or since mastered such a subtly nuanced artistic performance.

    I couldn’t decide to go with “I’ll have what he’s having” or “Well played, Steve”.

  26. SteveF says:

    Try instead, “Wow. Did it hurt to get that much brain damage?”

  27. Greg Norton says:

    That episode was good, but the hands-down best TZ episode was the one with William Shatner on the airplane. Celluloid has never before or since mastered such a subtly nuanced artistic performance.

    John Lithgow’s take on that same role was very good and the only watchable main feature segment of the “Twilight Zone” movie.

    Albert Brooks and Dan Aykroyd own that movie, however. “Wanna see something really scary?”

  28. lpdbw says:

    Well, since it’s come up:  As noted, Shatner and Lithgow both played the same script.

    Here’s a 3rd Rock From The Sun with Shatner and Lithgow where they reference it.

  29. Nick Flandrey says:

    Popo and news chopper orbiting the same spot in my neighborhood….   then they left.   Nothing on the FB neighbor groups…   Popo flight track looks like they were following a car on the various freeways around most of town.    News spent a LOT of time in the same spot though.

    I’m assuming news, but could be another popo chopper as it’s leased and the end user isn’t listed.  THAT should be illegal.   Used to be a news chopper in FL.

    Nothing on the news backchannel frequency, if I got the right news channel.  Oh well.  Mystery.

    n

  30. Lynn says:

    Thur. Jan. 26, 2023 – another day, another dollar

    You know, I was thinking about retiring.  The recent harsh realities of life have convinced me that thinking needs to be at the end of five years.  I told my father the other day that if our business cannot pay me a paycheck then I will be hunting for a engineering programming job, despite the fact that I am 62.  He laughed.

  31. Lynn says:

    My daughters’s MDACC appt to see the obgyn oncologist surgeon has been moved back to Feb 8 since my daughter had a positive Covid test a week ago at the ER.  MDACC has a two week Covid policy.  I am unhappy but I understand totally.

    My wife will be a 18 year breast cancer survivor in two weeks.  I attribute most of that to MDACC.

  32. Lynn says:

    “Fortifying Puerto Rico’s Power Grid”

         https://www.asme.org/topics-resources/content/fortifying-puerto-ricos-power-grid

    “In September 2022, Hurricane Fiona battered Puerto Rico, knocking out power to nearly half the island’s 3.3 million residents. It could not have happened at a worse time as the island was still recovering from energy outages and ruined infrastructure left in the wake of Hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017.”

    “As part of the effort to build a more resilient power grid, the 2019 Puerto Rico Energy Public Policy Act calls for 100 percent of the island’s electricity to come from renewable resources by 2050. The measure mandates that Puerto Rico obtain 40 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2025. That move will have to happen quickly, though. Renewables comprised just 3 percent of Puerto Rico’s energy mix in 2021, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.”

    Meanwhile, the powers that be are going to pull as much graft out of the project as possible.

  33. Lynn says:

    “The God’s Wolfling (Children of Myth)” by Cedar Sanderson
       https://www.amazon.com/Gods-Wolfling-Vol-Children-Myth/dp/0692255370?tag=ttgnet-20/

    Book number two of a two book dark fantasy science fiction series. I read the well printed and well bound POD (print on demand) trade paperback published by Stonycroft Publishing in 2014. This is apparently the last book in the series but there may be short stories also.

    It has been two years since the great battle on the high plain between the immortals. The dead ones regenerated new bodies and the wounded one went home and healed up. Even though the immortals are made of nanobots, they still take a long time to heal.

    On a very small island way off the Icelandic coast, an immortal awakens from his thousand year cryosleep as the machinery fails. There are hundreds of other immortal sleepers in the cavern miles below the surface of the island. The wakened sleeper makes his way to the surface and swims to his homeland, Ireland. Manannán mac Lir is awake and confused.

    My rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    Amazon rating: 4.6 out of 5 stars (35 reviews)

  34. Greg Norton says:

    Meanwhile, the powers that be are going to pull as much graft out of the project as possible.

    The tolling company had a project in Puerto Rico. God only knows why.

    That industry has turned into quite a racket for a cluster of consulting companies based around Kansas City.

  35. Lynn says:

    xkcd: Planet Killer Comet Margarita

        https://xkcd.com/2729/

    So I guess that everyone on the planet will die of alcohol poisoning.

    Explained at:
    https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/2729:_Planet_Killer_Comet_Margarita

  36. Lynn says:

    “Demand for Tesla storage products exceeds supply as Q4 deployments rise 152% to 2.5 GWh”

         https://www.utilitydive.com/news/demand-for-tesla-storage-products-exceeds-supply-as-q4-deployments-rise-152/641299/

    “Tesla deployed 6.5 GWh of storage in 2022, “by far the highest level of deployments we have achieved,” the company said.”

    That is a lot of batteries in 1U racks. I wonder what their life is.

  37. MrAtoz says:

    That is a lot of batteries in 1U racks. I wonder what their life is.

    It had better be at least 80% after 10 years.

  38. Alan says:

    >> then packaging in tiny disposable sauce/salad dressing containers

    Sure, more plastic in the landfill…stay off my lawn.

  39. Greg Norton says:

    That is a lot of batteries in 1U racks. I wonder what their life is.

    It had better be at least 80% after 10 years.

    Yeah, right.

    My wife’s back channel contact at Toyota says that the Japanese don’t believe that Tony will be able to recycle the vehicle batteries in any meaningful volume as the numbers pick up and costs rise. The storage products seem like a good way to hide the problem for a while.

  40. Ray Thompson says:

    We took the suspended ceiling tiles down in the basement where my office is located. Also removed the old fluorescent lights and will take them to Habitat for Humanity. The lights work, I just don’t want them anymore. The lights will be replaced with LED can lights. This will complete the conversion of the entire house to LED lights.

    When we had the ceiling installed, I relied on a contractor. He did a nice job on the ceiling, but the wiring of the lights really was done poorly. Multiple connection boxes with no covers and none of the boxes are grounded. That will be resolved when I install the lights.

    When we replace the tiles, we will be installing two-foot cross pieces, cutting the original tiles in half, and leaving us with a 2×2 grid rather than 2×4. It will look less industrial.

    Amazing the amount of rodent debris that exists on the old tiles. We have trapped several mice over the years. Gradually I have found the entrance points and it is amazing how small a hole is adequate for a rodent to squeeze through, a couple not much larger than a crayon. The garage is next to the basement and a minor hole for a pipe to pass through is all it takes.

  41. paul says:
    The lights will be replaced with LED can lights.

    I saw some LED lights for suspended ceilings.  2×2, drop in like a ceiling tile.  Dimmable, too.  On Big River.

  42. Nick Flandrey says:

    Home from and afternoon out and about.   Not much actual work got done.   Time to start thinking about dinner for the brats…   mmmmm, brats…..

    n

  43. Ray Thompson says:

    I saw some LED lights for suspended ceilings.  2×2, drop in like a ceiling tile.  Dimmable, too.

    I got dimmable can lights. It is possible to even change the color balance of the lights. Round can lights. Just cut a round hole in a tile. I have a hole saw specifically for the task. Looks less industrial. I have six in the other side of the basement that is used as an apartment or guest quarters.

  44. Greg Norton says:

    Amazing the amount of rodent debris that exists on the old tiles. We have trapped several mice over the years. Gradually I have found the entrance points and it is amazing how small a hole is adequate for a rodent to squeeze through, a couple not much larger than a crayon. The garage is next to the basement and a minor hole for a pipe to pass through is all it takes.

    Grove rats in Florida would chew holes through cinder block given enough time and sufficient motivation.

  45. Alan says:

    >> After re-reading today’s post, a hose clamp would have worked to hold the wire and last bit of terminal clamp in place too.     Lots of people suggest putting a couple of hose clamps and some zip ties in your car toolkit as well.   Wouldn’t hurt, but I was going for minimalist.

    I also have two wire coat hangers, good for securing loose exhaust components, with cutters sturdy enough to cut them. I’m also in with the zip ties, and some of the rubberized tape that will patch a wet hose.

  46. Alan says:

    >> Box ‘o fuses.

    Don’t forget any critical fusable links, mostly under the hood.

    >> Winter gloves, disposable gloves.

    And a few pairs of those (usually) brown cotton gloves to go over your disposable gloves (nitrile?) where the latter may get ripped. Also a space blanket.

  47. Alan says:

    >> https://jalopnik.com/driving-100-miles-in-an-ev-is-now-more-expensive-than-i-1850031874

    Cost per 100 miles for routine maintenance for the EV will be lower than for the ICE vehicle.

  48. Lynn says:

    >> https://jalopnik.com/driving-100-miles-in-an-ev-is-now-more-expensive-than-i-1850031874

    Cost per 100 miles for routine maintenance for the EV will be lower than for the ICE vehicle.

    Why ?

  49. Alan says:

    >> Might try putting the treated felt washer on it this time.

    Use the spray Luke, use the spray.

    I use dielectric grease, never had any corrosion problems with it.

  50. Greg Norton says:

    Cost per 100 miles for routine maintenance for the EV will be lower than for the ICE vehicle.

    Why ?

    No air filters, oil changes, coolant flushes, or transmission fluid replacement. Plus a lot of new cars with direct injected engines will need to have the carbon build up cleaned out with a manual process.

    Of course, a fanboy site like Jalopnik is going to ignore the replacement cost of the battery on an EV.

  51. drwilliams says:

    “a flaming dumpster rolling down the street.”

    https://hotair.com/headlines/2023/01/26/frustrated-with-twitters-progress-heres-what-i-found-n526678

    So Elon is still having fun with Twitter.

  52. drwilliams says:

    “I also have two wire coat hangers, good for securing loose exhaust components, with cutters sturdy enough to cut them. I’m also in with the zip ties, and some of the rubberized tape that will patch a wet hose.”

    I’m visualizing @Nick going around turns and all the cans full of tools rolling rolling around the back from side-to-side. Then he stops and needs something and starts opening cans… and opening… then I get a call because he’s out of swear words and can’t open any more cans without some new ones.

    when he gets home he finds out that his wife knows some interesting Russian phrases, too. Small world.

  53. drwilliams says:

    @Ray Thompson

    “I got dimmable can lights. It is possible to even change the color balance of the lights”

    Post a product link, please?

    When I first read that I imagined the colors actually changing, and thought what a hell of a product it would have been for 70’s-era basements.

  54. Lynn says:

    “John Kennedy Stumps Biden Judicial Nominee With Questions About the Constitution”

        https://townhall.com/tipsheet/juliorosas/2023/01/26/john-kennedy-stumps-biden-judicial-nominee-with-question-about-the-constitution-n2618799

    “Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) stumped a Biden judicial nominee by asking her what is said in certain parts of the U.S. Constitution since she is being considered for a federal position.  Each of the three questions Kennedy posed, Judge Charnelle Bjelkengren did not have an answer. She is being considered to be the United States District Judge For The Eastern District Of Washington. She has been serving as a judge of the Spokane County Superior Court since 2019.  Bjelkengren got her Juris Doctor from Gonzaga University School of Law.

    “Judge, tell me what Article V of the Constitution does?” Kennedy asked.  “Article V is not coming to mind at the moment,” Bjelkengren replied after a long pause.

    “How about Article II?” Kennedy followed up.  “Neither is Article II,” said Bjelkengren.”

    So we should expect these judges to have read and studied the USA Constitution ?  What a concept !

  55. Lynn says:

    Cost per 100 miles for routine maintenance for the EV will be lower than for the ICE vehicle.

    Why ?

    No air filters, oil changes, coolant flushes, or transmission fluid replacement. Plus a lot of new cars with direct injected engines will need to have the carbon build up cleaned out with a manual process.

    Of course, a fanboy site like Jalopnik is going to ignore the replacement cost of the battery on an EV.

    My employee’s Nissan Leaf Plus has quite a bit of stuff in the front that looks like a radiator, possibly coolant for the electric motor.  That big 240 hp electric motor has oil in it that will need to be changed at some point.  Not sure about air filters. There is a electric heat pump in the front with piping all over the place which makes it confusing to see what is all there.

    Is the electric motor directly coupled to the axles for the wheels ?  I think so but am not sure.

    I figure both vehicles have an expected life of 150,000 miles before battery or gasoline motor replacement is needed.

  56. drwilliams says:

    John Kennedy Stumps Biden Judicial Nominee With Questions About the Constitution

    https://townhall.com/tipsheet/juliorosas/2023/01/26/john-kennedy-stumps-biden-judicial-nominee-with-question-about-the-constitution-n2618799

    What is Article V?

    What is Article II.

    Very tricky, John. Not safe for BIPOC.

    Let me guess: rated “Fully Qualified” by the ABA.

  57. Nick Flandrey says:

    Cans rolling around?  Never.   They fit in a cup holder.   All those tools fit in one can.  Well, in my pickup they are just rolled up in the towel, sitting under the edge of the driver’s seat, but in the Expy and the wife’s honda, they are in cupholders….

    https://www.amazon.com/Hapi-Mixed-Crackers-6-Ounce-Tins/dp/B00PRH0LLE?tag=ttgnet-20 

    They were a lot cheaper locally…

    n

  58. Lynn says:

    https://www.amazon.com/Hapi-Mixed-Crackers-6-Ounce-Tins/dp/B00PRH0LLE?tag=ttgnet-20 

    They were a lot cheaper locally…

    Try this one out, six 11 oz bags of Eight O’Clock coffee beans for $68.  I bought the box of six bags last June, it was $36.

        https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0068ZXD8C?tag=ttgnet-20/

  59. drwilliams says:

    @Nick

    If you add in everything that is suggested in the comments, you’ll have a few more cans.

    Their Wasabi (Fake) and Sriracha Peas are good.

    And, yeah, I kept the cans, too.

    When I was growing up every garage and basement shop had a set of metal coffee cans with nails, screws, other fasteners, etc. I remember when the metal lids with a key to remove the seal were replaced by cans with plastic reseal lids and a throwaway sealed lid. A have a set of the latter that I inherited–they were spray painted black but not primed first, and have some chips. I also have a spare set of cans put by when they started phasing them out in favor of the plastic cans.

    I have two Pik-A-Nut Pak Assorment cabinets ca. mid-60’s:

    https://img1.etsystatic.com/031/0/6334211/il_570xN.564390037_gjzz.jpg

    The second doesn’t have the little boxes, and somewhere on the voluminous list of organizing shiite is setting up the second unit with metric (mostly) and a bunch of the standard plastic fasteners…

    I can’t tell you how many times over the years that pulling a bolt or nut out of one of those little boxes saved a trip to the hardware store.

  60. drwilliams says:

    @Ray Thompson

    Thanks for the link. Please give an after-installation report.

  61. Nick Flandrey says:

    Ah, you can always add to a tool list.   I was going for minimal but still useful.  I have given several kits to relatives over the years.   I added the individual screwdrivers because I ran into screws recessed deep enough the 6 in 1 couldn’t reach them.  Could be a 13 in 1 if you are an overachiever…

    n

    I had a friend who used to say the only two tools you needed in a vehicle were “BFH” and “BFS”, hammer and screwdriver, respectively.   ‘cuz if you can’t fix it with those two, you can’t fix it on the side of the road…  I liked the sentiment, if not the accuracy.

  62. drwilliams says:

    I see that the much-touted “first redesign of Wikipedia in ten years” has met the primary design goal of making the entries less-organized and harder to use.

  63. Nick Flandrey says:

    she joined a long list of stars who have been turning to gestational carriers

    – gestational carriers.  yeah, way to dehumanize those women.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-11675329/Celebrity-surrogacies-Inside-sky-high-costs-iron-clad-NDAs-watertight-arrangements.html 

    n

  64. drwilliams says:

    Yeah, we’ll know if that dude is really the father when the baby’s teeth come in.

  65. drwilliams says:

    Can ammonia really be the fuel of the future?

    https://legalinsurrection.com/2023/01/can-ammonia-really-be-a-fuel-for-the-future/

    [In a nutshell, this is just a scheme for transporting hydrogen. The ammonia is “cracked” to yield hydrogen, which is burned, and nitrogen, which is wasted.]

    The C&EN article that is quoted for numbers background is almost two years old. It cites worldwide capacity as 180MT which was low–wiki says 235MT, with “very little” in the United States.

    Then we have this:

    Japanese utilities would need 100 million tons of ammonia a year (that’s a lot) if all major power producers were to run coal-powered plants with 100% of the fuel source

    So just converting Japan would take almost half the world installed capacity.

    Unicorn farts would have better odds of being commercialized, were it not for stone idiots like John Kerry and the sweaty billionaires club, who will doubtless get the taxpayers to subsidize yet another ruinous piece of carp.

    ADDED:
    The only way you can pretend this process–wherein ammonia is produced at 500 atmospheres (Haber-Bosch) only to be cracked later, with all attendant thermodynamic inefficiencies–is to whip the “BAD, BAD, CO2” dead horse. (I hear Jim Croce singing…

  66. drwilliams says:

    CHINESE GAMER FANBOI: “Holy Carp! Boss, come look this!”

    CIA COINTEL GAMER: “Holy Carp! Boss, you said they wouldn’t fll for it!”

    https://www.aerotime.aero/articles/two-days-two-leaks-sensitive-f-15-data-posted-by-war-thunder-fan

  67. Nick Flandrey says:

    @lynn, I’ve been very happy with Community Dark Roast coffee.

    https://www.amazon.com/dp/B087YYJ66S?tag=ttgnet-20 

    I like strong coffee, and add sweetener and heavy cream.   It stands up well to that, and it’s cheap, and a family business.

    n

    1
    1
  68. Lynn says:

    @lynn, I’ve been very happy with Community Dark Roast coffee.

    https://www.amazon.com/dp/B087YYJ66S?tag=ttgnet-20 

    I like strong coffee, and add sweetener and heavy cream.   It stands up well to that, and it’s cheap, and a family business.

    No cream, I am allergic to milk.  I usually drink my coffee black, been drinking this coffee for almost 25 years now.

    On Saturdays, I put non-dairy International Delight white chocolate mocha creamer into my coffee.  Too rich for every day.  Way cheaper than going to Starbucks and getting a soy white chocolate mocha with three shots.

        https://www.heb.com/product-detail/international-delight-white-chocolate-mocha-coffee-creamer-32-oz/1446168

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