Warm and damp. Possibility of rain. Likely rain… So some things won’t get done today. We got scattered sprinkles yesterday, with some places getting more than that. I could see the rain and clouds in the distance, but it was clear for me. Houston is like that. Someone gets the rain, but not necessarily you. And then they say “It rained in Houston today.”
Did some auction stuff. Dropped off and picked up… and I’ll do more of that today. Plus, it’s time to start planning for what work I want to get done at the BOL this weekend. Of course, I didn’t get all the stuff done here that I wanted to get done. Never do…
Had some rice with dinner last night. It went into the bucket in 2014. Sat undisturbed until last year or maybe even before that. Then the bucket was opened but closed up with a gamma seal lid. Cooked up just fine. No problems, no changes, just rice. (we don’t eat a lot of rice, but I stack a lot because it’s cheap and versatile. We’re eating more lately, but I’ve been using the Minute Rice, or the heat and serve packs to save time.) I didn’t do anything special when it was stored either. YMMV, but buy quality rice, fill the bucket, leave it sealed. It will last a long time.
Keep stacking food. Everybody needs to eat.
nick
Looks like we’re in for a pile of snow Sunday/Monday. It’s not unusual to have one last snowfall in March, but I was kind of hoping we’d skip it this year. Currently forecasting about 30cm (about 12″).
I have a couple of insect bites. I’d think mosquitos, but it’s too cold and early for them. Weird, no idea… Maybe the cat brought home a flea or two?
There were mosquitos at the BOL last weekend…
Currently 72F and saturated. Weirdly, the thermometer showed 89F early this morning when I went to bed. It was def warmer outdoors than indoors, so as strange as it seems I am inclined to believe it really was that warm.
n
So it’s not just my kids
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-11884669/Why-young-people-watch-TV-subtitles-on.html
It’s definitely a ‘thing’.n
–what will it be in a year? two years?
n
Subtitles – we’ve discussed the horrible sound editing in movies and/or the trend that actors should mumble. We don’t watch a lot of ordinary TV shows, so I can’t really discuss those.
Of course, none of this has anything to do with getting older, or hearing loss…
How does that affect credit cards? As far as I know, they already charge rapacious interest rates. If they’re nailing customers for 20% or 30%, a quarter point increase by the fed seems almost irrelevant.
Anyway, we all know that carrying a balance on a credit-card is just stone dumb. Of course, I did exactly that when I was younger. Being young is sometimes being stupid…
I had my daughter switch from in ear to over the ear headphones. Kids wear them 18hrs a day, and there is no ‘reference’ to reset your internal levels to with the in ear phones. Consequently, you just keep turning them up…
She was already having ‘ringing’ in her ears at 11 yo.
I wouldn’t be surprised if physical hearing loss was involved, but I think it’s more a lack of ‘mental filtering’ and paying attention. You have to learn how to hear some stuff, like a heavy accent, or TV dialog. The people aren’t there in front of you, the TV doesn’t sound like people. There’s little directionality, etc. Like a dog that doesn’t recognize a photo as a person, I think part of it is the kids haven’t learned to hear the tv as dialogue/speech.
It’s also telling that the article quotes the BS expert about multitasking, which we KNOW to be BS, and then immediately contradicts the “expert” with real experiences.
Hearing loss is a big issue for me, and the rest of us, so I’m very interested in this as a phenomenon.
n
– the list of comedy greats in the article is interesting. Didn’t know where Carlin came from…
n
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-11892307/Blazing-Saddles-screenwriter-Norman-Steinberg-died-age-83.html
I’m a bit behind in my technical reading, but this article is interesting. I got the same feeling reading it as I did when first reading about MIMO antenna systems. Could be another dead end or niche market, or it could be revolutionary.
https://www.electronicdesign.com/markets/automation/article/21255573/renesas-electronics-developing-neuromorphic-devices-for-tinyml
Better AI because the hardware more closely matches the wetware…
n
There’s a BBC show “The Repair Shop” where people bring in various personal artifacts repair. Anything from teddy bears to 1950’s radios.
On yesterday’s program, someone brought in his dad’s booking calendar for “The Cavern”, which is a pub in Liverpool. His dad booked lesser known bands for lunch, and better known bands for the evenings. A couple of the lesser known groups he booked were called “The Beatles” and “The Rolling Stones”. Which is why this little calendar was kind of important…
The ChatBot tech relies on insanely power-hungry and expensive hardware from Nvidia. Any alternatives are going to attract investment at this point, whether or not they are truly worthwhile.
I often wonder about the problems with hearing loss caused by the loud thumper stereo systems in some cars. I see kids with earbuds in their ears and I can hear the music so it must be really loud in their ears.
And the most ignorant situation I see are mothers that bring infants, less than 1 year old, to basketball games with no hearing protection. I have to wear earplugs as it is too loud for me and my hearing is not that good. What kind of damage is being done to those young ears? I suspect the future is not good for the infant’s hearing when such infant reaches adulthood.
Q: Why does the dome light in my Ford stay on?
A: Because it’s a p.o.s. Get a real car and the problem will go away.
Thanks!
A real car, like an Audi?
A Subie. A Japanese car made in the FUSA (Indiana) by Mexican crimmigrants. At least my dome light turns off.
Subaru’s have issues.
My sister‘s threw a rod. Might have been the pushrod or gasket issue that tbe company knew about and chose not to fix for years.
A friend sold his, toot sweet, when the CVT started slipping at about 65,000.
@EdH:
I was reminded of a musical number in “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” by this. It was the spelling.
G.
damn caffeine is keeping me up. I had some iced tea after 5 pm and I’m not sleepy. Gonna try anyway, turned off the youtube shorts. Freaking thing got me AGAIN. Worse than crack.
n
Yup, very addictive. Just like TikTok.
“The Twitter Files Reveal an Existential Threat” by John Daniel Davidson The Federalist
https://imprimis.hillsdale.edu/the-twitter-files-reveal-an-existential-threat/
“Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter last October and the subsequent reporting on the Twitter Files by journalists Matt Taibbi, Bari Weiss, and a handful of others beginning in early December is one of the most important news stories of our time. The Twitter Files story encompasses, and to a large extent connects, every major political scandal of the Trump-Biden era. Put simply, the Twitter Files reveal an unholy alliance between Big Tech and the deep state designed to throttle free speech and maintain an official narrative through censorship and propaganda. This should not just disturb us, it should also prod us to action in defense of the First Amendment, free and fair elections, and indeed our country.”
“Third, the administrative state has metastasized into a destructive deep state that threatens to bring about the collapse of America’s constitutional system within our lifetimes. Emblematic of the threat is the fact that “the intelligence community” has proven itself incapable of not interfering in American elections. The FBI in particular has directly meddled in the last two presidential elections to a degree that should call into question its continued existence. Indeed, the FBI’s post-9/11 transformation from a law enforcement agency to a counter-terrorism and intelligence-gathering agency with seemingly limitless remit has been a disaster for civil liberties and the First Amendment. We need either to impose radical reforms or scrap it entirely and start over.”
Strong words. The author may be correct.
“GPA Midstream has learned that a feature film with the title “How to Blow Up A Pipeline” will be released in movie theaters on Apr. 7. In this message, we are providing a summary of what we know about the film, and our strategy in dealing with it.”
“The movie is a feature film loosely based on a book with the same name. The book is a nonfiction critique of what the author, Andreas Malm, believes is the climate movement’s strict commitment to nonviolence. Despite the provocative title, the book does not include instructions on destroying a pipeline. Malm, an associate professor at Lund University in Sweden, argues in the book that sabotage is a logical form of climate activism. In one chapter, Malm writes that the climate movement should sabotage devices that produce carbon emissions to discourage new investment in them. He argues that violence against property is a justified moral action so long as people are not physically harmed.”
“The movie is described as a heist film and is receiving positive reviews from critics who have seen it at film festivals around the world. In the film, a group of eight individuals from across the US come together to blow up a major pipeline in West Texas. Most reviews describe the protagonists as activists, eco-terrorists, or terrorists. From reviews, it’s clear that filmmakers want audiences to identify with the protagonists and root for them. A few critics note that film is “unnerving” or “disturbing” because it feels at times like an instructional video that could be found on the internet. At least one critic worries the movie might inspire young activists to “up their destruction game.””
You have got to be kidding me. A movie glorifying terrorism ? A book glorifying terrorism ? Our society is sick.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSb585bGYmQ
The Constitution does not authorize a Federal police force. The FBI should be abolished, and all of its agents fired. The Hoover building should be torn down, and its foundations dug out. The hole should be filled with water, and alligators, and treasonous politicians should be thrown in on Pay per View to pay down the national debt.
Scotty Kilmer on YT points out a negative for Subie CVTs. He says the engine can easily overpower the trans and damage it. I have a 6-banger Boxer. I don’t think they make them anymore, standardizing on a 4-banger turbo. I think the 6er has a beefier trans, but not sure. I haven’t had any problems with the engine or CVT. It’s a 2018 with 45K on it, so problems may be creeping up during the year as it heads to 60K.
Yup, and yet another example of Pournelle’s Iron Rule. Also get rid of all Federal Agencies “SWAT” teams. Does the Department of Education need armed agents? Coordinate with local law enforcement. LOL see how Defund Da PoPo works then.
MrAtoz says;
The Constitution doesn’t give the Federal government any authority to manage or regulate schools; the Department of Education should ALSO be abolished. Since Jimmy Caca created the Department of Education, American schools have gone from #1 to mediocre at best. Education should be handled at the local level, by parents.
If we were to abolish all the departments and agencies that have no Constitutional authorization, we could cut the Federal budget by 90%. If those things need to be done, let the STATES do them, and pay for them with their OWN tax money.
Subaru’s have issues.
My sister‘s threw a rod. Might have been the pushrod or gasket issue that tbe company knew about and chose not to fix for years.
A friend sold his, toot sweet, when the CVT started slipping at about 65,000.
Older model CVTs are high maintenance. The gear spindles are suspended in a wet bath of oil to keep them cool due to friction with the constant velocity band. That oil must be changed every 30,000 miles.
The newest CVTs are dry since I guess they are using high temperature materials. I have no idea what their reliability is and maintenance requirements are.
Sun came out. who knew? Dinner is in the crock pot. Dish washing robot is running. Off to do the things….
n
“Another pilot emergency, This time on a Southwest flight out of Las Vegas yesterday”
https://alexberenson.substack.com/p/another-pilot-emergency
“A Southwest flight from Las Vegas to Columbus, Ohio, had to turn back yesterday after one of its pilots became “incapacitated.” Details of both the incident and the pilot’s current condition are scarce. But whatever happened was serious enough that the pilot had to be removed from the cockpit. An off-duty non-Southwest pilot replaced him and helped land the plane.”
That is odd.
And Daily Mail picked up the story “Off-duty pilot who was a passenger on Southwest Airlines flight helped land plane after captain became ill mid-flight – the fifth pilot collapse in last three weeks”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11894453/Off-duty-pilot-passenger-flight-helped-land-plane-captain-ill.html
Toyota CVT transmissions have a ”launch“ gear or two before the fancy tech kicks in at higher speeds.
Honda may be similar.
Just saw this post from Matt Selznick:
“Deforesting To Save The Planet? Europe’s Forests Shrinking as Wood Used For “Green” Energy”
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/03/23/deforesting-to-save-the-planet-europes-forests-shrinking-as-wood-used-for-green-energy/
““Nearly nine million tons of pellets per year are burned by the Drax power plant. That’s three times Germany’s pellet production and one and a half times the UK’s wood production. With this huge amount of wood, the power plant generates seven percent of the UK’s electricity needs and gets plenty of subsidies for it: 3.5 million euros per day. Like the British, the EU is also promoting the conversion of coal-fired power plants to wood – with its Renewable Energies Directive adopted in 2009. Taxes on CO2 emissions from fossil energy are rising, but wood-burning is exempt.”
These people are nuts.
I like this comment: “The stupid, it burns”.
Toyota CVT transmissions have a ”launch“ gear or two before the fancy tech kicks in at higher speeds.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_K_CVT_transmission#K120_%22Direct_Shift%22_transmission_(2018)
Huh. I had no idea. Our 2008 Highlander V6 has a five speed automatic and our 2019 Highlander V6 has a eight speed automatic. No CVTs here.
>> How does that affect credit cards? As far as I know, they already charge rapacious interest rates. If they’re nailing customers for 20% or 30%, a quarter point increase by the fed seems almost irrelevant.
Most US credit cards carry a variable interest rate and will automatically adjust upwards as the Fed raises interest rates. When you have millions of card-holders carrying a balance, those ‘quarter-percent’ pennies add up.
How much credit card debt do Americans have? Americans’ total credit card balance is $986 billion in the fourth quarter of 2022, according to the consumer debt data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
In-flight airline pilots collapse; Hey, no worries! That’s why all airliners have co-pilots.
On the other hand, I think we can disregard all the airlines that want to eliminate co-pilots from the cockpit.
>> Subtitles – we’ve discussed the horrible sound editing in movies and/or the trend that actors should mumble. We don’t watch a lot of ordinary TV shows, so I can’t really discuss those.
One annoyance with sub-titles is foreign (non-US) content that is dubbed into English but where the English sub-titles were done based on the original language and consistently don’t match the dubbing. We like to have both the captions on so we don’t miss details but also the sound on for sound effects, background music, etc.
>> I often wonder about the problems with hearing loss caused by the loud thumper stereo systems in some cars. I see kids with earbuds in their ears and I can hear the music so it must be really loud in their ears.
Many of those cars are driven by illegals/undesirables … so who cares?
I’m triggered by all the mentions of the US Constitution. Or, as the Dumbocrats call it, the bird cage liner of choice. And, as we all know, Presidential Executive Orders tRump the Constitution. Maybe a Constitutional Convention could be called and a rewrite done. Nah, just drop a MOAB on DC when Congress is in session. Just to be sure.
>> My sister‘s threw a rod. Might have been the pushrod or gasket issue that tbe company knew about and chose not to fix for years.
A friend sold his, toot sweet, when the CVT started slipping at about 65,000.
My LEAF has no pushrods, few gaskets and a simple one-speed transmission. Just sayin…
Question for you Ebay sellers. I see some outrageous shipping charges (inside the US). More than a small item is on bid for. I looked at a collectible for about $60, new, that I wanted. The shipping was nearly $70!
Is this a gimmick to keep money out of Ebay’s greedy hands?
EBay charges their fee on the sales total, including sales tax.
So inflating the shipping could cover the total Ebay fees?
>> Question for you Ebay sellers. I see some outrageous shipping charges (inside the US). More than a small item is on bid for. I looked at a collectible for about $60, new, that I wanted. The shipping was nearly $70!
Is this a gimmick to keep money out of Ebay’s greedy hands?
Most on-line shipping services (i.e. purchasing postage) will default to not including on the label the cost of the postage. You do the math.
Of course, if questioned, the sellers will cite the “handling” costs – the box, the fill, the tape, their time/fuel to drive to the PO/UPS, etc.
A company communication was sent out today. The first line was: “Who Runs the World? Girls! – company name and the Advancement of Women”
I’m not sure I can make it another 15 years to retirement…
And in other news:
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/single-pilot-c-130j-operations-being-explored-by-air-force
Apparently the Air Force doesn’t think it a good idea.
A company communication was sent out today. The first line was: “Who Runs the World? Girls! – company name and the Advancement of Women”
I’m not sure I can make it another 15 years to retirement…
Sounds like your company needs to have a purge starting with whoever wrote that email.
Just a ‘reminder’ that Honda’s latest Hybrid powertrains do not have gear boxes (CRV, Europe HRV, Civic, Jazz (Fit))
Oh, they are full woke. inclusion and diversity club and meetings. We are encourage to put our preferred pronouns in our email signature. I’ve resisted that temptation. Every newsletter is chock full of every minority and female they can find. You would swear white males are a tiny percentage of the workforce.
Some of us have been aware of this stupidity from the start – despite what the green mafia believed. Do note, as referenced in the article that most if not all the pellets burned at Drax (UK) come from North America.
As an aside, there was also the situation where the Northern Ireland government introduced subsidies for converting to wood pellet boilers for companies. Net was, the more you burned, the more money you made!!! No limit!!! How is that for green thinking?
The Corolla platform vehicles went CVT in the last few years.
Hollywood is still pretending that sound mixing can be done by editors at home in their jammies on headphones.
Gone are the days when Kevin Smith or Quentin Tarantino would take their dialogue heavy films up to Skywalker Ranch for mixing in the big room.
Tom Cruise did take “Top Gun: Maverick” to Skywalker Ranch, hence the movie’s only Oscar win.
“Journalist plugs in unknown USB drive mailed to him—it exploded in his face”
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/03/journalist-plugs-in-unknown-usb-drive-mailed-to-him-it-exploded-in-his-face/
Wow !
>> A company communication was sent out today. The first line was: “Who Runs the World? Girls! – company name and the Advancement of Women”
One heartbeat away…
https://www.foxnews.com/media/kamala-harris-latest-word-salad-honors-women-made-history-throughout-history-womens-history-month
USB 3.0 has enough current to set off an explosive charge.
Faux News didn’t include the creeptastic laugh Harris had going later on in that speech.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/rep-tiffany-asks-why-hunter-biden-hasnt-been-prosecuted-alleged-gun-crime-atf-hearing
Laws for thee, not for me…
“Under the Stars of Druufon (Perry Rhodan #68)” by Clark Darlton, translated by Wendayne Ackerman
https://www.amazon.com/Perry-Rhodan-Under-Stars-Druufon-68-Darlton/dp/B000HT4FGE?tag=ttgnet-20/
Book number sixty-eight of a series of one hundred and thirty-six space opera books in English. The original German books, actually pamphlets, number in the thousands. The English books started with two translated German stories per book translated by Wendayne Ackerman and transitioned to one story per book with the sixth book. And then they transition back to two stories in book #109/110. The Ace publisher dropped out at #118, so Forrest and Wendayne Ackerman published books #119 to #136 in pamphlets before stopping in 1978. The German books were written from 1961 to present time, having sold two billion copies and even recently been rebooted again. I read the well printed and well bound book published by Ace in 1975 that I had to be very careful with due to age. I bought an almost complete box of Perry Rhodans a decade or two ago on ebay that I am finally getting to since I lost my original Perry Rhodans in The Great Flood of 1989. In fact, I now own book #1 to book #106, plus the Atlan books.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perry_Rhodan
BTW, this is actually book number 76 of the German pamphlets written in 1963. There is a very good explanation of the plot in German on the Perrypedia German website of all of the PR books. There is automatic Google translation available for English, Spanish, Dutch, Japanese, French, and Portuguese.
https://www.perrypedia.de/wiki/Unter_den_Sternen_von_Druufon
In this alternate universe, USSF Major Perry Rhodan and his three fellow astronauts blasted off in a three stage rocket to the Moon in 1971. The first stage of the rocket was chemical, the second and third stages were nuclear. After crashing on the Moon due to a strange radio interference, they discover a massive crashed alien spaceship with an aged male scientist (Khrest), a female commander (Thora), and a crew of 500. It has been over sixty-nine years since then and the Solar Empire has flourished with tens of millions of people and many spaceships headquartered in the Gobi desert, the city of Terrania. Perry Rhodan has been elected by the people of Earth to be the World Administrator and keep them from being taken over by the robot administrator of Arkon.
Atlan, Perry Rhodan, Reginald Bell, and a crew take two 1,500 meter Titan spaceships, the Drusus and the Kublai Khan, and the 100 meter cruiser, the California, into the Druuf space from the Grautier planet system, Myrtha. Perry Rhodan has decided that the enemy (the Druufs) of my enemy (the Robot Regent of Arkon) is a good ploy and reaches out to the Druufs. They land on Druufon where the Council of 66 immediately proceeds to try to take Perry Rhodan hostage.
BTW, there is a two part serial of the marriage of Perry Rhodan and Thora of Arkon started in this issue. This short story was written by Clark Darlton specifically for the English book series but, written in German so it had to be translated also by Wendy Ackerman.
Two observations:
1. Forrest Ackerman should have put two or three of the translated stories in each book. Having two stories in the first five books worked out well. Just having one story in the book is too short and would never allow the translated books to catch up to the German originals.
2. Anyone liking Perry Rhodan and wanting a more up to date story should read the totally awesome “Mutineer’s Moon” Dahak series of three books by David Weber.
https://www.amazon.com/Mutineers-Moon-Dahak-David-Weber/dp/0671720856?tag=ttgnet-20/
My rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Amazon rating: 0 out of 5 stars (0 reviews)
If they offer refunds, most sellers will not refund shipping costs, and the EBay pendulum has swung back to defending sellers in disputes.
When in doubt, use PayPal with an ACH transfer from the bank.
A song for resellers. Fats Waller, 1941.
You USED to be able to get around paying ebay fees on the total price by selling cheaply but making your profit on shipping charges, but their fees have included the shipping cost for a long time. Sometimes it’s legit, and the price is for ‘dimensional weight’, which is UPS’s way of making money on light weight but large volume boxes. IE anything over about 18″ cubed.
They also don’t necessarily figure shipping correctly for the estimate. I used to include a note in my listings about contacting me for the actual shipping cost if the estimate seemed high.
Sometimes the default ebay filled weight and dims are wildly incorrect and the seller doesn’t notice. Seller sees a shipping estimate to his own zipcode when looking at the listing after it’s live.
Make sure as a buyer that your account zip code is correct so you see correct estimates, and ask the seller if it seems crazy out of whack.
FWIW, I routinely refund overcharged ebay estimates, but many people don’t.
n
Wow, the computerized equatorial mount for my scope went for $800… it’s on ebay for $1400 and lists for $3500 so that isn’t terribly surprising, but it means I didn’t win it…
n
I was just informed by my cellular service that they are upgrading their network and my phone is not compatible. I must upgrade. They contract with the Verizon network, and they’re going 5G.
I’m not a phone power-user. I text, I make calls when I have no other option, I answer calls because of business reasons, and I use google maps and very rarely look up stuff on the internet or read and forward emails when I’m traveling. I’m not on social media and I often forget that i can take pictures. When I need a computer, I use something with a screen and keyboard and mouse.
Bearing in mind that I haven’t paid over $200 for a phone in the last 15 years, and I usually buy trailing-edge technology and I’m happy with that, what’s the current thoughts on manufacturers?
Oh, and I own exactly one Apple device, an iPad, and I hate the whole apple experience. I use it to read books on the Kindle app, and it’s crippled on the iPad so you can’t make purchases. I also used it 3 times in the last year for Facetime. No iPhones for me, thank you.
In their low-cost range, they’ve got
All things being equal, since I’ve been happy with my Moto G, I’d probably just pick that one for $216 and be done.
But feel free to let me know why I absolutely should avoid that, or that I can’t live without the Blade or Samsung, or something else in an even higher price range.
I have no recommendations for you. Sniff, Apple Elysium, sniff.
The Samsung Galaxy A14 5G has been getting decent reviews, and it is $200.
If I had to get a 5G phone, I would look at the Moto G 5G, which was seriously overpriced upon introduction considering the specs but is now widely available for less than $200.
My son has the entry level Pixel. We paid more than $200, but they are very good phones.
Instrument panel dimmer is a rocker. Holding it down turns on the lights. (Manual is very helpful in noting that you can turn them on, but is silent about turning them off. ) Holding the rocker in the “down” position for a “Tootsie Roll long time” will finally turn them off–much longer than the “turn on” time. h/t to the guy who made the YT video after he finally found it.
@Nick
“You USED to be able to get around paying ebay fees on the total price by selling cheaply but making your profit on shipping charges, but their fees have included the shipping cost for a long time. ” They used to call it fee avoidance. Once they started charging fees on shipping, they could care less if the unwary/novice buyer takes a beating on shipping.
“ Sometimes it’s legit, and the price is for ‘dimensional weight’, which is UPS’s way of making money on light weight but large volume boxes. IE anything over about 18″ cubed.” They all use dimensional weight for anything over a cubic foot. USPS was the last to add it several years ago. Using a slightly oversize box can kill you–take a look at Uline box prices and you’ll see several odd sizes that come in under the 1728 cubic inch threshold. The latest add is the long package surcharge.
“ask the seller if it seems crazy out of whack.” Ditto that.
“FWIW, I routinely refund overcharged ebay estimates, but many people don’t.” Generally not worth the hassle, particularly since eBay no longer refunds fees on partial refunds.
“Milwaukee to sue Kia, Hyundai over vehicle thefts, city leaders announce”
https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/2023/03/22/milwaukee-announces-lawsuit-against-kia-hyundai-over-vehicle-thefts/70035526007/
“The City of Milwaukee will be suing automakers Kia and Hyundai over the damage inflicted by thefts of their vehicles, Milwaukee leaders announced Wednesday.”
“”It is my hope that not only do we curb the thefts but that the City of Milwaukee recovers some of the damages for police, fire, (Department of Public Works) and any other costs that we’ve had to incur as a result of the negligence of Kia and Hyundai,” Ald. Milele Coggs said at a news conference Wednesday in front of the federal courthouse in downtown Milwaukee.”
Unreal.
“How the US can stop the spread of Candida auris, a drug-resistant fungus”
https://www.vox.com/politics/2023/3/23/23653504/candida-auris-fungus-cdc-vaccine-prevention
“With potential vaccines still in development, prevention is key.”
“The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) sounded the alarm earlier this week over the recent, rapid spread in health care facilities of a drug-resistant fungus that can cause deadly infections in immunocompromised individuals.”
We are all going to die.
>> My son has the entry level Pixel. We paid more than $200, but they are very good phones.
A Google Pixel all the way. We’ve had various models since the first version (just the “Pixel”) then the 2 thru the 7 (current release).
Benefits: always stock Android, so no “we can do a better launcher screen” cr@p, no ‘NFL Scores’ app, etc. No waiting for the carrier to tweak a release before it goes out. Frequent updates, both feature and OS/security, including reasonable support for older versions, iirc the 7 will have five years support going forward. And it’s not an iPhone (hopefully @Ray has gone to bed and doesn’t see this).
Estimated prices (you didn’t mention if BYOP was an option. If so, you’ll want a Verizon compatible phone or an unlocked phone that supports Verizon.
Pixel 5 $175
Pixel 6 $250
Pixel 7 $400
They also have “a” versions (5a, 6a) that are their “value phones – less screen resolution, plastic back instead of glass, older camera – these can be good if you only do the basics.
http://www.swappa.com is a good site to compare prices, but their Android listings have been a little light lately.
http://www.phonearena.com/phones/size is great for visually comparing full-size images of phones. There’s also a features/specs comparison tab available.
BTW, not sure which MVNO you’re on, but Verizon itself still supports 4G phones, but you probably don’t want to go that far back.
>> “The City of Milwaukee will be suing automakers Kia and Hyundai over the damage inflicted by thefts of their vehicles, Milwaukee leaders announced Wednesday.”
What damage exactly is being inflicted? Writer’s cramp from filling out too many theft reports? Extra pens? (Are the clear plastic BIC pens still 19 cents each??)
Besides, unless you’ve got the perp on the ground with a .357 Mag poking him behind the ear, the cops will just tell you to fill out your own report online.
And a pack of these handy in the vehicle in case you’re dealing with more than one perp: https://www.amazon.com/Durable-Adjustable-Tensile-Strength-Resistant/dp/B083M871FQ?tag=ttgnet-20/
>> “How the US can stop the spread of Candida auris, a drug-resistant fungus”
https://www.vox.com/politics/2023/3/23/23653504/candida-auris-fungus-cdc-vaccine-prevention
“With potential vaccines still in development, prevention is key.”
“The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) sounded the alarm earlier this week over the recent, rapid spread in health care facilities of a drug-resistant fungus that can cause deadly infections in immunocompromised individuals.”
We are all going to die.
Deadly fungus? Watch “The Last of Us” on HBOMax. Oh, and yeah, hold the mushrooms on that burger.
Deadly fungus? Watch “The Last of Us” on HBOMax. Oh, and yeah, hold the mushrooms on that burger.
I ain’t paying HBO any money.
Yup. Pellet heating – what a stupid, stupid concept. Cut down trees, spend energy turning them into pellets, spend more energy transporting those pellets, spend even more energy hauling off the ash. At best, it leads to vast tracks of natural forest turned into plantations of fast-growth pine. Thankfully, people are slowly waking up to this idiocy. Unfortunately, a lot of people have already installed pellet heating.
Some people are so incredibly clueless about nature. I read a reddit post a couple of days ago: someone had a neighbor whose garden had been “let go” (reading between the lines, they had re-natured it with native plants) – and the person was upset at all the bugs (read: insects, spiders, etc.) that were now living there. They said that they now had to spray their own yard with insecticide more often than before. Like…you do what?
I’m sure y’all have heard about the Credit Suisse banking mess. Women’s movements are currently treading carefully here, because women held a majority of the positions on the CS board of directors.
Not that I’m blaming them. Credit Suisse has been poorly run for at least a decade, likely longer. But still: it’s amusing to see the women’s activists squirm, when some journalist points out this inconvenient truth.
Also amusing: There is a government law that says: get government help, the government can cancel bonuses. Which they just did for all top management of the former bank. Turns out that Credit Suisse has lost $3 billion in the last couple of years, while paying out $18 billion in bonuses. Cluebat?
Oh, and the bank that took CS over also falls under this law, so their managers are worried. There’s also a real chance of a major overhaul of banking regulations, though that’s always a roll of the dice…
Let me guess, they have a handy web site where you can buy a new phone from them?
I had Straight Talk. The plan sounded good, towards the end you had 25GB data. Worthless, you can’t tether to actually use the data. They decreed “you have until the end of the year to replace your phone with one that makes calls over wi-fi”. They had a page with compatible phones. All were less featured and not cheaper than my year and a half old phone. Yeah, no.
If I have to replace my phone, eBay here I come! I bought a new unlocked Verizon network LG V20. Toted it to the local Verizon dealer and transferred my number. Unlimited calls and texts and blah blah and 6GB data a month. And I can tether to my PC when the wISP has problems. I was paying Straight Talk $55+ a month. Verizon? $37.89 with taxes.
If I have a problem I go to the store. They are nice and helpful folks compared to the arrogance of the AT&T store across the street. I’m not dealing with “customer service” running on a script and with a not native English accent.
Verizon has said nothing about turning 4G off.