Cooler this morning, but maybe not actually raining. Yesterday started out misty and got to drizzle, with scattered downpour around town. I was driving on the ring road in heavy downpour, but to my left, and 1000 feet away it was sunny and blue sky, for miles. Houston. Even if you think you know the weather, it’s only YOUR weather. Today could be much the same.
I spent too much time messing around yesterday, and not enough time driving. It was messing around that needed to be done, certainly, but still it took up more of the day than it should have. I ended up doing my farthest pickup, after bypassing two other stops thinking I’d get them on my way back. Nope, the rain had traffic messed up and I ran out of time. I was able to get to my doctor appointment on time, but skipped the pickups.
So today I am driving in opposite directions to get my stuff done, and starting earlier in the day than I normally would. That’s the plan anyway. Something is sure to interfere or cause me to be “flexible.”
On a related note, as I’ve been driving around I’ve had a few things catch my eye. I’m seeing more burned out buildings that ever before. I think I’ve commented on this recently, but it struck me again. And I’m seeing more closed businesses, and ones you don’t often see, like national brand fast food. Normally when they close, they remove all the identifying marks from the building. Not Church’s Chicken, not in Houston anyway. I have seen a half dozen closed stores now, and in all different parts of town. I’ve seen Jack in the Box stores closed too. Closed gas stations. Sit down, “fast casual” restaurants. Retail storefronts. BIG retail stores sitting vacant. And Houston’s economy is booming. They are redeveloping one of the failed malls on the north side of town (Greenspoint area- or “guns-point” as it’s known…) into new multi-story multi-family residential. I have a feeling it will be an insta-slum within 3 years. Only out of towners would move to that area, no matter how nice the building, or the amenities, and I can’t see them staying once they find out what the area is like.
The only language I heard spoken at the grocery store yesterday was spanish, other than the checkers, who spoke to me in english, and one black lady speaking english. I might have been the only white person in the store. That is a BIG change from when we moved to this neighborhood in 2008. The increase in blacks as a percentage is massive too. A huge demographic shift has taken place and continues to take place here. People are on the move. Globally and locally.
Jack needs to be nimble and Jack needs to be quick. Keep your eyes and options open, and stack something.
nick
added- the emergency broadcast test will be ringing everyone’s phones today, take the helpful and friendly advice on the cover of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. And pay no attention to any black helos that might be zipping around.
Why the farmers? In general they pursue their own interests above everyone else’s?
Agreed. In principle the offices should be open to everyone but in practice lawyers have a skewed view of reality and have ruined a lot of things for a lot of people through incompetence or self-dealing.
Lots of farmers in parliament, not sure why. Purely coincidentally, I’m sure: We have the highest agricultural subsidies in Europe, on top of lots of protectionism.
Maybe the redevelopment is Subcontinent driven since HPE is now out there.
They generally prefer new standalone houses but will look at used or multifamily for the investment opportunity.
8% 30 year is coming for single family housing, probably within a month, but so is property tax “reform” to kick the can down the road two years while the school systems and local governments in Texas continue being stupid with money. The wild card here in Austin will be what the hail storm does to rates when renewals happen next year.
I’m weighing whether to make a claim even if the roof has to go.
Ouch. Highest we’ve ever had here was 5%, and we’re nowhere near that just now.
There’s something fundamentally wrong with that concept. Rates shouldn’t go up – risks like that happen, and are already calculated into the premiums. It’s obviously different for something like car insurance, where the policy holder may have caused an accident. Y’all didn’t cause the hail storm – that’s just something that happens.
If rates do go up, time to look around for a different insurance company.
76F and dreary this morning. I’m very tired as I wasn’t tired last night and didn’t get to sleep until late. Feels like Friday, but it’s only Wed. Yikes.
n
They all do it.
I don’t know about the Houston or Texas market, in particular, but I’m familiar with homeowner’s insurance being limited to two providers in an area and with the way that their rates and exclusions are very similar. Suspiciously similar, one might say.
Texas is still dealing with insurance and infrastructure fallout from the freeze in February 2021, where it seemed like the entire state had a brain fart about dealing with a week of sub-32 degree F weather.
I was astonished watching the train wreck happen. I’m sure the insurance companies were too.
This state invented swimming naked.
The US had an artificial suppression of interest rates for about a decade while the central bank bought the mortgage paper and Federal government placed a floor of $240k under just about any decent single family house across the country with a first time buyer tax credit combined with 3% down mortgages.
A lot of distortion needs to be removed from the US market, but doing so too quickly would bring political unrest as the middle class in this country realized how screwed they truly are right now.
Very light drippy drizzle. Clouds look like they are clearing though. Some interesting pink in the sky.
Coffee, oh how delicious is your embrace.
n
The list of eight Republicans voting to remove McCarthy does not include The Witch (Luna). Interesting.
The names: Gaetz, Andy Biggs, Ken Buck, Tim Burchett, Eli Crane, Bob Good, Nancy Mace, and Matt Rosendale.
All insurance companies raise their rates, about the same amount, about the same time. Claims are getting more expensive with the cost of lumber. Electric vehicle accidents are driving up rates. Regular vehicle accidents are driving up rates because of the cost of vehicles. Sleaze bag lawyer are driving up rates. Although no lawyer in the world is going to get more out of an insurance company than what the coverage provides in spite of their ads on TV.
At my credit union, they now have different rates for 30 mortgages of <200k and >200k. The >200k rate, with no points, is at 8.00%. No way in heck I’m getting rid of my 2.5% 15 year mortgage. Well, there is one way. When the next housing collapse happens, I’ll consider downsizing, but only if I can end up with no mortgage (or a small one, say 100k or less).
Most US housing markets have a hard floor of $275k for buying anything decent right now, with $200k being a “fixer upper”. 8% 30 year paper will be much easier for the originating mortgage company to sell to someone other than the Fed since, chances are, the buyer will be sitting on the paper for a while as rates climb higher.
The hard floor could break under rate pressure, but the political consequences of that will be ugly.
That is pretty accurate. There may be some I don’t know about, but there is nothing around here new that is being built for less than 275k. I won’t even talk about the number of apartment complexes going in. 3-4k units coming online this year, with at least that much happening over the next year or two as well. Plus any acreage available being cleared and turned into new subdivisions.
I’ll be going to Rite Aid in an hour for my 7th Covid (Kung Flu) vax. Maybe I’ll switch to anti-vaxer next decade.
Coming up for air.
Work to repair our three damaged trusses began yesterday. Workers cut a Big Darn Hole in the roof and slid in three Very Special Beams. They sistered them to the damaged trusses and hey presto our roof is no longer in danger of caving in under snow load.
I spent a challenging afternoon in the attic dislodging and stacking 2’x4’ sheets of plywood. Previous owner lined all the trusses up to the roof with them for storage. Rendered access to any part of the attic other than narrow center line impossible. They had to be removed so the truss repair could be performed. Shallow pitch roof. At just under 5’ I was still too tall to move other than folded in half or crawling. It was kind of horrible. However now I’m set to get baffles and insulation up, plus replace the bath fan. So that’s fabulous.
Today or tomorrow roofers will repair the gaping hole. Then weather forecast is rain and snow for foreseeable future.
It was all more complicated and technical than that. We have had a structural engineer involved from the morning after the damage occurred, and the construction company doing the work received high praise from all we asked.
The roof truss issue has had me in a state of anxiety since March. I cannot begin to express the relief it is to have this nearly done. The insurance company did pay an appropriate amount for the repair in the end. It should be criminal to act is such bad faith.
Replaced the rabbitry with a snow rated fabric shelter, I think I mentioned that last month. Other weather dependent and time sensitive work took precedence over completing the rabbitry so the beasts aren’t fully setup yet and labor is higher than should be for animal care currently.
Got a lot of garlic planted. Harvested a lot of potatoes and Swiss chard. Rest of garden was washed out with rainy summer. Lookup Alaska Grow Buckets for a nifty poor man’s hydroponics solution. Our best yield came from that system this year with little effort.
Lots of fall chores to still knock out.
I had to laugh…..
Rep. Bowman Pulls Fire Alarm Again While Trying To Flush Urinal
https://babylonbee.com/news/rep-bowman-pulls-fire-alarm-again-while-trying-to-flush-urinal?utm_source=The%20Babylon%20Bee%20Newsletter&utm_medium=email#google_vignette
via knuckledraggin
@Bob: My father was a fair jackleg mechanic, and had a machinist friend teach him the basics, one rule of which was “A good fixture is half the job … or more.”
We have six inches of rain forecast for later today. Why do we have flood, drought, drought, drought, drought, drought, flood ? The rain needs be neatly scheduled at one inch per week. Plus another twelve inches from our semiannual hurricane to get us to our annual 64 inches of rain.
Rain for forty days and forty nights, until the sewers back up?
It never rains or snows til after sundown.
July and August cannot be too hot…
I won’t argue, but spending three hours making a fixture to hold a piece for a one-off which will take less than a minute on the drill press is not a good investment of time unless you simply can’t do the job without it. (And the job is worth doing even if it will take three hours and one minute.)
My dad and I had that situation a year ago. The job was worth doing but the bracing pins and wedges that fit into the drill press’s plate didn’t do the trick and we didn’t have the time to spare to make a proper brace to hold the work piece. We ended up having me position it correctly and then hold it real tight and not move at all until the hole was drilled, then repeat for the next. Worked well enough and took about four minutes, not counting the 30 minutes spent trying to do it the right way.
EdH: RE fixtures.
When I was in high school most males took the apprenticeship examine at Mare Island Shipyard which built Nuclear subs, etc. My dad was a welder there.
I qualified for the Tool and Die Maker program. I didn’t know what that was; no one told me, was but everyone was excited for me. I went to the local Junior College for a year then into the Air Force. After I found out what I passed on, I realized that I would have loved that career.
@Bob: Funny. Small world. I was accepted at Mare Island circa spring 1979, never heard back from them, went off to engineering college in SoCal, and finally received a letter sometime after my first year that the program I had applied to had been canceled. On such things does an entire life & career ride.
Dad worked there, pipefitter and foreman for a bit, and later at the Naval Biomedical Facility (germ warfare basically, they were extremely careful in their pipe and tank fittings, made of weird stuff: glass, copper, ductile cast iron, abestos, stainless, lead, brass…), over Oakland way.
@SteveF: Camelot, Camelot!
Lots of farmers in parliament, not sure why. Purely coincidentally, I’m sure: We have the highest agricultural subsidies in Europe, on top of lots of protectionism.
Eating is important. Starvation riots are not pretty, ask the French. Therefore most countries subsidize agriculture to try to stabilize farming.
BTW, I have heard that the Japanese have the highest agriculture subsidies on Earth. Something about the long view and the starvation during and after WWII.
Texas is still dealing with insurance and infrastructure fallout from the freeze in February 2021, where it seemed like the entire state had a brain fart about dealing with a week of sub-32 degree F weather.
I was astonished watching the train wreck happen. I’m sure the insurance companies were too.
This state invented swimming naked.
I thought Florida invented swimming naked ?
Texas has dealt with infrastructure issues all my life. The population has jumped from ten million in 1960 when I was born to thirty-one million now. Most of us are even legal.
Work to repair our three damaged trusses began yesterday. Workers cut a Big Darn Hole in the roof and slid in three Very Special Beams. They sistered them to the damaged trusses and hey presto our roof is no longer in danger of caving in under snow load.
Excellent ! Excellent !
One of my friends (now departed) had a 1920s house with sistered trusses in the attic here in Houston. The house had a fire very soon after Oct 29, 1929, very suspicious. The insurance company sistered the burnt trusses rather than replacing them.
Rain for forty days and forty nights, until the sewers back up?
Shoot, the storm sewers back up around here in two or three hours. Hurricane Harvey flooded over a quarter million homes due to that. Houston is a huge swamp with the flat land to prove it.
I don’t have storm sewers at my house or my office, I have ditches. And I have seen the water a foot over the ditches at the office and six inches over the ditches at my house.
BC: Struggle For Survival
https://www.gocomics.com/bc/2023/10/04
So that is why we don’t have Saber Tooth Tigers wandering the Earth.
“Tesla Model Y Is Now Cheaper Than Ever, But Elon Is Focused on Taunting the Press”
https://www.pcmag.com/opinions/tesla-model-y-is-now-cheaper-than-ever-elon-focused-on-taunting-press
“An intriguing new Model Y variant was just released, but rather than talk up the new EV, CEO Elon Musk has spent much of the week trying to undermine the mainstream media.”
Ah, the press complaining about the press getting taunted. That is how you take a perfectly good story from impartial to partial.
I got nuthin’:
Biden cancels $9 BILLION in student loan debt with order targeting relief for people in public service or with low incomes and the disabled
The penultimate ploy to buy votes. Now do mortgages. SCOTUS should have a rubber stamp made “Unconstitutional” with plugs’ name engraved on the handle.
“FCC issues first-ever fine for leaving junk in space”
https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/3/23901428/dish-network-fined-space-junk
“Dish Network has been ordered to pay $150,000 for not moving its defunct satellite further away from Earth.”
Not much of a fine.
>> The wild card here in Austin will be what the hail storm does to rates when renewals happen next year.
I’m weighing whether to make a claim even if the roof has to go.
@Greg, what size hail? We’ve had dime-sized a few times this summer out here in the desert. First time I saw quarter-sized hail was a few years ago in, of all places, Houston, as we were driving here from Tampa. Not knowing much about what size would damage the car we pulled into a bank’s drive-thru and waited out the rest of the storm (about 20 minutes.) Luckily it was a Sunday and the bank was closed.
Also, presume you’re talking about your house, any damage to your vehicles?
>> “Dish Network has been ordered to pay $150,000 for not moving its defunct satellite further away from Earth.”
Not much of a fine.
It’s known as “part of the cost of doing business.”
Or as they used to say about parking tickets, “just pay the two dollars.”
“After McHenry Boots Pelosi From Hideaway Office, We Have to Wonder What Leverage She Has on McCarthy”
https://thelibertydaily.com/after-mchenry-boots-pelosi-hideaway-office-we-have/
Looks like the Speaker Pro Tem is tougher than McCarthy.
@Greg, what size hail? We’ve had dime-sized a few times this summer out here in the desert. First time I saw quarter-sized hail was a few years ago in, of all places, Houston, as we were driving here from Tampa. Not knowing much about what size would damage the car we pulled into a bank’s drive-thru and waited out the rest of the storm (about 20 minutes.) Luckily it was a Sunday and the bank was closed.
Houston has hail every freaking year somewhere. It is a major source of new roofs.
@Rick H, file under ‘why did he try that?’
In search of a new tab to search for an old comment, I right-clicked a “Click to Edit” link and selected “Open link in new tab” and got a blank page with just a zero at position 1,1.
Karma drops another one:
https://hotair.com/john-s-2/2023/10/04/our-cities-are-more-dangerous-than-some-would-like-to-admit-n582357
No situational awareness.
Solution – don’t do that.
You’re welcome.
(I reported the issue to the plugin developer.)
>> drwilliams says:
23 September 2023 at 20:03
Sam’s vs. Costco
Missed commenting on this…so…
Is this policy valid in states that require posted signage outside the business stating ‘no firearms allowed,” with some requiring the relevant state statute to be cited?
Missed commenting on this…so…
Is this policy valid in states that require posted signage outside the business stating ‘no firearms allowed,” with some requiring the relevant state statute to be cited?
In Texas, that requires a 30.06 and a 30.07 sign with very large letters and specific language.
https://www.texas3006.com/signs.php
Still browsing for a new laptop, with primary usage being Chrome and occasionally Work or Excel.
With many machines having soldered in-place RAM and hence not upgradable, is 8 GB of RAM sufficient these days or should I look for 16 GB (or higher)?
Would be running W11 Home and Office 2019. One other ceeonsideration is I tend to wind up with multiple open tabs in Chrome.
I just ordered a new laptop: HP 17″ Envy with 4TB SSD drive and 64G RAM, $1600. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C83WS7KD?tag=ttgnet-20 . OS is Windows 11 Pro, with an 10-Core Intel i7-1355U processor, touchscreen, backlit keyboard.
I use mine all day long for writing (using Office/Word 2019), internet, graphics (usually Adobe Fireworks because of old habits, although I do have the Affinity suite), programming, file transfer, and whatever else happens. I often have 4-8 programs running at the same time, along with about 20 tabs in Firefox.
Current system is an HP Envy 17″, four years old. Upgraded with 512MB and 2TB SSDs about a year ago. Still works, but sometimes slow. Decided to treat myself to a faster system.
Also ordered LapLink file transfer program, and a Lightening cable to do the transfer of programs and data. Will arrive next week.
Laptop is sold by a third-party, who install the SSD drives under warranty.
He already has the government union vote sewn up, that is $5B of it right there, odd.
Kickback’s to the Big Guy, or perhaps it was suggested that the usual union support might be less enthusiastic than usual in the 2024 election?
Do you really need a laptop, or will a desktop work? If so:
https://www.tomshardware.com/best-picks/best-pc-builds-gaming
Also a source of solar panels.
I bought this when my i5 started to act up.
https://www.newegg.com/neosmay-ac8-jasper-lake/p/2SW-006Y-00003
I liked it enough that I replaced Moa. And then there was the “I’d like a new PC but this one is fine. Really”. So I’ve bought three. Win11 Pro. No problems at all.
Add a 32″ Asus monitor and life is good.
So, a very large company who sells large rotating objects weighing hundreds of tons, is unhappy with me because I will not sell my software to them at a one sixth of my price like I used to. They canceled our six figure contract a couple of years ago telling me that they replaced my software with a French companies’ software for one tenth the cost of my software. They just realized that I was selling more to them than just software that almost a hundred of their engineers and customers used. And now the French company wants way more for their software.
I don’t know where we are going but, I doubt that I will get an order.
I don’t know if it’s the same company – and I am not asking, but as I understand it, a friend with a small engineering company – four or five people – had to notify a certain large gas turbine genset manufacturer that he was going to declare a mechanics lien on several of their in–service gas turbines and sell them at auction unless they paid him the five figure debt owed as a subcontractor on them.
They paid, but it took about a year to get it.
Ludicrous, the gensets were worth millions, but sonetimes you have to play hardball.
Wow. $279. My brothers old laptop is struggling with overheating when streaming, which is why I was over at Toms HW speccing stuff.
Do you stream much, and does it work?
I don’t stream much other than a random twitter video. They play fine. Watching a movie? This chair is not that comfy.
I’d rather download the file and play it from my HD in case I want to watch again. Too many years of 26.4 modems and the like…
Downloaded video files have yet to stutter.
Moa is sitting out there and running SlimServer 24/7 and has yet to bobble. The sort of pistol shaped infrared temperature reader says Moa is running about 100F to 104F. It’s just warm to my hand.
If you’re talking about GE, they’re scum. Take six to twelve months to pay a “net 30” invoice, and award themselves a 10% discount for prompt payment. And say “we have more lawyers than you do” if you complain.
One of the few good decisions I made when I had my own business (meaning that was how I made my living, not just moonlighting as I’ve done for decades) was to not take a contract with GE. They offered a very tempting hourly rate* when I needed the money, but something seemed off so I declined.
* Because I had previously demonstrated an ability to get a program coded, configured, and working, which other contractors had not. And because I was able to work with some of their more prickly engineers. I mean, seriously, what? I’m easier to get along with than some of the other people you’ve had in? What kind of jackasses have you been bringing in?
Our costco isn’t posted, not even with the un-lawful gun buster signs. And as an aside, my storage unit company took down every last anti-gun sign. I’d previously noted that they put up a lot of the correct signs, but that it was likely not lawful due to the nature of the property. Now every last one is gone.
Someone got the lawyers involved.
n
Heh.
I think the mention of “…statewide rolling blackouts … “ got someone’s attention.
Life Storage? They nagged me for a survey, so since I was planning on moving anyway, I was honest. I complained about the 30.06 signs, and the mask Karens behind the desk. The signs only went up when Life Storage bought the place from Uncle Henry’s.
I was dawdling about moving out, anyway, when they bumped up my monthly rate about 75% with the new owners, Extra Space, effective1 Oct. So I moved to another chain about 10 days ago.
While I was moving out, I noticed they had removed all the signs, and had new staff.
Still wouldn’t stay at the new rates, though. Funny how it’s changed hands twice since I first rented a unit there.
Just a typical day, no wonder the progs love the ‘living downtown’ vibe…
https://www.wbaltv.com/article/morgan-state-university-campus-shooting-police/45435961
>> Do you really need a laptop, or will a desktop work? If so:
https://www.tomshardware.com/best-picks/best-pc-builds-gaming
Have a good desktop, need to replace my old laptop. I’ve seen several I’d be happy with, just haven’t convinced myself to spend that much…yet…
@Paul: Is it a legal copy of Windows?
If you want a new sales rep for that account we could talk.
>> Now Bauer needs to sue the MLB for false suspension and ruining his career. The MLB should not react unless the player is under legal charges from the District Attorney.
Ehh, I’d say that every MLB contract has a morals clause that covers everything down to spitting on the side walk, with little evidence required.
Vote me Speaker.
I’ll give Pelosi and Hoyer their hideaway offices back.
Then I’ll wall them up, cut the power, and leave a cellphone scrambler in the adjacent room.
Or maybe just move twenty illegals in, toss in a couple of large stock pots and a hotplate, and then wall it up.
Little is not none. What you have there is a blueprint for a World Series Championship for a second-rate team owner with no scruples.
Truth and Science: A Nobel Laureate’s Advice to Students
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/10/04/truth-and-science-a-nobel-laureates-advice-to-students/
This link should have been included, but I had to go looking
https://co2coalition.org/media/quantum-korea-2023-keynote-address-dr-john-clauser/
ADDED:
The Science is Settled but They Forgot to Tell the Oceans:
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/10/04/climate-models-wrong-on-east-pacific-we-dont-know-why-this-cooling-is-happening/
“John Stossel Interviews Real Climate Scientest, Eradicates Cultist Fearmongers”
https://rumble.com/v3mvual-john-stossel-interviews-real-climate-scientest-eradicates-cultist-fearmonge.html
“Natural Climate Variability” is the real problem.
Hat tip to:
https://thelibertydaily.com/
If you’re talking about GE, they’re scum. Take six to twelve months to pay a “net 30” invoice, and award themselves a 10% discount for prompt payment. And say “we have more lawyers than you do” if you complain.
GE has been one of my customers for around 30 years. Every 3 or 4 years, I have to turn their account over to the collection agency who has a GE payables expert on staff. They know the backdoor into the secret payables department here in the USA, not the fake one in Bangladesh. Even with that, it will take a year to get paid and they will subtract 2% for “quick pay” according to their rules.
Steam Tables: Special Jack Welch Memorial Edition
P*V = n*R*T
Steam Tables: Special Jack Welch Memorial Edition
P*V = n*R*T
You lost me. I don’t understand what you are stating here.
Jack Welch is the guy who converted GE from a engineering company to a financial services company that did engineering on the side.
https://redstate.com/sister-toldjah/2023/10/04/the-whole-mchenry-kicks-pelosi-out-of-her-hideaway-office-story-gets-even-more-amusing-n2164688
Reminder: Always wait 24-hours to get the real story.
@Lynn
translation: If GE wants the cut-rate price give them the cut-rate steam tables that they deserve.
ERROR MESSAGE: UNABLE TO UPDATE. DEFAULT MODE ENGAGED. SEE ACCOUNT MANAGER.
I’m not sure they have any engineers that will notice the difference.
(When the Great Diaspora of “Jack’s Boys” occurred around the turn of the millenium, companies in search of Real Leaders tried to hire themselves some, I had a copy of Noel Tichy’s “Control Your Own Destiny or Someone Else Will”, which was a fairly good book with some good advice, for all the “CEO as Myth” perspective. The real nuggets, though, where some cameos by Jack’s Boys that turned out to be very instructive for anyone wanting to get a read on how the new boss might change the culture.)
“Hey Kids! Let’s put on a Show”
https://redstate.com/bobhoge/2023/10/04/biden-admin-comes-up-with-brilliant-ideabuild-a-wall-to-help-solve-the-disastrous-border-crisis-n2164693
wayback machine to August 20:
https://www.newsweek.com/republicans-furious-biden-sells-unused-trump-border-wall-millions-1821115
We have so many turds in this swimming pool that there is no water left.
EdH re: Mare Island. I tested in April of 1962 when I was as senior at Hogan High school. My Dad started working there in 1940 and retired in 1978 when he was 71 years old.
I forgot to mention in yesterday’s post that the Bissel rug cleaner that they said would ship and could take 7 to 10 days, arrived in 26 hours. I spent the morning cleaning the rugs. The dirty water is yellow-brown so I will continue cleaning for that area for another day or two before moving to the next.
The fixtures are built but I decided I wanted to verify that the cuts were correct so I had to dig out the intake manifold and then mount the old carbs so I could substitute the modified ones as they are done. Lots of opening deferred boxes and locating pieces. Found several boxes that were mis-labeled so I opened every box taped box in the loft. Found the missing Holley 3 BBL carb; I knew I had three of the 950 CFM models. The large Holley 2 BBL carbs use a cathedral fuel bowl which won’t fit the spacing of the 3×2 manifold. I found three fuel bowls of the standard style and will mount them to the carbs that will be milled Friday.
There are two fixtures one which mounts via the fuel bowl mounting screws allowing the shape of the airhorn to be cut from a circle to a “D” and one to hold the carb via the throttle plate screws so the choke tower can be cut away on the end carbs. The 600 CFM 2 BBLs use a very responsive thin rubber check valve in the base of the fuel bowl vice the steel check valve in the standard fuel bowl. I’m using a 500 CFM carb as the center carb which uses the standard check valve. (Total net air flow is 1200 CFM. [(600+600+500)*0.707 correction factor because the measurement for 2 BBL carbs and 4 BBL carbs are done at different vacuum levels.] Tuning will be “interesting”.
There are two fixtures one which mounts via the fuel bowl mounting screws allowing the shape of the airhorn to be cut from a circle to a “D” and one to hold the carb via the throttle plate screws so the choke tower can be cut away on the end carbs. The 600 CFM 2 BBLs use a very responsive thin rubber check valve in the base of the fuel bowl vice the steel check valve in the standard fuel bowl. I’m using a 500 CFM carb as the center carb which uses the standard check valve. (Total net air flow is 1200 CFM. [(600+600+500)*0.707 correction factor because the measurement for 2 BBL carbs and 4 BBL carbs are done at different vacuum levels.] Tuning will be “interesting”.
Fuel injection works so much better, when it works (I had a short in my 1973 Volvo 145 that caused the analog fuel injection controller to open the fuel injectors wide open occasionally).
>> Anyone know why the flags are at half staff today? Not everyone, but a lot of them…
For Feinstein, as ordered by Plugs: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2023/09/29/a-proclamation-on-the-death-of-dianne-feinstein/
>> Our costco isn’t posted, not even with the un-lawful gun buster signs.
So turns out we should have read the membership agreement ‘terms and conditions’ before clicking “I Accept.”
If you disagree, remember they have lawyers (plural) on retainer and we don’t. Not sure what the policy is (or isn’t) at Sam’s Club.
General best practice, carry concealed and make sure you don’t print.
>> For Feinstein, as ordered by Plugs
Dates listed here: https://www.flagsteward.org/halfstaffalerts.html
Late to the party, but:
If the laptop will really only be for email and browsing, 8GB is enough. Getting an SSD (instead of spinning rust) is worthwhile, 250GB minimum.
If you do anything that requires a bit of oomph – especially any sort of gaming – then 16GB RAM and a 1TB SSD would be better.
The hail was between golf ball and baseball-sized at my house. I saw on the Faux News that other areas nearby got pounded by grapefruit-sized hail.
We lost three windows and the windshield on my 2001 Solara. The roof was a known issue prior to the storm, but I don’t think it is worse.
The Solara also picked up a lot of new dings where it only had a couple from storms before. I meant to try the dry ice trick, but the weather will turn cool for the next few days. I have a serious paint spot which will need to be addressed to avoid rust – time to hit YouTube.
I had to work all week. ChatBot doesn’t write its own infrastructure code … yet.
Jim Jones last owned pol standing. Might as well order the flags at half mast for the Jonestown 45th anniversary in November while Corn Pop is at it.
No one should ever forget that Feinstein along with the sainted Harvey Milk and George Moscone were hip deep involved with People’s Temple. Jerry Brown, too.
Wille Brown used to emcee at Temple events.
Microsoft. Get 16 GB.
Also, anything too cheap is going to be a manufacturer trying to shed inventory without USB-C docking/charging capability.
*Willie* Brown being the keeper of the matching sets of embroidered kneepads in his bottom desk drawer – “Kamala” and “Gavin”.
Jim Jones may be dead, but his influence lives on.
Stay thirsty my friends.
It came pre-loaded and MS updates it with no problems. I think it’s legal.