Dare I say “warm” today? It was 69F when I went to bed and that is arguably “warm”. So lets go with that- warm and wet today. Overcast and rain possible. Yesterday was “warm” and certainly damp. Overcast and mixed clouds until dusk then misty drizzle for a while. Yuck.
Did some pickups, won some items, dropped off about 30 pounds of lego at the auctioneer. I put it in gallon ziplok bags, each about 1 pound. I tried for a mix of small pieces, minifigs, and bigger plates. I also tried to keep stuff that should be together as a kit together. Since I scooped it out of surplus bins, that last part is kind of hit or miss. 🙂 I’m hoping to do better than just the bulk rate of about $8/pound. If it sells well, I’ll package another 30-50 pounds for the next auction.
One of the pickups was an equatorial mount for a telescope. It’s a bit smaller than I thought, but seems nice enough. It’s sturdy and the ‘scopes are light. The limits are probably going to be whatever kind of mounting plate I figure out, and how sturdy the tripod ends up being. Tripod is definitely a deficiency with the cheap chinese ‘scopes, every one I’ve seen was very flimsy. Fortunately I’ve got a dozen surveyor type tripods that are very sturdy and I think I can figure a way to mod one of them into something suitable. Oh, and the mount has a little motor drive that is optional (it’s essentially a friction drive for the knob) and eventually it would be nice to figure out how to power and control that. Projects. I just can’t help myself.
For that matter, it would be nice to find the computer control for the little table top Meade ‘scope, then we could use that to “steer” us to an object, and look at it through the bigger ‘scope… or maybe that’s all too much fussing. Dunno. Very new to the whole thing. We’ll figure it out.
Today, I need to keep knocking some stuff off the list. I really haven’t been feeling it, but sometimes you just have to power through. Getting a bit more sleep will help. Actually getting stuff done helps with a virtuous feedback loop.
There’s an old saying that if you want something done, give the job to a busy man. That only works to a point though. The trick is staying under the saturation point. Prepping is like that. When you do it, and it works, you want to do more… but sometimes you just can’t muster the effort. It’s ok. It happens. Move on, get back to it, and stack some stuff.
nick
I feel that, especially at the moment. I’m very good at getting stuff done. I really despise multitasking, so I tend to focus on tasks individually and get them out of the way quickly. Usually ahead of whatever deadline exists. Which, of course, people appreciate to the point of handing me more tasks, until I eventually hit saturation and say “no”. No? Why not, it’s just one little thing…
What is more annoying is the lack of appreciation. Give me a task, get results. Easy peasy, why even bother to say “thanks”?
I was about to suggest giving up sleep, possibly entirely, to get more time.
Well. That’s awkward.
That’s where I live, and have for my entire adult life.
Yah. My current employer is appreciative (to the extent that someone at the C-level got me bumped to a higher annual bonus tier) but that’s not the norm. And family? Yah, right.
What is more annoying is the lack of appreciation.
And even more annoying is the lack of feedback after giving technical advice. Was the advice I gave you helpful or awful? Lemme know so I can do better in the future!
Thanks are nice but optional.
70F and saturated this morning.
Had a family meeting last night and one of the items ‘discussed’ was kids getting ready for the bus in the morning. Mainly my unhappiness about getting up early only to get grumped at and have kids running to the bus.
Supposedly there will be a change in behavior. I guess we’ll see.
n
Brad, you sound like my alter ego as regards multitasking. My experience is that the punishment for work done well and ahead of schedule is more work!
Nick, really enjoying hearing about your adventures with telescopes. I bought a copy of RBT’s Guide to Astronomical Wonders. Looking forward to that arriving…
Well, D1 was out of bed and dressed a full half hour early today. And I managed to drag D2 to the bus stop on time. So NATURALLY the bus was 25 minutes late. Substitute driver. What a cluster.
n
Nice surprise at the basketball game last night. It was senior night, six seniors including one cheerleader. One of the parents handed me an envelope with a thank you card. Inside the card were two gift cards of $25.00 each to Zaxby’s and Outback. Nice to get a little appreciation.
And in other news, my camera got struck in the lens by a basketball. In a portion of the zoom mechanism there is a rough spot. Something was damaged. The cost to fix is $400.00, a flat rate charged by the repair facility as long as the glass is intact. Bummer. Will send the lens off after the district tournaments. Lens still works but needs to be fixed before it doesn’t work.
Thanks for the Android, ‘Out of support’, feedback yesterday. It mirrored my position – as long as the phone performs adequately, run with it, but be aware of what you use it for.
Just sharing. Monday before last, 30 Jan, I dropped 2 parcels off for Fedex and obtained a receipt – their tracking system is not aware they were even dropped off, and no delivery. I dropped another parcel off this Monday, at the same agent, who confirmed the earlier items had been collected; Tuesday the parcel dropped off on Monday was delivered!
KInd of on the same subject. In the 80’s I provided internal technical support on my employer’s LAN technology. I took a query from another systems engineer on how a particular customer’s problem might be resolved, which involved fibre. After a fulsome description of a solution, the engineer responded saying “I’m not convinced”, I replied “I am not trying to convince you – I am TELLING you.” Within a few months he had left the company, probably good for us both.
Getting a lot of ‘server not found’ errors when reloading this page…
n
I lost a long comment a few hours ago but we lost connection to the ISP right about then so I figured the problem was on our end.
The comment was advice to Nick, and other parents, for when the kids inconvenience themselves only to have something go wrong because of someone else. Yah, things go wrong and people screw up and sometimes people deliberately mess things up for fun or their own benefit. Doesn’t matter. Don’t you be the reason for something being late or something failing or other people having to fix your problem. Whether from enlightened self interest or simple pride, don’t be the problem.
>> Fortunately I’ve got a dozen surveyor type tripods that are very sturdy and I think I can figure a way to mod one of them into something suitable…I just can’t help myself.
Hello Captain Obvious!
@nick, seriously though, did you really intend to wind up with a dozen?
Dreamhost (the hosting place here) was having DNS issues earlier this morning around 830am PST. They reported implementing the fix about an hour later.
@Rick, thanks for the update.
@nick, seriously though, did you really intend to wind up with a dozen? – um, nope, although I knew I was buying a dozen. I wanted one for my automatic level, and one for my transit. The whole pallet load cost less than one tripod, even at the pawn shop. I’ve sold several for a couple bucks. I used a couple. A couple were damaged in a way that wasn’t easy to fix by parts swapping. They are not worth much used, but are still quite sturdy. I thought there might be a way to use one for an antenna support…
A lot of my ‘excess’ stuff just sort of came along with something I needed or wanted, and I stacked it rather than getting rid of it. That has costs too of course.
n
This. At my job, we spend a lot of time waiting on government and security. We have had systems sitting for a year awaiting approval and deployment. Wen we get new hardware or software, I push to get our part done quickly. My response to the inevitable pushback is “we are not going to be the holdup”. If gov contracting didn’t pay so well I’d have gotten out years ago…
I’ve had pretty good success in getting kids (my own and various kids who’ve stayed with us) to nod along at the “don’t be the problem” advice.
Limited success in getting them to follow it – it’s so much easier to be lazy or to blame others.
Much more limited success when mentoring junior engineers or programmers. They’re adults and they have their college degree and they don’t need to be told things.
Also, only “some” success when saying such things to junior enlisted men or officers in the Army. An unanticipated problem with getting commissioned so young was that I was younger than everyone except the privates and even some of them had a year or two on me. I needed to show my ID a couple times because people suspected that I was a cadet or a private impersonating a lieutenant.
In the theater and entertainment industry it is very common to hear “On time means 10 minutes early.” or 15 depending on who is saying it. I’ve even got a pocket knife with that engraved on it.
Those 10 minutes are both to relieve any apprehension about whether you will make the call, and so that you are ready to work when the call starts.
The flip side is that in many shops, there is built in time to clean up yourself and your workspace at the end of every day, instead of having to clean up on your own time. (get safety gear off, put tools away, secure anything that needs securing, change to street clothes, shower, etc.)
I’m trying to get that established in my two budding theater geeks.
n
I can’t bring myself to care much, but it is a disaster and we prep for disasters. Earthquakes were the FIRST thing I was told to prep for, back in the day in Cali…
n
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/earthquake-death-toll-soars-past-11000-us-sanctions-syria-block-humanitarian-aid
It would be easy to put together the roll of anti-US sentiments from Turkey and Syria. Reap what you sow. Maybe the Chinese could sell them a dam or a power plant on easy tetms.
And Syria was largely responsible for the destruction of Lebanon, the most beautiful, progressive country in the middle east fifty years ago. So, yeah, too bad. Not even on my “C” list.
You tell ’em Mittens. Daddy would be proud.
https://nypost.com/2023/02/08/mitt-romney-tells-george-santos-you-dont-belong-here-at-state-of-union-address/
Turkey and Syria: a tragedy for the ordinary folk. The government’s and politicians couldn’t care less, except as it affects their image…
The Bishop in his full Holy Glory. Santos is my new hero. Typical lying politician, but with all his dirty laundry front and center. Mittens probably thinks he is “good” due to tithing to the Mormon Church.
See also: the governments of almost every nation
Maybe Zelensky can send some of “our” billions to help out. Or, nah.
I’m glad I’m probably never going to Disney World again:
‘There’s a new sheriff in town’: Ron DeSantis celebrates seizing control of Disney’s Reedy Creek Improvement District – and warns the ‘Corporate Kingdom’ they will finally have to pay their fair share in taxes
Can you imagine how park prices are going to skyrocket?
Any financial aid will mostly go directly into the pockets of the government politicians or their family members. A small fraction, if any, of monetary aid will arrive to the people that really need the assistance.
Corrupt officials, taking kickbacks for lousy building practices, shoddy construction from unregulated companies, construction codes that are little more than rocks and mud, resulting in buildings that would collapse with a nearby clogging dance performance.
Countries that demonstrated against the U.S. should receive no support or help of any kind. If the country does not like the U.S., so be it. The U.S. should leave them alone and suffer their fate.
Mr. Steve gives them a “C”, I would go lower to at least a “C-”.
“On Track to a Hydrogen-Powered Locomotive”
https://www.asme.org/topics-resources/content/on-track-to-a-hydrogen-powered-locomotive
“The North American rail freight fleet has approximately 25,000 locomotives in service. The U.S. Department of Energy is researching how the fleet can use hydrogen to decarbonize its operations.”
I’ll bet that locomotive will go real fast when the hydrogen tank farm starts leaking. Or, if the locomotive hits a car or 18 wheeler on the tracks. Hopefully the hydrogen tank farm will be in the back of the locomotive.
Hydrogen wants to be free !
Indeed. Corporations don’t pay taxes, their customers pay taxes, passed along in the cost of the product.
DeSantis wants aan arrangement where The Mouse stays out of state politics. He’d probably give control of the district back to the company if an understanding can be reached.
For Disney, it isn’t about the money as much as avoiding having to answer to the local politicians on matters such as zoning and building permits.
A deal is coming, but there will be kneeling.
“If we’re being honest… this is the REAL State of the Union” by Simon Black
https://www.sovereignman.com/trends/if-were-being-honest-this-is-the-real-state-of-the-union-145749/
“My fellow Americans. It has become somewhat of a tradition for Presidents to stand in front of you during this annual address and claim that “the state of our union is strong”. And there have been times in our nation’s history when that statement was true. But tonight it is not true. Tonight the state of our union is atrocious, and it’s getting worse. In fact, we, all of us politicians, seem to be putting our foot on the gas pedal with each passing day.”
“Domestically, American society has not been this polarized since at least the 1960s, and quite possibly the 1860s. Americans are at each other’s throats. And from the halls of Congress to the toxic waste dumps of social media, we have all lost the ability to engage in civil debate.”
Yup.
“B2U reaches 25 MWh storage capacity at California facility with 1,300 used Honda and Nissan EV batteries”
https://www.utilitydive.com/news/B2U-storage-solutions-ev-batteries-second-life/642107/
This is the first project that I have heard of using used EV batteries that might actually work. One wonders if the batteries will continue to decay below their stated 80%. And of course, I’ll bet that they are cherry picking the used batteries.
You tell ’em Mittens. Daddy would be proud.
The Bishop in his full Holy Glory. Santos is my new hero. Typical lying politician, but with all his dirty laundry front and center. Mittens probably thinks he is “good” due to tithing to the Mormon Church.
In my view, Mittens has cheated the USA government of millions in income, social security, and medicare taxes using his special “carried interest” tax treatment that converts ordinary income into capital gains. Mittens is a bigger tax cheat than just about anyone in the USA.
Over The Hedge: The Bald Legal Eagle
https://www.gocomics.com/overthehedge/2023/02/08
Luckily, we do not have many of these in our HOA of 450+ homes.
Honda and Nissan batteries but not Tesla?
Interesting.
Only so many of those are going to be available since any viable used battery will be sought after for warranty claims. As is the case with normal vehicle drivetrain guarantees, the replacement does not have to be new.
Nissan already announced the Leaf will be discontinued in favor of a new EV. Don’t they guarantee the batteries for seven years?
>> A lot of my ‘excess’ stuff just sort of came along with something I needed or wanted, and I stacked it rather than getting rid of it. That has costs too of course.
Anything that I can do without that, IMO, would sell for $5 or less on FB/ND goes out to curb with a “FREE STUFF” sign. Almost always gone within a few days.
That reminds me, I finally moved enough stuff to get to the extra NOS Honda gennie that needs to get sold.
@greg:
Ostensibly. But there’s probably a clause in the guarantee, written in legal Japanese, and printed in Flyspeck3 on page 25 (of 26) of the guarantee document, that you sign on purchase, that excludes almost everything that would make that guarantee worth the paper it’s printed on.
In other words, good luck if you try to claim.
Cynical? Moi?
G.
Her complaints are mostly valid. The problem that Amazon was addressing was that people were putting Kindle versions of books that they had no rights to and depriving authors of royalties. In Amazon’s defense, as one sf writer put it about bureaucracies:
She ran into a bureaucracy and it frustrated her. Now that she has navigated it once, she knows how to address it in the future.
Firefox 109 added a feature. A new toolbar button for Extensions. How often do you mess with the extensions you have added? Once set up, zero is my answer. How hard is it to click the hamburger thing and select Add-ons and themes?
It’s a special button. The Mozilla site says so and “no way to disable”. I might have been grouchy but the tone seemed snooty. Come on, get real. Here are the directions I found.
That Overflow menu arrow? Right click and remove.
Maybe I’m weird but I don’t want hidden icons and shortcuts. I’m the same about Windows hiding stuff in the system tray by the clock. I have a big screen, plenty of space and I’m not running Windows 98Se on a 13″ monitor.
I concur with the comment that JK Rowling did some great world building in the HP series. There were also some huge holes in the world building, especially in economics and demographics. She’s tried to retcon some of it, but they were peripheral to the main plot. If you read carefully, there were items set up in book 1 that paid off in later ones, even the last one.
As for self-published authors, there are some making huge bank on Kindle Unlimited. The demand for romance novels is huge. To the point that I’ve thought about reading a few and writing some under a pen name. Heck, some authors take a story about a hunky lumberjack, change him to a hunky auto mechanic, do some search and replace of the proper names, fix up the scenes about his profession, change a few words here and there, and hit publish. They also do cross-promotions of books, adding a chapter from another author’s work in exchange for the same from her. (All romance novelists seem to be women.) In the past, there was a lot of cheating the KU algorithms and other dodgy stuff, but Amazon plugged those holes.
The demand is huge and it looks like the most successful KU authors in sff publish a new book every 6 to 8 weeks. There is one author that has 4 series going right now, with a new book in one of the series coming out every week. Naturally, he has co-authors on the series. I’m reading one right now (Backyard Starship – by Cheney and Maggert) and it’s pretty good. He put out an omnibus of an his earliest work, a series that is finished, and it’s rougher writing than the new series. He shoots for 15-20 books in a series and has set several series in the same universe. His books are also available in POD paperback. I get them as part of my Kindle Unlimited sub.
I hope that B2U’s operators gave some thought to fire control.
My guess is that the manufacturers will try to honor the guarantee, but no one buying an EV with a 7-8 year warranty on the drivetrain should believe that they will get a new battery from a claim at X years which will offer another X years of service. It won’t work that way.
UPS is being weird. They use to come to the house. Even had cookies for the dogs. Now they drop my stuff at the gate, on the neighbor’s side of the fence. No clue why.
So I have a Big River thing coming. It was suppose to be here Monday. That didn’t happen. Then yesterday. Nope. It’s out for delivery again today.
I check the tracking because it’s easier than walking to the gate several times a day. And now, like Monday and yesterday, “We have updated your estimated delivery time.”.
Maybe tomorrow. If delivery happens today, it’s not suppose to rain tonight. And maybe the neighbor’s horses are grazing elsewhere.
And hopefully the idiot delivers to the fence line. They’ve put little things in the mail box. A folding stepladder? Yeah, don’t drop that off at the mailbox for some random passer by to collect.
@paul – have you signed up for UPS Shipping (even though you may not ship things out)?
I seem to recall that there is a setting for ‘delivery instructions’ that might help get packages closer to your front door.
UPS is probably having the same employee issues as everyone else. And their schedules might not have the same time in them to make the extra effort that they used to.
n
I have some friends that live in the Jollyville area. Nice neighborhood. The lots are smallish. Proto McMansions. They still do not have electricity.
They have gas and running water. Just no lights or silly things like a working furnace blower.
I read somewhere, I forget, the Austin electric folks do prune trees. But they don’t prune oaks from February through June because of oak wilt. And they don’t prune other trees from April through September because it might disturb nesting Black Capped Vireos (it’s a little sparrow).
That leaves October through January for tree pruning. Which is generally when it starts to rain. . . . and you have the holidays happening, too. So take a week off of November, pretty much half of December, and at least the first week of January. That’s not a lot of tree trimming time.
Meanwhile, out here in the sticks of PEC territory, they cruise through about every year and a half or so to trim trees. Big truck with a chipper trailer. Another truck with a bucket. Oak wilt? Meh. Spray the cuts and spray the blades with bleach between trees.
Is Jollyville in Oncor or Austin Energy?
Austin Energy has pledged that “most” customers will have electricity restored by Sunday evening.
The Austin City Council is cranking up to scape goat the City Manager. White guy, of course.
Oncor still has 1300 without power, but the map shows them spread out all over the area.
There is “UPS My Choice®”. But dang it, that’s another password to mess with. And I wouldn’t be surprised if they were jerks about “is this you” with the captca crap like eBay.
And forget USAA. They are crazy. They send a link that has tracking stuff. So they can tell I opened the e-mail and clicked the link. Then they send a text message with my secret number. Meanwhile my phone is out in the truck with a dead battery. All this to download my vehicle insurance proof. Oh, and their website breaks Firefox’s “save password” feature.
They are on Austin Energy.
Oncor and Austin Energy were “swimming naked”.
Compounding the error of lack of tree trimming was a failure to have pre-arrangements for out of state crews to work the outage. This situation wasn’t any different than a hurricane in Florida, with the geographic area and time frame known well in advance.
If you’ve ever wondered why the McDonalds on the Disney property near Animal Kingdom has a massive parking lot out back, that’s where the utility crews stage for hurricanes on the peninsula. The trucks can be anywhere from Miami to the Georgia border within three hours from that location.
The UPS app has tracking capabilities to show on a map where the truck with a package is located. Tells me a few minutes before the truck arrives that my package is arriving.
As for self-published authors, there are some making huge bank on Kindle Unlimited. The demand for romance novels is huge. To the point that I’ve thought about reading a few and writing some under a pen name. Heck, some authors take a story about a hunky lumberjack, change him to a hunky auto mechanic, do some search and replace of the proper names, fix up the scenes about his profession, change a few words here and there, and hit publish. They also do cross-promotions of books, adding a chapter from another author’s work in exchange for the same from her. (All romance novelists seem to be women.) In the past, there was a lot of cheating the KU algorithms and other dodgy stuff, but Amazon plugged those holes.
If Stacey Abrams (the tank that ran for governor of Georgia twice) can make $100,000 per year selling romance novels on Big River, go for it !
https://www.amazon.com/Never-Tell-Stacey-Abrams/dp/1250805821
“How America Took Out The Nord Stream Pipeline”
https://seymourhersh.substack.com/p/how-america-took-out-the-nord-stream
“The New York Times called it a “mystery,” but the United States executed a covert sea operation that was kept secret—until now”
Read a book called “Blind Man’s Bluff: The Untold Story of American Submarine Espionage” and you will understand how we did it.
https://www.amazon.com/Blind-Mans-Bluff-Submarine-Espionage/dp/1610393589?tag=ttgnet-20/
Hat tip to:
https://www.drudgereport.com/
Political gimmie, just like Mayor Pete’s husband’s book which sat in the same spot in the local Amazon physical store, untouched, for about six months.
January 2022. In Seattle, they still believed that Abrams could win and be the new Jesus Candidate for President.
I’d be curious to see the agreement that gets them the batteries. Sounds like they act as the recycler.
That type is everywhere in Florida, especially in The Villages, the new seat of Republican power in the state.
The most fascist, however, are the Colonel Bat Guano types — active duty, retirees, and brass who went through the revolving door to work for Raytheon, etc as contractors. Cough … Lloyd Austin … cough.
To paraphrase “Supertroopers”, they get that off-base housing allowances in ’em, and they get all antsy in their pantsy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9u6gdwQPD8
My wife’s nephew has been dreaming of off-base housing allowance riches since returning from Germany. Maybe he should take up syrup chugging instead. Less antsy.
Started ripping DVDs and CDs again. Working on the pile while working on other stuff…
n
Iowa student sues over 2A t-shirt suspension
https://bearingarms.com/camedwards/2023/02/08/iowa-student-sues-over-2a-t-shirt-suspension-n67108
Familiar with Tinker v. Des Moines?
Johnston is a suburb of Des Moines.
But read to the end for the delicious irony.
Fought for 1A, hates 2A…
n
>> There’s an old saying that if you want something done, give the job to a busy man.
That’s where I live, and have for my entire adult life.
Just watch out for attempts to keep you where you are because you are too valuable to allow for internal mobility.
>> Nissan already announced the Leaf will be discontinued in favor of a new EV. Don’t they guarantee the batteries for seven years?
DeSantis fiddles as…
Disney to slash 7,000 jobs as Iger reveals sweeping revamp of business
Saw a Rivan on the road Monday. Looks pretty sharp. Saw a Maverick. Looks just like a GMC Denali Canyon? Something with a C anyway. Super high walls on the bed. Not impressed. We’ve got a couple of Broncos running around. Neighbor has one with a soft top. Teslas everywhere. The occasional Bentley at Costco… and several Maserati as there is a dealership not too far away. Pretty good environment for car spotting.
n
bTW anyone got a good link to the SOTU speech? I can’t seem to find one with a cursory look round…
n
Early night for me, I’ll see all y’all tomorrow.
n
>> bTW anyone got a good link to the SOTU speech? I can’t seem to find one with a cursory look round…
Straight from the
horse’s @sssource: https://www.whitehouse.gov/state-of-the-union-2023/