Cool and clear, and supposed to be the same for the next couple of days too. It was pretty nice yesterday once the sun came up. Long pants and long sleeve shirt, but no jacket… I’m liking the weather for the next couple of days.
My plan for yesterday went all to heck and gone. What could have been a 10 minute plumbing repair is going to be several hours for a temporary kludge, or the opening of a big reno project. The project has been on the list for years, but it might be time to move it to the top… just wasn’t on my planning horizon. That’s how it goes with property ownership though, and it’s a 55 year old house. Even brass and copper fail after that long. I really need to get busy on the re-piping project too. If that fails under pressure, I’ve got an even bigger mess to clean up. It’s always something.
So today I’ll be exploring options for my new bathroom, or possibly trying to kick the can a bit down the road. I could just leave it with no tub or shower for now, but that is sub-optimal. It’s the easiest path though. Good thing we’ve got money set aside for emergencies and unexpected problems. The specific problem might be unexpected, but SOME sort of problem will visit you eventually. Money helps with almost any issue.
Stack some money as well as spares.
nick
Williamson County (Round Rock) has changed dramatically in just the 10 years we’ve been here, but the biggest change in political environment I’ve witnessed in Texas is out in Fredericksburg due to AirBnB and the wannabe winemakers who’ve relocated out there since 2012 or so.
Not many of the little houses close in to town in Fredericksburg have regular people living in them anymore.
Hey, that new bullet train from Kali to Vegas ain’t gonna pay for itself.
Viva Las Vegas!
LOL, the PLTs are going full projection:
Trump’s ‘slurred speech and gross, repeated errors’ show his cognitive decline is ‘MORE apparent’ than Biden’s, UBC professor claims, in frightening assessment of presidential front runners
plugs is demented, tRump tho. By some political science turd. Dr. Quack.
I listened to Dan Bongino interview tRump last week. No comparison to any of plugs’ disastrous interviews.
My dumpster was picked up this morning at 6am. Pretty full. Gave a lot of things to family, friends, and neighbors.
I lit a candle last night. May my precious “stuff” Rest In Peace in an undisclosed place in the San Antonio landfill.
tRump also talked about “there is no lost between Hispanics and Amish”. Illegals are flooding in and taking Amish jobs for a lower wage. Get out of the urban environment.
I Have Spoken.
@MrAtoz: It’s hard, doing a serious weeding of possessions. We went through that when we moved, back in 2019/2020. Good for you, for pulling it off – now on to the next phase!
The furor around the Hugo awards continues apace. First, the apparent censorship of Western stories that might offend China. Then the quiet dumping of all the Chinese votes. Turns out those were somehow orchestrated by the party, but were legimate votes by locals enthused by having WorldCon in their home country. Oops…
I only had a brief look: one of the Western finalists was apparently a story all about abortion rights. So the Hugos continue to prioritize political screeds over quality SciFi/Fantasy writing.
Brightline has the experience acutually building a train line – imagine – but if they aren’t involved, that project is just another boondoggle soup bowl for someone.
Even with Brightline, you’re looking at a decade or more before any hardware rolls.
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2024/02/the-burnsville-shooting-suspect.php
“The longer they hide it, the more certain it’s not a straight white male.”
—Ann Coulter
We have had a lot of problems with thee Brightline Train in Brevard county. Seems people got WAY to used to the Florida East Coast trains and have been running the crossings.
Big difference between a 35 MPH train and aa 75 MPH train.
The truckers’ strike is expanding: reportedly, whole trucking companies and some dispatch companies are boycotting NYFC.
Shut it down.
It would be funny if the only trucks going into NYFC are loaded with “migrants”.
NYC would rapidly run out of everything if the trucks stop. It’s a combination of population density and just-in-time inventory practices. So, if this was actually happening on any sort of scale to have any real effect it would be a mainstream national new story as the shelves in NYC would be bare within days. So, the fact that it’s only being talked about in primarily conservative circles tells me that, at least for now, it’s mostly just talk.
The boycott was only supposed to start this morning. Give it a day or three.
Also, do you actually expect the national media to honestly report on a story which makes “the opposition” look intelligent or powerful? You know what’s coming, right? Oh, my sweet Summer child, your naivete is so cute!
So, if this was actually happening on any sort of scale to have any real effect it would be a mainstream national new story as the shelves in NYC would be bare within days.
– It’s only been a day, and hasn’t had a chance to build yet, nor have loads gone undelivered yet.
There is usually talk before action anyway and everything takes longer than you expect.
——————–
Clear but blustery day.
Coffee is on the way. Wife let me sleep, so I did. Still haven’t fully decided about the tub, but I might take a look at the kludge repair first. We can always rip it out later.
———————
Oh, and W caved so she’s ordered starlink for the BOL now that it’s available again. That sucker isn’t cheap.
n
– eating always leads to death. Eventually. This is battlespace prep.
n
Neither the first, nor the last.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13097815/Warehouse-storing-lithium-batteries-goes-flames-France-amid-growing-fears-dangers.html
n
I can recall talk about it from the early 1980s. My money is on boondoggle.
Last I knew, mice and humans had different biology and in particular different nutritional needs. eg, humans can thrive on a purely carnivorous diet but that would kill some (most, I think) rodents.
We need better lab animals for research which will affect humans. I suggest using Biden voters. They’re almost human but have no higher brain function, so any painful experiment can be done to them with no ethical concerns. True, they tend to throw feces, but on balance I think they’re the best choice.
Alaskapox?
https://www.npr.org/2024/02/14/1231437886/alaskapox-virus-death-cases
Please remember that nutrition studies are second only to climate studies in the fraud contained within.
When the food industry first started to discredit Atkins, they commisioned “scientists” to study a different, somewhat lower carb diet (compared to SAD), and “proved” that reducing carbs doesn’t help you lose weight.
There are now thousands of cases (the die-hards would call them anecdotes) where people have actually reversed their type II diabetes through a very low carb diet.
Funny thing, in the human diet there are essential fatty acids (from dietary fat) and essential amino acids (from dietary protein) but there are no essential carbohydrates. Yes, your body needs a little bit of glucose, which your liver is happy to make for you from protein.
My wife’s Toyota contact says that the Japanese believe Tesla is storing depleted warranty service batteries in the Gigafactory in Austin until Musk figures out what he’s really going to do with them.
Perfectly believable. Ultimately, batteries will be efficiently recycled, but the tech isn’t there yet.
My dumpster was picked up this morning at 6am. Pretty full. Gave a lot of things to family, friends, and neighbors.
I lit a candle last night. May my precious “stuff” Rest In Peace in an undisclosed place in the San Antonio landfill.
Sounds like you were RUTHLESS. Good for you.
Oh, and W caved so she’s ordered starlink for the BOL now that it’s available again. That sucker isn’t cheap.
But it works. Except FTP does not work over Starlink so you have to use WinSCP.
Interesting that it’s more economical to get lithium out of tons of earth than it is to get it out of lithium batteries.
– eating always leads to death. Eventually. This is battlespace prep.
Hey, I made it to 63 which totally amazes me. I went and saw a GP the other day and he tells me that my A1C is good (5.3) and that my PSA dropped from 1.7 to 1.4. I may make it to 64 at which point I will be singing the Paul McCartney song ‘When I’m 64″ all year long.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCTunqv1Xt4
Interesting that it’s more economical to get lithium out of tons of earth than it is to get it out of lithium batteries.
It is incredibly difficult to separate a Heat Stable Salt. You essentially have to vaporize the entire mess and then condense the various constituents individually. The energy required to do so is amazing. If the constituents have close boiling points then you form a azeotrope, a eutectic, or another nasty phenomena.
Azeotrope is the name of my Trogs tribute band.
Kidding aside, I learned two new words today, and they’d both make good roots for passwords.
Active FTP is most likely the issue.
“Scorpio (Frontlines: Evolution)” by Marko Kloos
https://www.amazon.com/Scorpio-Frontlines-Evolution-Marko-Kloos/dp/154203549X?tag=ttgnet-20/
Book one of a new military science fiction series in the Frontlines Universe. I read the well printed and well bound trade paperback published by 47North in 2024. There are eight books in the main Frontlines series of military science fiction, I will read any of the new books in the series.
https://www.amazon.com/Terms-Enlistment-Frontlines-Marko-Kloos/dp/1477809783?tag=ttgnet-20/
Alex is a 21 year old member of the 150+ hidden survivors of a Terran colony world in the 18 Scorpii system, 46.1 light years away from Earth in 2124. There were thousands of colonists and Spacebourne Infantry on 18 Scorpio but the Lankies arrived eight years ago and killed most of them along with the Terraforming Plants. And Alex’s parents.
The Lankies have set up their own Lankieforming plants, making the world much more humid and with 30% carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Before the Lankies came, humans could breath the atmosphere for a short while but, no longer.
Alex is a dog handler, a female civilian helping the SI troopers salvage food, batteries, and other items from the wrecked terraforming stations and human spaceports. It is an incredibly dangerous job as the electric vehicles can only travel at 20 to 30 km/h over the rough terrain. But the dog can alert the humans that a 200+ ton Lankie is approaching and give them a minute or two warning to hide or fight.
The author has a website at:
https://www.markokloos.com/
My rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Amazon rating: 4.3 out of 5 stars (5656 reviews)
Lynn
The Austin Gigafactory is a pricey place to warehouse used batteries. The advantage is that the facility is large enough to hide activities within the complex, and everyone in the building is under a strict NDA and non-compete/disclosure agreements.
Volume is probably small right now, but that will change.
I’ve noticed the signs at the local HEB for their credit card. Like I need a credit card. I’m fine with Discover.
Anyway. The HEB card gives 1.5% cashback everywhere. Ok, nice, compared to Discover giving 1% but not worth the bother. The feature I want is 5% off of store brand groceries. That’s everything from Economax through to Central Market. If the UPC starts with 41220 it’s a store brand.
So, clicky click and I have a card coming. No annual fee. $4000 credit limit. With an awesome 24.6% interest rate on carried balances. (do I need the /sarc tag with this crowd?)
5% off of store brand groceries is what I want.
It may have changed but employees have a Perks card that gives a 10% discount. I had fun with that because before Thanksgiving the discount went to 20% for about a month. I’d load up to stuff my pantry…. have to push the conveyor belt for the weight of the canned goods. I’d would have the Meat Market boss order a few cases of hamburger chubs. A case was 12 one pound chubs. And keep them frozen please. He was cool, his department made the sale.
I got some strange looks but wtf, it’s not my problem you can’t plan a budget ahead. Sure was cool to see the total on the register drop to $350 /after/ the 20% discount.
Do about that much every day for a week, folks notice.
Well, if there is one billionaire on Earth capable of seeing the opportunity & orchestrating the development of a cost effective (and patentable!) method, then my money would be on that being Tony Stark.
Er, Elon Musk.
p.s. He could call it the Shipstone process…
Huh. I received a “Welcome to your new H-E-B Visa Signature® Credit Card!”.
All the way down it turned into Spanish. For some reason. I now know the link that says “Darse de baja” means “Unsubscribe”. With no “are you sure” option?
Oh well.
I finished it about two weeks ago. Me like.
I’ve been thinking about an HEB credit card, but I don’t buy much there. I’m retired military, and we do most of our grocery shopping at the Lackland and Ft. Sam commissaries.
@Chad
“NYC would rapidly run out of everything if the trucks stop.”
They don’t need to stop. There is virtually no storage in the system–classic kanban aka “just in time”. In economic terms “inelasticity of demand”.
Slow down deliveries for a few days and shortages will appear. Prices will go up. Panic buying .The truckers and companies willing to make the runs will have less competition–they will ask for more money and be offered more money, squeezing the low end. Pols will talk about “gouging” and “hoarding”.
When the prices go up and goods are short, what do you think organized crime, gangbangers, and the illegal invaders mobs will do? At the micro end it will be dangerous to be walking home with groceries or be a vulnerable adult with a pantry. At the macro end trucks disappear.
And all the while they’ll be screaming about white male domestic terrorists. Wait for it “it’s really an act of terror” will be the Journo-list phrase-o-the-day…
Not saying don’t do it, but the fully controlled media will not play fair. It’ll be domestic terrorist, RICO prosecutions, and MAGA propaganda. Anyone heard from the Proud Boys lately? Or the Oathkeepers?
n
@Brad
“Ultimately, batteries will be efficiently recycled, but the tech isn’t there yet.”
There are a lot of things that are not efficiently recycled.
For years recycling was pretty much paid for by aluminum cans, cardboard, and newspapers (the latter only about half the time). PET bottles have replaced a large portion of the cans, and they are worthless. The Chinese market for cardboard has collapsed–they don’t want greasy pizza boxes and people are too damn lazy to keep them out. Most people don’t get a newspaper anymore and the volume is probably less than 25% of what it was 20 years ago.
Plastic costs much more to sort than it is worth, and it would be worth even less if not for recycling mandates on a couple grades. Glass is pretty much worthless and accumulates–somewhere. Mostly too expensive to ship it back to make new glass, and even if the shipping is short, one brown beer bottle in a load makes it unsuitable for making clear glass and drops the value to a fraction.
Lithium batteries are a mishmash of parts and extracting the electrolytes is not only a multi-step chemical process, it’s dependent on the particular electrolyte formula.
Rubber tires are the classic nightmare for recycling. They can’t be landfilled without processing and don’t break down. Accumulations become traps for rainwater and breeding grounds for mosquitos in many parts of the country, and virtually all big piles eventually catch fire. Mechanical or cryonic processing to separate the steel, rubber, and fibers is costly, and a plant has to pull from a huge area to keep working. The separated streams have little value, so overall the best solution is to chop them, burn them in a rotary kiln with other waste products for fuel value, an recover the metals from the ash.
The 21st century nightmare, btw, is wind turbine blades. Lithium batteries are a distant second but catching up.
Finally, operating a recycling plant is another nightmare. Site them in the cities close to the waste generation and they get located in the poorest areas (not quite accurate–they’ve been there for decades). The neighbors, the pols, and the regulators conduct continual warfare to limit their hours of operation, regulate noise and truck traffic, and try to shut them down.
Overall we’d be better off if we did away with curbside recycling and used a deposit/core charge system on a few things and burned the rest for fuel.
Recycled PET carpet is a disaster. The fiber has no crush resistance.
I speak from firsthand experience. Never again.
Or he will just hide the batteries down at the new Gigafactory in Monterrey, Mexico.
Probably a triple NAT issue. Does VoIP work? Even the latency might be too much.
“Tesla Quietly Responds to Cold Weather Woes by Adjusting Range Calculation”
https://www.pcmag.com/news/tesla-quietly-responds-to-cold-weather-woes-by-adjusting-range-calculation
“After a rough winter for EVs, Tesla releases a software update that adds a major new factor when calculating range. It’s a reality check that may mean lower estimates.”
I smell, lawsuits !
Oh, and W caved so she’s ordered starlink for the BOL now that it’s available again. That sucker isn’t cheap.
Just wait until D1 and D2 find out. They will be scheduling movies in for BOL visits.
Crap, I was going to get the monkey off my back but I just heard that my dealer is back in town.
I am hearing about girl scout cookies all over the place.
Speaking of Discover…
With Charge Offs Soaring, Capital One To Buy Discover, Creating Credit Card Giant
– didn’t Capital One make their bones with secured credit cards? IE. the highest risk borrowers?
I don’t see a benefit to either company with a merger.
n
Tonight’s sirloin was from a year and a half ago. It was noticeably thicker, and was 2 pounds instead of the 1.5 or smaller pound packages in the store right now.
Thinner slices and smaller steaks bring down the sale price for the tray.
Not exactly ‘shrinkflation’ but certainly adjustments to meet current realities.
n
When I was in Italy I was told that property near dumps and recycling centers got a property tax break. Some of reasons given were: having big trucks on their streets , oders, and vermin.
“Electric Vehicles Are so Unpopular That Mines Producing Minerals for Them Are Shutting Down”
https://thelibertydaily.com/electric-vehicles-are-so-unpopular-that-mines-producing/
“(DCNF)—A slowdown in the growth of electric vehicle (EV) demand has led to entire mines being shut down as the supply of rare earth minerals essential for EV components exceeds demand, according to The Wall Street Journal.”
“Mines around the world are ceasing operations or halting construction projects in response to the falling demand, such as a $1.3 billion plant in North Carolina operated by Albemarle. which announced that it was deferring spending on the project amid the market turmoil, according to the WSJ The total market share of EVs rose from 3.1% in January 2023 to 3.6% in December 2023, while the share of U.S. vehicle inventory grew from 2.8% to 5.7% in that same time frame as demand fails to keep up with supply.”
We are accelerating into a recession.
We had lunch with my parents today at a local Pho restaurant. One of the other customers drove in a silver Rivian truck. None of us could figure out what was the specialness of the vehicle as it was rather plain looking. Even the Cybertruck looks special compared to it. And a $100,000 truck has better look special in your driveway.
https://rivian.com/r1t
Speaking of Discover…
With Charge Offs Soaring, Capital One To Buy Discover, Creating Credit Card Giant
– didn’t Capital One make their bones with secured credit cards? IE. the highest risk borrowers?
I don’t see a benefit to either company with a merger.
n
My brother says the merger is good for the Discover shareholders.
Discover has a large international presence. I’ll bet that Capital One wants to expand.
Earlier today at 10:31 I misquoted:
the correct quote is:
“The longer they go without telling you, it’s not a white male.”
–Ann Coulter
https://www.bizpacreview.com/2024/02/19/ann-coulter-on-bill-maher-says-if-super-bowl-parade-shooters-were-white-wed-know-their-identity-watch-reaction-1438280/
The main difference is my inclusion of “straight”. I doubt that Ms. Coulter would quibble with my version, but it makes the statement less general.
Further it’s worthwhile to note that she was correct twice in a week, as the K.C. parade shooters and the cop killer in Minnesota were all black, a fact carefully kept out of the reports by the MSM.
It’s also worth noting that Alpha News Twitter feed has this:
“He petitioned to have his gun rights restored in 2020 in relation to a 2008 felony assault conviction.”
If he did have his gun rights restored and was in legal possession of the reported multiple weapons found at the home, it has the potential to put a bit of a speed bump in the road for the MNDims plans to impose new draconian regulations on law-abiding gun owners. The Republicans might have enough backbone to point out the problem with previous tinkering.
Yeah, notice that it’s in the pictures, so that they can claim they shared the ‘news’ but it’s not in the text, so it’s not searchable at a later date.
n
“died suddenly” is a searchable term, and I suspect it’s on purpose when it’s used. Someone is CYA or is a believer.
n
Clickbait.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/yourmoney/consumer/article-13100819/costco-value-not-buy-groceries-expert-shopper.html
Milk, bread, bagged salad, raw whole chicken, herbs and spices, canned soup. breakfast cereal.
In regular grocery stores, milk and bread are often loss leaders to get you in the store, where they know you will buy more stuff w/out regard to price. Even then, Costco is competitive, but I had too many gallons go bad prematurely so I don’t buy milk there anymore.
Bread price is competitive, although you do have to buy two loaves and the choices are limited. What you don’t have to do is hope your local store is having a sale, as she suggests you do.
Bagged salad is never a bargain. Anywhere. You don’t buy it because you are price sensitive.
Raw chicken? Yes, sometimes you can get a bag or family pack for less, when it’s on sale, but what do you do with the 10 pound bag? Dunno what her costco is doing with breasts or thighs at $3, but mine has them for half that. Maybe she is comparing organic. GUARANTEE the Kroger value bag at 59c/lb isn’t organic… And the costco parts are in sturdy vac packs, go right into the freezer in packs of 5 or 6, don’t need to be eaten all at once or repacked… sure the mexican market up the block might have a loss leader sale, but it is rarely worth the time difference or risk of mishandling.
Spices- she says don’t buy them because you probably won’t use the whole tub. Ok, fair enough, but shouldn’t that advice apply to pretty much everything? If you need a 1 liter bottle, you know it.
Canned soup, I don’t think she actually buys soup. Her pricing is pre-Brandon, and depends on sales or house brands. My issue with costco is lack of a variety pack and limited flavors, not price.
Cereal, we don’t eat much anymore, but she’s not looking at price per ounce, AND she’s counting on sale pricing at the local store. My HEB has shrinkflated boxes that are so thin they barely stand up on the shelf. Costco packaging is sturdy and contains far more than the grocery store box.
There, I saved you from the clickbait! Go me!
n
Goodnight, my main website backup has grown to 28.4 GB. I download it once a week to one of my file servers using the YYYYMMDD directory name format. I also have a shadow drive in case the main drive fails.
Soft bed and some soothing sounds are in my immediate future.
n
Here, you can directly recycle metal, glass, PET, cardboard and paper. There is special handling for electronics. Garden waste is also separate. Everything else is incinerated, with metal recovery from the ash and slack.
The recycling is pretty effective, because there is a hefty charge for waste disposal. It must be in labelled garbage bags, and they cost anywhere from $0.20 to $0.40 per gallon capacity.
Good grief, that’s huge, given that I doubt you have a lot of video content. Time for some housecleaning?