Thur. May 2, 2024 – what, no comments about the workers of the world and commie day?

Warmish, and overcast, with storming later. IF it didn’t rain all night. I went to bed late and the promised rain hadn’t started, so IDK what to expect today. Yesterday ended up relatively nice, with periods of pretty nice. No rain for me, other than a few spattered drops.

Went to my client’s house and did some poking around. Found a problem with a cable. Swapped an extender pair anyway just in case the extender was failing.

Left the site to head to my buddy’s shop, but he waved me off, which left me at loose ends. Hit the Goodwill outlet. Meanwhile, D1 has been having an “interesting” day. One male vs male fight in the hall, and two female vs female fights, one right in front of her. The video is vicious. No posturing and fake fighting like the girls did when I was in school. Congrats ladies, you are violent sl#ts, just like the men. What progress! #feminismrules

This was followed by a phoned in bomb threat that resulted in a brief lockdown. Not credible. Thankfully.

Da fuq is the world coming to?

The official communication from the school should be interesting. So far there’s been none. I will assume then that this is common throughout the district, and we just haven’t been told about any of the other violence either. Time, maybe long past time, to look at alternatives.

“Teach your children well”. Well… they’ve been taught, and we’re going to reap the whirlwind.

Stack. Look hard at your personal security. Stack some more.

nick

79 Comments and discussion on "Thur. May 2, 2024 – what, no comments about the workers of the world and commie day?"

  1. Greg Norton says:

    “Construction at the two new reactor sites began in 2009. Originally expected to cost $14 billion and begin commercial operation in 2016 (Vogtle 3) and in 2017 (Vogtle 4), the project ran into significant construction delays and cost overruns. Georgia Power now estimates the total cost of the project to be more than $30 billion.”

    More Nukes !  More Nukes !  More Nukes !

    Wow, that is expensive.

    Soup bowls.

    Public utilities are almost as sweet as government.

    A “gravy train for life” as I heard one light rail consultant put it while talking to another regarding Seattle’s commuter rail projects while riding the bus out of downtown in 2013.

    Of course the Geico Gecko is involved in Seattle’s “heavy” commuter rail … which only works north of the city about half of the time. The consultants worked on the “light” project.

    Don’t mess with the Gecko’s soup bowls.

    Texas is about to learn about feeding the Gecko.

  2. Greg Norton says:

    Two divorces.

    We worked hard for this. 

    Probably voted for Kamala and Joe.

    https://www.huffpost.com/entry/tradwife-life-finances_l_6627c443e4b00ea555a50d30?utm_source=pocket-newtab-en-us

    My kids will be in therapy for years over my failed stint as the stay-at-home-parent. I’ll admit it wasn’t my thing, but the other adult in the household hated being the “mean” person to get the job done with regard to household income, which made the situation worse.

  3. Greg Norton says:

    And if Karma is a thing, they will turn a corner and walk into a crowd, and the last words they hear will be: “You look Jewish”

    I believe Kamala is half Tamil Hindu through her mother. To certain Muslim demographics, that’s just as offensive as being Jewish.

  4. Nick Flandrey says:

    https://www.huffpost.com/entry/tradwife-life-finances_l_6627c443e4b00ea555a50d30?utm_source=pocket-newtab-en-us

    –I thought huffing glue post went bankrupt?   ⅓ attack on the ‘tradwife” movement, which dems HATE, using ’tradwife’ as an insult most of the time… then the rest is “women should be more involved in the household’s finances” which is gender role based advice, seemingly reinforcing stereotypes for the last 100 years…  which if they felt the need for the article, clearly there are a lot of women still playing out that role and stereotype….

    n

  5. MrAtoz says:

    Tucker is wrong. Big time. 

    Yes he is. The article lays out perfectly why he is wrong. To the Japanese during WWII, probably even today, anybody not Japanese was/is sub-human. I read a book in HS called, I think, The Knights of Bushido, about Japanese atrocities during WWII. The Japanese started a war with us, committed massive atrocities, and what, atomic bomb bad? Carlson makes a classic logical mistake of no good human would use the bomb, therefore you are bad even if you support it.

  6. Nick Flandrey says:

    75F and overcast.   Some water in the gutters,but no evidence of crazy rain.   HOWEVER north of here there was crazy rain.   Lake Livingston apparently got 11 inches.   Walker County has EVERY road flooded according to their EMgmt people.

    The Trinity River basin is flooded and getting more flooded.

    Feels weird to not have the disaster happen to us.

    n

  7. Greg Norton says:

    Tucker is wrong. Big time. 

    An entire culture had a case of foaming dog fever and needed to be put down.

    The militarism hasn’t totally gone away in that society. “Space Battleship Yamato” continues to be rebooted and remains popular. Maybe the drunk engineer and pervy robot aren’t appropriate in this day and age, but the ship and its past are celebrated.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNT3un2JmJU

  8. paul says:

    I had an inch and a quarter of rain last night.  Some lightning, too.  Right now I have my phone tethered because the internet radio blew up last night.  I don’t know where all the pieces are. The power supply is dead.  My router and a switch are dead.

    Man, the phone connection seems extra slow today.  Off to Big River!

  9. Nick Flandrey says:

    @paul, I’ve got boxes of networking gear, what do you need?   and I don’t use my internet radios…

    n

  10. Nick Flandrey says:

    If you need a software update to make your tail lights work, your designers and engineers have gone seriously off the rails.

    n

    Documents posted Wednesday on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration website say dealers will update software to fix the problem at no cost to owners. 

    The report says the fault can ’cause reduced visibility to other drivers in dark conditions, increasing the risk of a collision.’

    While the 242,669 Mavericks are from the 2022 to 2024 model years, they were manufactured between February 2021 and March of this year, according to the recall 

  11. Nick Flandrey says:

    I THOUGHT the son of a b!tch author of the DM article had it backward last week, the jury was hung by one person NOT wanting to acquit not the other way ’round.

    Last week, a jury failed to reach a verdict after one hold-out juror refused to acquit and on Monday, prosecutors announced they would not seek a new trial.

    n

  12. drwilliams says:

    Yup. 

    Rancher should get a medal. 

    DA should get the boot. 

  13. paul says:

    I’ve ordered a couple of switches.  Two so I have a spare.  Plus a D-Link DIR-812 router.  I don’t care about wi-fi abilities.   Big River says delivery on Wednesday the 8th. 

    Thank you for the offer. 

    The ISP must be busy or something.  No reply to my trouble ticket.  Yet.

    If the ISP replaces the radio real soon, I have old parts I can use until the new parts arrive.

  14. Brad says:

    Eleven want to acquit? I’m rusty on my American civics, but isn’t that enough? I didn’t think a not-guilty result required a unanimous jury?

  15. Greg Norton says:

    If you need a software update to make your tail lights work, your designers and engineers have gone seriously off the rails.

    The designers and engineers are under pressure to produce software patents which can be weaponized against competitors.

    Plus, since the beginning of the year, everyone working in software is increasingly required to write code using AI tools. Ostensibly, the AI increases productivity by providing boilerplate where required, but the reality is that the C-suites believe that the tools can capture the software development process so they can fire as many developers as possible, reducing staff to quota hires and other people not “on the spectrum”.

    I’m on the naughty list every month where I work because I work in GNU Screen and Vi instead of Visual Studio Code.

    I despise VSC and believe it makes developers lazy. As of late, having the dominance in the market also allows BillG to select what Linux gets supported for mainstream development use long term.

    I don’t get a lot of leeway on that, but I just caught a huge one line bit of stupid which I suspect came from an AI code suggestion. calloc() with one of the arguments set to a 0 constant. I’m open with management that I will open VSC enough to get off the naughty list.

  16. Greg Norton says:

    While the 242,669 Mavericks are from the 2022 to 2024 model years, they were manufactured between February 2021 and March of this year, according to the recall 

    Maverick. Hecho en Mexico.

    Ford leads the industry in recalls.

  17. Chad says:

    I believe the Honda Ridgeline is the official pick-up truck of senior citizens around here. It's become a bit of a game when we're driving. If we see one someone will say "I bet they have gray hair" and, sure enough, once we 're next to them it's always a gray-haired driver. lol  Though, to be fair to Honda, the small sized pick-up trucks (S-10, Ranger, Dakota, etc.) have always been popular with the elderly male crowd as they don't want "too much truck" for their declining driving ability.

    The 1st Generation Honda Ridgelines (2006-2015) had that SUV/Pick-up hybrid thing going on similar to the Chevy Avalanche. However, the 2nd Generation (2017 – present) is just a small pick-up truck.

  18. RickH says:

    @Nick – re your ‘attic critter’ problem. 

    Was reading that rats/mice don’t like ‘old’ bait. If you are using bait of any kind from your ‘stacks’, perhaps use a newly purchased (non-stack) bait  (new from the store jar of peanut butter, etc) might be worthwhile.

    An external bait station with freshly-purchased bait might also be an idea.

    See this article.  

    /random-thought…

  19. Greg Norton says:

    I believe the Honda Ridgeline is the official pick-up truck of senior citizens around here. It’s become a bit of a game when we’re driving. If we see one someone will say “I bet they have gray hair” and, sure enough, once we ‘re next to them it’s always a gray-haired driver. lol  Though, to be fair to Honda, the small sized pick-up trucks (S-10, Ranger, Dakota, etc.) have always been popular with the elderly male crowd as they don’t want “too much truck” for their declining driving ability.

    The half ton truck class have become manhood statements in the last few years, and, with the average selling price of an F150 at $60,000, essentially unaffordable unless you get a deal from a dealer’s fleet sales office who need to move a mistake off of the floorplan.

    Unfortunately, the small trucks are now the size of where the half tons were around a decade ago, and those are getting larger with corresponding price tag increases as the manufacturers scrounge for cashflow.

    The Honda is the last of the small trucks with a V6 available IIRC, and that six is a great engine, with a long lifespan if taken care of properly.

  20. paul says:

    The Nissan Frontier has a v6 engine.

  21. Greg Norton says:

    The Nissan Frontier has a v6 engine.

    Cool. Unfortunately, Nissan did capitulate to Uncle and use DI for the V6.

    OTOH, I think those are still assembled in the US whereas Toyota sent the Tacoma to Mexico.

    My guess is that, in addition to the turbo four engine, the new 4Runner will also be Hecho en Mexico, on the same assembly line as the Tacoma which forces a purchase decision at our house this summer.

  22. EdH says:

    I liked the Ridgeline, but in 2019 the dealer wouldn’t budge on the price: higher by $5k than a Ram 1500. 

    Goofy.

  23. Greg Norton says:

    I liked the Ridgeline, but in 2019 the dealer wouldn’t budge on the price: higher by $5k than a Ram 1500. 

    Goofy.

    Pre-pandemic, the local Dodge dealer’s lot was overflowing to the point that they hid vehicles in the back parking at the mall and in the remote lots of the ISD’s showpiece HOK-built football stadium.

  24. EdH says:

    I think a good first step to reining in the regulatory state is to force a ⅔ successful recorded Congressional vote on any regulatory  measure  estimated to increase costs to taxpayers on a good or service by more than, say, 1%.

  25. lynn says:

    Two divorces.

    We worked hard for this.

    Probably voted for Kamala and Joe.

    And is ready to vote for Kamala and Joe again because, they really care.  And the mean orange man is real mean.

  26. Brad says:

    So, Oklahoma wants to put Christian pastors into schools. The Satanic Temple says, ok, we’ll come too. Hilarious freakout by Oklahoma politicians.

    Guess what, the Satanic Temple is an organization that exists to tweak fundamentalist noses. Separation of church and state is important. Oklahoma politicians obviously don’t understand that.

  27. Chad says:

    I liked the Ridgeline, but in 2019 the dealer wouldn’t budge on the price: higher by $5k than a Ram 1500. 

    That is similar pricing that led to the death of the Dodge Dakota. The last several years the Dakota was in production you could get a Dodge Ram 1500 (I say Dodge Ram because this was before Ram was split off into its own entity) for the same price. So, why settle for the smaller/weaker Dakota? Rather than drop the price of the Dakota they just did away with it.

  28. drwilliams says:

    @EdH

    A better first step would be to require they pass a test:

    balance a checkbook

    parallel park

    hard boil a dozen eggs and peel them

    change a flat tire on a pickup

    If they pass the first 5, they go on to the second 5:

    Draw a map of the United States and label the states and their capitols

    Write  down the Bill of Rights and explain what each one means

    Explain the difference between republic and democracy

    Decorate their proposed office on a $5,000 budget

    Make the trip from DC to Tulsa using public transportation (bus and train pass only) and $20 a day for food

  29. Greg Norton says:

    And is ready to vote for Kamala and Joe again because, they really care.  And the mean orange man is real mean.

    To that demographic, Orange Man is Bad Daddy, a frequent topic of discussion at the weed edibles buying club down at the church/synagogue.

  30. paul says:
    DI for the V6.

    Direct Injection?  I don’t know, I have a 2019.  Built in December.  In Mississippi.  Northwest corner of the state, I think.

    As far as I can tell, I have port, not direct, injection.  It’s the VQ40 engine. 4.0L.   I think they started using a new engine in the 2020,  Same truck but new engine and a few things like “keep the fob in your pocket and push the button to start the engine”.

    It’s a Pro4x and has as far as I know available everything except the option group of leather seats, power seats, a moon roof. and heated outside mirrors.  I’m not missing anything.  Heck, if the weather is so nasty to need heated mirrors, I’m staying home. 

    Darn truck is loaded out more than an ‘82 Cadillac Fleetwood d’Elegance.  I’m just missing the ashtrays with cigarette lighters in each armrest.  

  31. Greg Norton says:

    Super Mario is coming to Orlando.

    And he’s bringing his friend, Donkey Kong.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asmd0jGpg9o

    Yeah, plenty of DEI. Comcast is still 80% owned by institutions.

  32. Nick Flandrey says:

    Home from my buddy’s.   We did get work done, even if only by skylight and headlamp.   Big storm came thru around 1030 and took out power in various places for hours.   At 230 the shop was still dark.  

    One kid had normal school, the other sat in the classroom without power all afternoon.

    Small branches down all over town, and about 3-4″ of water in the buckets.

    Just got power back inthe neighborhood around 315.

    n

  33. Nick Flandrey says:

    Power just blinked several times in a row.  Might go out again…

    n

  34. Nick Flandrey says:

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13376093/jim-jordan-censorship-white-house-amazon.html?tag=ttgnet-20

    …ahead of a March 9, 2021 meeting between the White House and Amazon officials, a ‘pre-brief’ email to Amazon employees emphasized a ‘top talking point’: ‘Is the admin asking us to remove books, or are they more concerned about search results/order or both?’ 

    But the very day of the meeting Amazon immediately adopted a ‘do not promote’ category for anti-vaccine books listed on its website.

    ‘The impetus for this request is criticism from the Biden administration about sensitive books we’re giving prominent placement to, and should be handled urgently,’ an Amazon official wrote in an email to other staffers. 

    In another internal email, an Amazon official expresses urgency in making the changes to shadow-ban anti-vaccine content ‘due to criticism from the Biden people.’ 

    ‘The next 4 months of vaccine response/adoption are going to be critical,’ the official writes. 

    They suggested removing the books from sale entirely, because ‘search data shows customers who buy this content are looking for specific books and using high intent queries, which means customers will likely continue to consume this content in spite of our warnings.’ 

    By March 12, Amazon wanted to take further steps to crack down on anti-vaccine books because they were ‘feeling pressure from the White House Taskforce.’ 

    so not a conspiracy theory.    And one more reason to own physical copies of stuff.

    n

  35. MrAtoz says:

    My man Travis Taylor:

    Chilling moment four UFOs are captured on high speed camera as scientists investigate possible portal on Utah’s Skinwalker

    He brings legitimacy to The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch.

    Stop laughing, it’s one of my favorite shows.

  36. Greg Norton says:

    so not a conspiracy theory.    And one more reason to own physical copies of stuff.

    Chasten Buttigieg’s book was always in stock at Amazon’s physical bookstore experiment during the store’s brief tenure in The Domain (Austin’s attempt to imitate California).

    In theory, the bookstore was only supposed to stock the top … 500? … bestsellers in the country, but I have a hard time believing that hot mess sold more than a handful of books even in Austin.

  37. Greg Norton says:

    Stop laughing, it’s one of my favorite shows.

    I miss “Finding Bigfoot”, and I’ll watch “Botched” if I catch it.

    “Skinwalker Ranch” has pretty slick production values but not a lot happens in most of the episodes.

    Good hotel TV material, which is how I watched last year in Tennessee when I went to pick up the wife’s nephew’s car.

    If basic cable dropped the mandatory sports channels and repriced to $40/month, I think the cable companies could reverse their subscriber losses in a heartbeat.

  38. Nick Flandrey says:

    This caught my eye.

    https://digital.militaryaerospace.com/militaryaerospace/20240304/MobilePagedReplica.action?pm=2&folio=34#pg36 

    It’s a drone to resupply Marines remotely, carries 150 pounds, up to 40 miles, and at nearly 70MPH.   It’s in use.   They want more.

    This is what caught my eye… among the list of things it is to be used for is “island cleanup and invasive species control.”

    WTF?   “Island cleanup”??   “Invasive species control”???    I bet it has a spray rig to put down whatever the modern version of Agent Orange is.   And I bet you could use that same spray rig on people too.   Ammonia.   Gasoline.  Crowd dispersal agents.  Dye.  Taggants.   

    The potential and potential for misuse is astounding.

    n

  39. MrAtoz says:

    It’s a drone to resupply Marines remotely, carries 150 pounds, up to 40 miles, and at nearly 70MPH.   It’s in use.   They want more.

    I want 5 of them! Make that 10!

    Use them on Hamaasholes on college campuses. Bear spray.

  40. Alan says:

    >> Just got power back inthe neighborhood around 315.

    @nick, any hopes for the transfer switching install before hurricane season?

  41. Alan says:

    >> “Skinwalker Ranch” has pretty slick production values but not  a lot nothing happens in most of the episodes.

    FIFY. 

  42. paul says:
    Chasten Buttigieg’s book 

    He changed his surname.  Ignore and shun. 

  43. Lynn says:

    “New water heater efficiency standards will create largest-ever energy savings from one rule: DOE”

        https://www.utilitydive.com/news/doe-finalizes-energy-efficiency-rules-residential-water-heaters/714965/

    “The final rule will generate more than 17.6 quadrillion British thermal units of energy savings over 30 years, the Department of Energy said.”

    But what will the cost be ?   Just mandating that all water heaters be 98% efficient does not mean that the common folks can afford the new $20K water heaters.   And we are talking about a device that uses $20 to $50 of energy per month.  The ROI (return on investment) is not there to pay for the increase in efficiency from 90% to 98%.

  44. paul says:

    The ISP says their hours are from 9am to 4pm.  I think I’ll take the pieces of my radio to town tomorrow.  Get there about 9am.  Might even get a BoB from What-a-burger.
    I’m had zero response to a trouble ticket, or in the chat room, or to a phone call.  Nothing.  I’m really annoyed. 

    Here, here is your radio.  What I can find.  Complete with scorch marks.   So don’t tell me to re-boot everything. Thank you for not burning my building down.  And by the way, don’t charge my account until you replace the radio. 

    grr.  

  45. paul says:

    When we moved out here I needed to replace the water heater.  Furrow’s had a very well insulated unit on clearance.  Sure, it was 30 years ago and it would have been replaced by now.  But it was cold or room temp when you touched it.  Even the top.  The current GE is warm.  Not real warm, just a enough to feel. 

  46. Nick Flandrey says:

    Since we put in the whole house on demand water heater, I can say I prefer a heater that runs without electricity.   

    Def do not want some weird heat pump thing with computers inside.

     Any savings on efficiency get lost by using it for an extra 5 minutes per shower, since a large part of the population will shower until the water starts to get cold.

    n

  47. Nick Flandrey says:

    @alan, def looking for an installer… took note of a couple of companies in the area when I saw their trucks out and about.

    n

  48. Ray Thompson says:

    Truck suddenly starting making a noise, loud. Shut off the engine, noise stopped, Started engine, noise came back. Turned off A/C, noise stopped. Turned on A/C noise started. So I drove home with no A/C. Took the truck to the local mechanic figure I had a decomposed A/C compressor. He immediately diagnosed the issue as the circulating fan. He pulled the fan and found a plastic part. That part being part of the diverter damper for part of the system. He thinks it is the recirculating damper. The cost to repair is $1,500.00 which includes the part and labor. The part cannot be purchased instead requiring the entire manifold assembly.

  49. Lynn says:

    “Windows 10 reaches 70% market share as Windows 11 keeps declining”

        https://www.neowin.net/news/windows-10-reaches-70-market-share-as-windows-11-keeps-declining/

    “Last month, Statcounter reported a notable decrease in Windows 11’s market share, and the trend continued in April 2024. After reaching its all-time high of 28.16% in February 2024, Windows 11 plummeted below the 26% mark.”

    “According to Statcounter, in April 2024, Windows 11 lost 0.97 points, going down from 26.68% to 25.65%. All those users seemingly went for Windows 10 since the OS, which will soon turn nine, crossed the 70% mark for the first time since September 2023, gaining 0.96 points.”

    “It is interesting to see Windows 11 losing quite a significant chunk of users in the middle of its cycle. Even Windows 8 and 8.1, universally considered not great versions of Windows, only went down after the release of their successors. True, Statcounter is not 100% accurate in its estimates, but an almost 3-point decline for a product with over 1 billion devices is too big to dismiss.”

    This is quite surprising.  I am seeing several of my customers, including a Fortune 1000 corporation, move to Windows 11 and Office 365.

  50. Lynn says:

    Truck suddenly starting making a noise, loud. Shut off the engine, noise stopped, Started engine, noise came back. Turned off A/C, noise stopped. Turned on A/C noise started. So I drove home with no A/C. Took the truck to the local mechanic figure I had a decomposed A/C compressor. He immediately diagnosed the issue as the circulating fan. He pulled the fan and found a plastic part. That part being part of the diverter damper for part of the system. He thinks it is the recirculating damper. The cost to repair is $1,500.00 which includes the part and labor. The part cannot be purchased instead requiring the entire manifold assembly.

    How many miles on your 20xx F-150 4×4 ?

  51. Lynn says:

    Since we put in the whole house on demand water heater, I can say I prefer a heater that runs without electricity.   

    Def do not want some weird heat pump thing with computers inside.

     Any savings on efficiency get lost by using it for an extra 5 minutes per shower, since a large part of the population will shower until the water starts to get cold.

    Is this a natural gas demand water heater ?  

    It does not have any electricity from the house ?  How about self generated electricity from a heat generator ?

    How old is it ?

  52. Ray Thompson says:

    How many miles on your 20xx F-150 4×4 ?

    2014 F-150 4×2, about 130K.

    By looking at the part that was in the fan, it looks like it has been partially broken for some time.

  53. Bob Sprowl says:

    $1,500 to fix the AC recircuilating damper.  

    TIme for a kluge repair.  1) Remove the broken part and see it you can live  with partially functional AC.  Or 2) Fabricate a dampner patch and see it you can live  with partially functional AC.  Etc.

  54. Ray Thompson says:

    TIme for a kluge repair.

    Nope. I don’t like kludge repairs.

  55. Nick Flandrey says:

    @lynn, nat gas, but the unit needs AC to run the control board.   I keep meaning to put it on a UPS, but keep cringing at the cost.   I need to replace most of my UPSs and that will be $500-1k depending on models…  so I’ve been putting it off.

    I should just be getting one new one every month… 

    n

  56. Denis says:

    Maverick. Hecho en Mexico.

    Ford leads the industry in recalls.

    A family member had one of the early Rangers that was made in South Africa. It was a complete lemon; anything that worked did so intermittently, including the engine.

    Paul, sorry about your internet radio. I have become quite attached to mine. Listening to it now… Max Bruch’s second violin concerto. Beautiful!

    Yesterday was the opening day of Roebuck season. A washout, literally. There was a storm cell sitting overhead between 17:00 and 01:00, with plenty of thunder, lightning and torrential rain.

    One can dress for rain, but sitting up a wet ladder for a few hours with a lightning conductor in one’s hands… suicidal. I gave up, went home and went to bed early instead. The fresh May greenery in the woods was spectacular, though.

  57. Denis says:

    …my design for a small green weinie devolatilization gas generator is going to be very popular.

    @Denis: NB another vocabulary-builder.

    We have a new game! Find words I don’t know. Like Scrabble (not the dumbed-down version). No joy on devolatilization, though. Do you remember the episode of Dad’s Army where Capt. Mainwearing’s troop drove around the countryside in Cpl Jones’ butcher’s van with a bag of wood or coal gas on top to fuel it?

    Internet radio now: Schubert’s Four Impromptus for piano, D899. Exquisite. The BR Klassik / ARD Nachtkonzert is wonderful balsam for the soul – worth the insomnia sometimes. It kept me sane when I was in hospital years ago and could get no sleep because of tubes, drips and other impedimenta.

  58. EdH says:

    TIme for a kluge repair.

    Nope. I don’t like kludge repairs.

    Good excuse to buy a 3D printer!

  59. drwilliams says:

    @MrAtoZ

    “Use them on Hamaasholes on college campuses. Bear spray.”

    I’d go with a mix of urushiol and LSD with some DMSO for penetration.

  60. Lynn says:

    If you need a software update to make your tail lights work, your designers and engineers have gone seriously off the rails.

    n

    Yup.  Today’s vehicles have dozens of computer controlled relay panels to turn stuff on, off, and variable speed.  Over a hundred of them according to a TED speech from Bill Ford.   Every relay panel has 12 volt power to it with a computer chip of some sort.  Every one of the panels can be locally and remotely controlled.  This is why the EMS (engine management system) in most vehicles is over 30 million lines of C code now.  I cannot even imagine it.

  61. lpdbw says:

    Could someone explain internet radio to me?

    At first, I assumed you meant somthing like Pandora.  But then it seems there’s a separate piece of hardware?

    How do  you select channels?  How do you get programming?  How is it paid for?  Is there a subscription?  Advertisments?

  62. drwilliams says:

    @Nick

    “WTF?   “Island cleanup”??   “Invasive species control”???”

    They use drones in Hawaii to spray some really nasty invasives in rugged terrain.

  63. Greg Norton says:

    Yup.  Today’s vehicles have dozens of computer controlled relay panels to turn stuff on, off, and variable speed.  Over a hundred of them according to a TED speech from Bill Ford.   Every relay panel has 12 volt power to it with a computer chip of some sort.  Every one of the panels can be locally and remotely controlled.  This is why the EMS (engine management system) in most vehicles is over 30 million lines of C code now.  I cannot even imagine it.

    Near the end of my time at GTE, some C-suite exec got plied with hookers-n-steaks marketing and bought a repackaged version of the system EDS developed for the engine control software on the Northstar Cadillac V8. I believe the name was Continuus and sold by Caseware at the time.

    The rumor was Northstar was over 10 million lines of code, and that was the early 90s.

    We had to abandon our homebrew RCS for Continuus and it only ran in a GUI. What a gigantic pain.

  64. Greg Norton says:

    Could someone explain internet radio to me?

    At first, I assumed you meant somthing like Pandora.  But then it seems there’s a separate piece of hardware?

    How do  you select channels?  How do you get programming?  How is it paid for?  Is there a subscription?  Advertisments?

    Like Radio Caroline?

    http://www.radiocaroline.co.uk

    Winamp used to be the popular way to listen to Internet radio stations back in the day. I believe that Shoutcast was the popular software to use for a server.

    iTunes also supported listening to the stations.

    At one point, Cisco got very close to releasing a standalone “Internet radio” hardware device, but then Dot Com Bubble 1.0 imploded and piles of Cisco gear stacked up in surplus vendors’ parking lots, essentially worthless.

  65. Lynn says:

    I THOUGHT the son of a b!tch author of the DM article had it backward last week, the jury was hung by one person NOT wanting to acquit not the other way ’round.

    Last week, a jury failed to reach a verdict after one hold-out juror refused to acquit and on Monday, prosecutors announced they would not seek a new trial.

    I am amazed that all twelve people did not see this as self defense.  This shows the rot in our society and lack of empathy for somebody else in trouble. There are evil people out there and one must be able to defend yourself against them.

    So much for the old “I’d rather be judged by twelve than carried out by six”.

  66. MrAtoz says:

    Could someone explain internet radio to me?

    Many radio stations simultaneously stream their feed on the internet. They usually have a web app on their site. There are PC/Mac apps that let you search for radio stations that stream and play right through the app.

  67. lpdbw says:

    It specifically sounds as though there is a separate piece of hardware that itself is an “internet radio”.  Possibly provided by your ISP.  

    My query is how that works, both technically and in terms of service.

  68. Lynn says:

    @lynn, nat gas, but the unit needs AC to run the control board.   I keep meaning to put it on a UPS, but keep cringing at the cost.   I need to replace most of my UPSs and that will be $500-1k depending on models…  so I’ve been putting it off.

    Yeah, I had two water heaters in the last house that ran on natural gas but they had computer controlled thermostats.  The computer used a little electric generator from the heat of the pilot light.  Both of them died within five years.  The heat of the attic is a tough place for any computer.

  69. MrAtoz says:

    My query is how that works, both technically and in terms of service.

    Ah, yeah, like Squeezebox. An IoT device that connected via your net connection to their feed servers. I think they went TU.  I’m not sure if they had a fee or made enough off of box sales. These days who wants another box. I stream from my phone or Mac to a Home Pod.

    I remember OFD listened to a pipe organ radio station in his area. I found their site and was able to stream live to my Mac. Pipe Dreams I think it was called.

  70. MrAtoz says:

    These days who wants another box. I stream from my phone or Mac to a Home Pod.
     

    A search of the iOS App Store lists a bunch of live radio station streaming apps. I’m sure Android has a bunch.

  71. Nick Flandrey says:

    @lpdbw , 

    since Paul has previously mentioned his Squeezebox (or similar) I thought that was what he meant blew up, but his later comment clarifies that it was his fixed wireless Internet provider’s radio that blew up.   And he’s not chiming in because he has no internet as a result….

    Internet radio, and stand alone boxes to listen to it, has faded somewhat.   I have a couple of the “radios” which are essentially boomboxes with a network card and small computer inside that uses menus to find and connect to streams online provided by either actual ‘over the air’ radio stations, or people streaming from their homes… as a sort of ‘pirate’ radio.

    Some were dependent on phoning home to servers that maintained the lists of available streams, their meta data, and URLs.   Some (logitech) have software you can install on a local pc to provide that server function and continue working, some have gone tits up and are basically useless now, and some still work fine, altho their “station” lists might be out of date.

    They are well suited to putting a boombox in the sun room, garage, or on your desk to stream and play the music, and not tie up a computer, or need a screen and speakers, etc.  I was just thinking of taking one of my squeezebox players to the BOL to use in the dock house or the garage.

    The stations tend to be very focused on a theme or genre, or provided by stations (many public radio stations in the US and their equivalent in Europe) so you can search or use the menus to drill down to “world music” or “blues” or “roots country”…   

    They are also a great way to hear music you’ve never heard before (because you don’t have a local station playing it) or to binge on a genre.

    When I was testing and fixing the ones I picked up at goodwill, I was enjoying a station that only plays ‘electroswing’ which is modern remixes or mash ups of swing and electronic music.   I like the genre a lot.

    n

  72. Lynn says:

    Pearls Before Swine: I Fear 80

        https://www.gocomics.com/pearlsbeforeswine/2024/05/02

    Me too. Only 16 years away.

  73. Nick Flandrey says:

    “I bent over without a plan for getting back up….”

    n

  74. Nick Flandrey says:

    NEW ORLEANS —

    As the nation prepares for trillions of red-eyed bugs known as periodical cicadas to emerge, it’s worth noting that they’re not just annoying, noisy pests — if prepared properly, they can also be tasty to eat.

    Blocks away from such French Quarter fine-dining stalwarts as Antoine’s and Brennan’s, the Audubon Insectarium in New Orleans has long served up an array of alternative, insect-based treats at its “Bug Appetit” cafe overlooking the Mississippi River. “Cinnamon Bug Crunch,” chili-fried waxworms, and crispy, cajun-spiced crickets are among the menu items.

    https://www.wmur.com/article/cicadas-on-food-menu-new-orleans/60542630 

    you will eat z bugs…

    n

  75. Lynn says:

    As the nation prepares for trillions of red-eyed bugs known as periodical cicadas to emerge, it’s worth noting that they’re not just annoying, noisy pests — if prepared properly, they can also be tasty to eat.

    Copperheads love them.  But I don’t love copperheads.

  76. MrK says:

    He thinks it is the recirculating damper. The cost to repair is $1,500.00 which includes the part and labor. The part cannot be purchased instead requiring the entire manifold assembly.

    Sounds somewhat similar to the “blend door” drama with the early Explorer/Expeditions.  Just a simple design error that cost $$$ for the owners.

    I must confess that I did a “kludge” repair on my 98 Explorer as per a YT video and some parts from the US. Luckily being RHD didn’t make the job any harder, (or any easier for that matter).   😀

    Appeared to fix the problem and worked ok.. Finally passed the vehicle on to my  nephew and he had no complaints..

  77. nick flandrey says:

    If the piece caused the annoying noise, and that is now stopped, I’d just live with some degraded performance vs spending the money, but that’s me…

    n

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