Hot and humid. Clear though. We did have threatening clouds several times during the day yesterday. The daystar was sometimes hidden, sometimes just contributing to the unpleasantness.
I did most of my errands. Got most of my stuff ready. Still have a few things to gather, then it’s load up and go. Won’t be too early though. I’ll sleep for a while. Better in my bed than behind the wheel.
The thought of doing the drive in the dark yesterday was just too much. Wouldn’t be prudent.
However, because of that, I’ll be a bit behind the eight ball for the rest of the weekend.
That plumbing isn’t going to finish itself, and it NEEDS to be finished. It’s a minor miracle we haven’t had a flood yet (touch wood).
So I’ll leave current events to all y’all for a bit.
And I’ll be taking more stuff to stack.
n
Attention haters: My dog advice to Nick yesterday was what we with three-digit IQs call a joke.
@stevef, joke or not, it was very close to my own feelings on the subject. If the emotional bond, both ways, was not so strong and obvious, this dog would have found a new family months ago.
————–
set the automatic launch timer to late tonight instead of early this morning.
————–
sunny and 77F. Coffee is brewed, day is started.
n
Heh. An accidental bullseye.
Attention haters: My dog advice to Nick yesterday was what we with three-digit IQs call a joke.
Mr. Steve F flaunting his 100 IQ.
https://www.zerohedge.com/weather/unfathomable-devastation-least-23-dead-after-tornado-tears-through-mississippi
n
I got my chromosomes counted and I scored above average!
This week’s episode of “Picard” is called “The Bounty” and not for the reason which would immediately spring to mind given the story arc of the current season.
When I saw the title card, I said to my wife, “They aren’t going to go … there.”
“Where?”
“You’ll see.”
And, yes, they did. “Superior Klingon technology” and another La Forge daughter, this one channeling Madge Sinclair on the bridge of the USS Saratoga.
Someone finally remembered. 53 minutes of real “Star Trek”.
Complete with hints of the final resting place of Captain Kirk, streaming the day after Shatner’s 93rd birthday.
@MrAtoz
Please to specify base of calculation.
arguing that the district’s school should remain police-free because law enforcement in schools “is one of the primary drivers of the criminalization of students of color”
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/miacathell/2023/03/25/school-police-removed-violence-ensued-n2621048
one of the primary drivers of the criminalization of
students of colorcriminalsfixed it
The only justification for removing law enforcement is to avoid arresting criminals because they might be s.o.c.’s.
Concerned parents–of any color–are obviously racist.
I wonder how many of these school boards a) have students in the schools, and b) have security present at their school board meetings? And what would happen if they ran a criminal background check on “activist” school board members that could drill down into their juvie records?
Memphis basketball player Jamirah Shutes charged with assault after sucker punch
https://nypost.com/2023/03/24/memphis-jamirah-shutes-charged-with-assault-after-sucker-punch/
In the handshake line after the game, allegedly over an elbow in the first half. Video embedded.
The African power grid collapse is spreading
https://hotair.com/jazz-shaw/2023/03/25/the-african-power-grid-collapse-is-spreading-n539215
Africa was a paradise until the evil colonial empires subjugated the populations. Despite the noble efforts of the enlightened progressives the stain of racism continues to propel the continent down the path of destruction.
ah DrWilliams, you have a way with words…
n
South Afrrica dug a lot of coal until the UN/WEF started the recolonization efforts.
Of course, the same is true in the US, but the recolonization is further along here.
I just read the editorial about the Bruen case in the January issue of American Rifleman. One thing thing that you have to say about the NRA is that they pursued the Bruen case to victory in SCOTUS. And one thing that you have to say about Donald Trump is that he fulfilled every campaign promise that he could. Specifically, Trump gave us three conservative SCOTUS justices.
https://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/new-york-state-rifle-pistol-association-inc-v-bruen/
I throw in my thanks to Crone Ginsburg for trying to stay on SCOTUS forever.
A word of caution to conservative judges. Plan well to ensure a conservative replacement.
Kavanaugh is not reliably conservative. He’s a 1-1 replacement for the previous occupant of that chair, which makes the continued liberal hysterics even more puzzling.
I believe Comey-Barrett has disappointed on the student loans citing “standing” issues but will probably still end up on the losing side and author the opinion. She telegraphed that in arguments.
At least with Ginsburg, the Payola involved was clear. Ross Perot.
Comey-Barrett is a mystery, but I suspect Touchdown Jesus holds at least part of the note along with whoever runs Pence.
Eh, 0x0d, close enough.
sinisterrrrrrr…
https://hotair.com/john-s-2/2023/03/24/the-mystery-of-macrons-disappearing-watch-n539179
Read the whole thing. Sometimes a cigar…
People are weird about watches and price tags. My father-in-law always had a huge snit over my “nice” watch, a gift from my wife, and the same time piece was part of the rationalization process my partner at the Death Star used outright steal his last promotion from me.
These days, I wear a Casio Edifice except for anniversary dinners. The upside of the Edifice is that it can go anywhere, including the beach or water parks.
Macron obviously realized he was hitting the table and removed the watch.
I meant to post this link earlier in the week:
Monday, March 20, 2023
More shenanigans and skullduggery in the metals market
https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2023/03/more-shenanigans-and-skullduggery-in.html
Particularly troubling are:
–trades unwound after the fact without the consent of one of the parties
–a testament to lack of oversight:
“The London Metal Exchange has found bags full of stones at one of its warehouses instead of the nickel they were supposed to contain in the latest drama to hit the scandal-stricken metals market.”
@Greg Norton
I’ve always been hard on watches. I have the Accutron that I got in high school that was smashed in a wintertime fall on the ice and was repaired at the factory. If you look closely you can see a scratch on the blue dial from that accident.
Dad lent me a Seiko chronograph while my watch was in the shop. It became mine permanently after dad passed. I think I’m the only one that ever wore it. Years later I saw a newspaper ad for a Father’s Day sale with a relatively inexpensive Pulsar chrono that just grabbed me. A year later I bought one and wore it daily. Much more user-friendly that a purely mechanical model. When it was discontinued I bought a spare, and then for several years I bought used ones on eBay in all the finish/dial combinations I could find.
One of my best buys came from a jeweler that closed and sold his display watches (sans movements). I not only picked up the Pulsar in my preferred finish and dial, I got several others that looked like good investments for less than $20 each. Good movements tend to linger in manufacturer’s inventories much longer than cases.
Along the way I’ve picked up the basic tools to work on metal link bands and open backs to replace batteries. Got tired of paying a jeweler $10 to replace a $2 battery, and the final straw came with the Pulsar when the idiot didn’t know how to short two contacts to restart it, and it went back to the factory.
This house is weird. It’s a Jim Walter Presidential model. It’s L shaped. The bottom of the L seems well insulated, the bedrooms seem to stay warm or cool depending on the season. The upright of the L is sketchy. About half is somewhat insulated with fiberglass pads that you use in walls. Held up with chicken wire stapled to the floor joists. Plenty of gaps so it’s not doing much to be R15.
The floor joists are 2×8. Maybe 2×10.
There’s the problem. What insulation there is, is laying on the chicken wire. The dining room is about 12×20 feet. Continue on into the living room about another 12 feet, that’s about 12×30 feet with no insulation at all.
With the money from Mom’s house, I want to get the floor insulated. Might be ? Dunno, five grand ?
I may never break even on the electric bill. But the house will be more comfortable.
“Everyone” said replacing the original windows with double pane windows would be a waste of money. Maybe so if you get the bolt on the outside second layer of windows. Jeff installed the new windows. I bought a 4″ circular saw and he cut around the old windows and we installed what you would use on new construction. Sealed in with some wide and sticky rubbery tape. Then trimmed with 1×4 planks made of Hardi Board. It cost about $6000 once done. No more drafts and the electric bill dropped enough that break even was almost eight years.
I don’t expect to gain a $60 drop on the electric bill with the floor insulation. There’s only one way to find out.
Fiberglass bats? Enough to fill the gap and supported with chicken wire? Or that new fangled spray foam? The foam is said to be good and it should moisture proof the structure. Plus nowhere for scorpions or critters to live.
Something to think about.
@paul
Faced fiberglas bats have a paper vapor barrier on one side. The edges have a folded flap. When installed vertically the flap is unfolded over the stud faces and staples are applied to secure the bats.
First thing to do under the floor is remove chicken wire, remove the bats that are there, measure thickness to see if there is a gap above the insulation, , and check for moisture issues.
When installed horizontally under a floor any facing is often on the bottom. If the bats are not as thick as the cavity between the joists a compass can be used to mark a reference line showing the proper level for installation–bat thickness plus flap width. The flap is unfolded as the bat is pushed up into the cavity, the flap edge is aligned with the reference line, and the flap is stapled to the joists. The last step is to use a utility knife to slash the vapor barrier, as it is on the wrong side.
The chicken wire would seem to indicate that the existing bats are not faced. If they are not filling the cavity then the shortage can be supplied by adding additional bats. Fiberglas bats can be compressed with some loss in R-value, but splitting a thicker bat into two thinner bats is commonly done.
If you have a gap between the insulation and the floor you may want to consider adding strips of foam insulation, sealed at the edges with a bead of foam and held into place with a finish nail into the side of the joist every couple of feet. (Directly under a floor I’d use foil-faced foam board to reflect radiant heat. ) You can re-install the existing fiverglass and have a net increase in R-value even if you have to compress it a bit.
caption: “Smoke billows from one of many chemical plants in the area of “cancer alley” on Oct. 12, 2013. Credit: Giles Clarke/Getty Images”
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/08022023/louisiana-cancer-alley
True smoke emitted from industrial stacks is a rarity. But in many cases you can see a visible plume of water vapor. It is easily recognizable because in full sunlight it is white and it dissipates quickly, particularly on days when the humidity is low.
How to photograph “smoke” that isn’t:
One of the favorite eco-fraud photographic tricks is the “smoke” plume from the cooling towers at a nuclear plant. Since there’s no combustion in a cooling tower there can be no emissions from combustion and no smoke, but that hasn’t prevented the mislabeling of photos to frighten the public.
https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=smoke+from+cooling+towers&ia=web
Yah, right. Next thing you’ll tell us is that the trails behind jet aircraft aren’t chemicals being sprayed over population centers to cause tumors and other sickness.
Or get unfaced insulation and install the wires that fit between the joists and hold the insulation in place. One wire about every 18 inches works very well.
Tactical nukes…that’s like transitory inflation…much ado about nothing… right?!
https://www.ft.com/content/32cdce4a-7f89-4c3a-a9b3-fa113d87bef3
@SteveF
FIFY, but, no, no claims.
Lenny gets rough on the electrical hacks:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJsfzzqaOAA
I’m not an electrician or a code inspector. But if I was going to do work on a house, or inspect a house, the first thing I would do is pull the cover on the electrical panel. That one sight won’t tell you everything, but it will tell you a lot.
Decades ago I was in a new house for a month when the electricity went “funny” for a few seconds at about 9PM. Not on/off/on, but the voltage dropped and did a bit of a strange dance before coming back on. It didn’t repeat, but the warning bells in my head wouldn’t go off. I called the utility and asked if they had transformer problems or a line down in the neighborhood. Nope. I explained what happened and how it didn’t feel right. They said they would send a crew out.
Crew was out within thirty minutes checking the ground level (underground wires) enclosure across the street. They knocked a few minutes later, and said they would be checking the house meter. A few minute later they knocked again and said the electricity would be off for a few minutes while they did a repair.
With the last knock they brought me the trophy. The underground supply line is enclosed in a plastic pipe from the ground to the meter. When they opened the meter enclosure they found the line wrapped so tightly around the meter base that the insulation had split. The voltage drop that I experienced was arcing in the box. They spliced a new section of cable and left me the end for a souvenir. I still have it in the second from bottom drawer of the Kennedy chest I bought from Jerry when he was dying of cancer and clearing out his garage. No, it’s not buried–I could find it in the dark. One of those things to remind me of mortality. The utility crew said that the next blip would probably be the house fire.
Learn about electricity. get the testing equipment and the tools to properly do the jobs within your wheelhouse. Learn when to hand off to the pros. Be safe.
“Stanford Law School Suspends Diversity Dean After She Doubles-Down On Duncan Debacle”
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/stanford-law-school-suspends-diversity-dean-after-she-doubles-down-duncan-debacle
“Tirien Steinbach, the diversity administrator at Stanford Law School who stoked a disruptive protest of Fifth Circuit appellate judge Kyle Duncan, is “currently on leave,” according to a memo on the protest reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon.”
Mistreating federal judges can be dangerous to one’s career.
Mistreating federal judges can be dangerous to one’s career.
– so can being promoted past your competence.
–regarding electrical, the main breaker panel here was so bad, I’m sending it in to a trade magazine that features a hideous install every month.
—paul, under floor insulation that is exposed to the air needs special consideration. I don’t even know who to recommend asking, but there are issues with vapor and Texas is a special case. You might want Tyvek house wrap installed over it. If it’s permeable now, whatever you do should probably be permeable too.
– I’m currently wearing a “vintage” casio G shock. I have a couple of Timex military style watches I alternate too. For ‘dress up’ I wear my wedding gift, a Rado in blue and silver. It’s not as recognizable as a Rolex although it cost the same. I have several vintage Omegas that I wear off and on. They are in ‘as found’ condition, ie. not shiny. They also need servicing that I don’t want to spend the money on. Older vintage swiss mechanical watches are not expensive if they are marked with “house brand” jewelry store names (common at the time for tax reasons) and even those marked with swiss brands are reasonable if you don’t mind a smaller watch. Men’s wristwatches have been getting bigger for years.
– there was not a cloud in the sky at dusk. The 4″ tabletop dob had great detail of the moon. If the moisture clears it should be very good viewing tonight. I might get out the wife’s 8″ dob and look at some planets if they are up. I don’t think I can find the SMOD death meteor in the sky though.
–I might just have a fire and a ginger beer.
it was 80f in the shade and dropped to 66f at dusk.
n
Wizard Of Id: Opinion Survey
https://www.gocomics.com/wizardofid/2023/03/25
Now that is taking opinion surveys too far !
“U.S. energy secretary says it could take years to refill oil reserve”
https://www.hydrocarbonprocessing.com/news/2023/03/us-energy-secretary-says-it-could-take-years-to-refill-oil-reserve
We’ve got more oil reserves. They are called Eagle Ford, Permian Basin, and Marcellus for a start.
Pearls Before Swine: Book Lover
https://www.gocomics.com/pearlsbeforeswine/2023/03/25
I guess that I am old fashioned since I arrange my books by the pile.
“CA Price Controls”
https://areaocho.com/ca-price-controls/
“California will be enacting price controls on gasoline within the next 4 months, with the expressed purpose of eliminating gas and oil from the state.”
“As I predicted this moths ago, communists always start by going after landlords before enacting price controls elsewhere. Price controls always fail. California is headed for disaster. If you are an oil company, there is only one way to beat this, but I don’t think that they have the balls to do it. The stated goal is to put the oil companies out of business, so Californians will switch to wind power. OK. Let’s do it:”
Just stop selling gasoline in California. There are only about four refineries left in California, there used to be thirty or forty of them.
What is wrong with California ?
Well, it was a tiny bit hazy to start and gradually got worse. Still, mostly black sky.
Radio was nice. 20M was having a contest and I was hearing lots of stations from south of the border.
Heard canadian time, even heard the BBC, and I rarely get to hear them.
I spent a couple hours with the fire and radio, mostly listening to WTWW’s pop music show on 9.455 out of Florida. I like the serendipity of music on the radio. They sound like the AM radio of my youth. Yes, there was a lot of Cr@p. If I never hear ‘Horse with no name’ again, it will be too soon, but songs had words and told a story. The musicianship was pretty good too.
Haze moved up to about half the sky so I packed it in around 1130pm. Chilly too at 54F.
n
Lynn asks:
Communists. Communists in the arts, in music, in education, in politics. They took control of everything when they legalized voter fraud about 8 years ago. Which was the biggest of the reasons why we sold our house in Sacramento and left, 3 years ago.
I left 20 years ago. Miss the weather. Miss a couple of friends. Can’t imagine what it’s like now.
n