Well, what do the weather gods have in store for us today? Probably cool, definitely damp bordering on wet. Like yesterday. Some days we have all the weather.
Did get some stuff done during the day. Finished up the trim in the dockhouse, with the exception of one baseboard. Did some other small things. Since I got a very late start, there wasn’t much time to do much more. I did get my teak patio table back together and swapped it for the decaying picnic table we’ve been using on the dock. It needs a power washing… but then most of the house, dock, patio, and brick need one too.
Today will be packing up, cleaning up, and heading home. Where I’ll have a day to do the same there before leaving again. Busy busy bee, that’s me.
Not much stacking going on this week but I am making progress on improvements. Oh, I did get 2 more 55 gallon drums up here for water storage, and more woodstove chimney parts, I guess that counts…
Stack something for yourselves. And always be working.
nick
First post…crickets…
Off shortly to the doc for my quarterly well-care visit.
Currently 47 and sunny, projected high of 75. Such is winter in the low desert.
First post…crickets…
Well, somebody had to do it! 😀
Greetings to all from the Bavarian Alps. Snow on the heights, and daytime temperatures around freezing under blue skies and sunshine. Nice walking weather.
Just indulged in Flammkuchen (Alsatian, not Bavarian) and Apfelstrudel with ice cream. There are a couple of bottles of beer chilling on the balcony, with artisanal bread, sausage and cheese waiting for supper.
Yay for holidays!
Wishing you all a peaceful start into a healthy and prosperous New Year. Fireworks and Luxembourgish bubbly are ready for tomorrow night…
@denis, that sounds Fantastic!
I’m up and mobile, back and neck at normal levels, for which I’m grateful.
Had a big slice of coffee cake that my buddy’s wife made for us. It’s 65F, sunny, blue sky, but windy.
Time to start on the day’s tasks.
Doesn’t feel at ALL like a Monday.
n
I have been scanning my electric company’s website. Looking at some of their graphs I am averaging about 45 kWh per day costing about $6.00 per day. Further examination of the graphs available and I have determined that the electric company is reading my meter hourly. Or the more likely scenario is that the meter is keeping track of the consumption for each hour and eventually transmits that information back to the utility. The latest information is only one day old so fairly current.
This brings up the very real possibility that in the future the utility can impose demand pricing hourly. Or even a more fractional time interval, say by the minute. I am guessing the meter probably has that capability.
What I don’t know is if the utility can remotely command the meter to stop the flow of electrons into my house. Could the utility decide to shut down meters in periods of high demand to balance the load? I don’t think so as a 200-ampere circuit in the meter would be a fairly hefty current path and would be generating a lot of heat and be prone to failure.
There are no moving parts in the electric meter. The water meter was recently updated to no moving parts and remote reading. I expect the natural gas meter to not be far behind. Although I don’t know if that technology exists to measure gas volume and flow without moving parts. Perhaps with some type of laser it might be possible but that would require power to the gas meter.
@ray:
They can. Big Clive on youtube has done a teardown of a (UK) smartmeter, which does a have a chunky relay in it that can disconnect you. I make no doubt that any such kit, worldwide, will have similar capabilities – in fact one of the comments on that video purports to be from someone involved in the making of the particular device, and he says the manufacturer ships worldwide.
G.
The electric company doesn’t make money if the electrons aren’t turning the meter, but I do believe that the new smart meters in combination with the smart thermostats will give the utility companies the ability to override temperature settings on a mass scale with a software upgrade.
As for what to do about Ze Skippy, who didn’t allow a smart thermostat to be installed on his new non-variable speed, non-heatpump, single stage heating/cooling system – installed against the “advice” of the contractor — they will just cut the power to the system
Yes, they do. There is a $10.00 a month fee that I have to pay just for the connection. The utility calls it a “Meter Connection Fee”. The gas company pulls the same stunt charging $7.00 a month even if I use no natural gas. They both charge me to meter their product even I use nothing.
“Sun. Dec. 29, 2024 – dang inconvenient to have the holidays mid week…”
https://www.ttgnet.com/journal/2024/12/30/mon-dec-30-2024-sneakin-up-on-it/
Maybe we should move New Year’s Day to the first Monday in January after we fix the Daylight Savings Time nonsense ?
Just indulged in Flammkuchen (Alsatian, not Bavarian) and Apfelstrudel with ice cream. There are a couple of bottles of beer chilling on the balcony, with artisanal bread, sausage and cheese waiting for supper.
My German grandmother made Apfelstrudel with blackberries instead of apples. And double the layers of dough. And she made it two inches thick with cake mix in a 12 inch by 20 inch pan. She believed in showing her love with lots and lots of food.
@ray:
We have that, too. It’s called a “Standing Charge” here.
G.
“The Year National Debt Exploded”
https://www.libertynation.com/the-year-national-debt-exploded/
“The US government is borrowing billions a day.”
Trump needs fire everyone working for the federal government and start over. Even then I do not see a way out of this mess.
Hat tip to:
https://thelibertydaily.com/
“BREAKING: Trump Makes Key Endorsement in House Speaker Race”
https://www.dailysignal.com/2024/12/30/breaking-trump-makes-key-endorsement-house-speaker-race-mike-johnson/
“President-elect Donald Trump endorsed House Speaker Mike Johnson for another round as leader of the House of Representatives Monday.”
“Conservatives had wondered if Trump would oppose Johnson’s bid after the president-elect effectively killed the first massive spending bill to fund the government earlier this month.”
Decided the delay for the new Roku stick to boot was far too long (Seconds and seconds!) so I plugged it into a USB wall wart for uninterrupted power..
It is too bad that the Hisense USB ports don’t stay live when the TV is off so that the cable can be hidden … first world problems I suppose.
From the “mouse guns aren’t so bad” files:
http://maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com/archives/40141-Joke-du-Jour.html
Heh.
(Still avoiding politics until the new year.)
I have been scanning my electric company’s website. Looking at some of their graphs I am averaging about 45 kWh per day costing about $6.00 per day. Further examination of the graphs available and I have determined that the electric company is reading my meter hourly. Or the more likely scenario is that the meter is keeping track of the consumption for each hour and eventually transmits that information back to the utility. The latest information is only one day old so fairly current.
Until recently Texas was reading all of the meters (residential and commercial) across the state every 15 minutes. Texas just changed to reading the meters every 5 minutes a couple of years ago.
We have the technology. My electric meter at the house uses a Ethernet over power lines communication that works over a single transformer. There is backup wireless communication device that fails over automatically.
There is an entire division of people at our Transmission and Distribution Company (Centerpoint) that keeps the meter network going. They also know when your power is down immediately as they are continuously polling the meters. This is mandated for all electric meters in Texas by the Texas PUC.
“Compare and contrast. What do you think?”
https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2024/12/compare-and-contrast-what-do-you-think.html
To me, neck tattoos and/or facial tattoos are a sign of mental illness.
“Supreme Court May Have the Opportunity to Overturn Yet Another Legal Attack on Trump”
https://thelibertydaily.com/supreme-court-may-have-opportunity-overturn-yet-another/
“(DCNF)—President-elect Donald Trump intends to appeal a Monday ruling upholding the $5 million verdict in the sexual assault case brought by former magazine writer E. Jean Carroll, according to his spokesperson.”
““The American People have re-elected President Trump with an overwhelming mandate, and they demand an immediate end to the political weaponization of our justice system and a swift dismissal of all of the Witch Hunts, including the Democrat-funded Carroll Hoax, which will continue to be appealed,” Trump communications director Steven Cheung said in a statement shared with the Daily Caller News Foundation. “We look forward to uniting our country in the new administration as President Trump makes America great again.””
“The three-judge panel of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals denied Trump’s request for a new trial on Monday. The court rejected his claim that the judge should not have allowed evidence like the “Access Hollywood” tape suggesting Trump committed other sexual assaults.”
This was a he said – she said case with no physical evidence from an alleged incident in 1996. The judge should have thrown out the case immediately.
“American Flags to Fly at Half-Mast During Trump’s Inauguration as Overjoyed Leftists Gloat”
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/12/american-flags-fly-half-mast-during-trumps-inauguration/
“President-elect Donald J. Trump’s inauguration may get overshadowed thanks to a long-standing tradition following a current or former president’s death, and left-wing Americans are overjoyed.”
“As The Gateway Pundit reported, former President Jimmy Carter passed away in his Georgia home on Sunday at 100 years old. He had been in hospice care for approximately a year and was surrounded by family when he passed.”
“Because of this, the flags at all federal buildings, grounds, and naval vessels will be flying at half-mast for 30 days according to the flag code. A U.S. flag flying at half-staff shows a nation in mourning.”
30 days for a former president ? Are you kidding me ?
I have compiled a list of various warning signs:
ink (tattoos)
pink (or other/multiple hair colours)
stink (obnoxious odors such as BO, excessive perfume/scents, weed/alcohol)
pics (revealing or nude images)
flicks (Only Fans)
sticks (multiple or body piercings)
slicks (full-body grooming)
icks (arbitrary relationship show-stoppers)
pricks (flaunting pre-op status)
“179 Dead In South Korea’s Worst-Ever Aviation Disaster”
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/plane-175-passengers-crashes-south-korea-airport-least-23-dead
“The death toll rose to 179, leaving just two of the 181 souls on board the Boeing 737-800 jetliner unaccounted for, according to The Guardian.”
“Jeju Air Flight 2216 from Bangkok to Muan, South Korea, crashed and caught fire after a ‘bird strike’ reportedly caused a landing gear malfunction, forcing the pilots to land the jet on its belly. However, the pilots could not burn off enough airspeed during the landing approach and flaring process during the landing, resulting in the aircraft crashing into a berm at the end of the runway.”
“One X user asked: “I’m puzzled as to why the pilots of Jeju Air Flight 2216 didn’t use the landing gear manual extension. It’s incredibly strange that both hydraulic systems A & B failed simultaneously, leading to an attempt to land on a short runway without gear or flaps. This decision seems like madness.””
Note to self: do not fly anymore on a airline based outside the USA.
The girl in the picture probably has no shortage of guys who want to get their strange on with her.
Today’s Tyler Durden cowardice reporting that Bang Bang can be a male too.
I imagine that there are many more Bang Bang males, appealing to straight women and gay/bi-curious males in positions of power.
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/suspected-chinese-spy-fiance-california-councilwoman
The girl in the picture probably has no shortage of guys who want to get their strange on with her.
And that is how we get the society imagined by the movie “Idiocracy” where they put Gatorade on the crops because salt should make things grow better.
Friends have been on passenger jets flying overseas with notices above the door:
THIS AIRCRAFT NOT CERTIFIED FOR USE WITHIN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
In theory, it has to do with maintenance paperwork retention and not the actual work performed.
Um. Yeah.
I may have to put up a flagpole just so I can fly the flag at full mast.
I wonder if the meters are actually read every 5 minutes or if the meter stores 5 minute intervals of data and then sends the data in a burst every couple of hours.
The landing gear is able to be dropped using gravity only. The mechanism just needs to release the gear. After watching the video and discussing with a pilot friend, there are several questions. Touchdown was well beyond the aiming point on the runway. He also said the speed seems way too high. Flaps and speed brakes are not extended. Only the back part of the plane was scraping the runway when the stick should be pushed forward to maximize the drag. Why land in the direction of a wall structure?
There are a lot of questions to be answered. A multiple system failure is highly unlikely, statistically almost impossible. It’s almost as if the pilots were dead and the plane was already on final approach and just drifted down on to the runway. There was a May Day reported along with a bird strike which are just rumors at this point. A completely disabled pilot and co-pilot would explain the issues with the crash.
“So is a hard freeze coming to Houston next week, or not?”
https://spacecityweather.com/so-is-a-hard-freeze-coming-to-houston-next-week-or-not/
“Since Matt addressed the possibility of a hard freeze on Friday, we have continued to gather more data, and the story has changed somewhat. The bottom line is that we could see our first Arctic air of the season next week, although the details of just how cold things get are still fuzzy.”
“For Texas, it’s the usual story in winter. A significant slug of colder air is going to drop down into the eastern United States from Canada. This differs from the more zonal flow we have seen this winter to date, in which modified colder air comes down from the Pacific Northwest, rather than the really cold stuff directly down from northern Canada. The question for Texas is whether this Arctic air dives down into the state, or gets shunted off to the southeast. This time I think we’re going to get plenty of colder air next week, but we are unlikely to see the worst of it.”
My generator is ready and can be online in 10 seconds.
I wonder if the meters are actually read every 5 minutes or if the meter stores 5 minute intervals of data and then sends the data in a burst every couple of hours.
They are reading a burst every 5 minutes.
Fixed it for you. I have no issues flying in planes in Germany, Norway and Switzerland. Having done so many times.
That is a lot of data. Amazing.
Just got word that a family friend will have urgent surgery tomorrow morning to address a cancerous growth in his stomach that is causing enormous bleeding. He is a father and grandfather, and himself a doctor on whom many people depend.
If you are inclined to prayer, please think of him and the surgical team…
Brawndo.
Gatorade is a registered trademark and royalty payments to the University of Florida would have been required to use the name.
For the quarter that is about to end, Discover Card has offered 5% Cash Back at Wal-mart and Amazon. Everywhere else gets the usual 1%.
So of course, every time I check out Big River wants to use my gift card balance. No no no, I want the 5%.
The above is to somewhat explain the timing of buying Deep Space Nine, Voyager, Enterprise, and Picard. And another Blu-ray player along with a few boxes of coffee and a decibel meter plus more.
I also bought a used set containing Star Trek and Into Darkness and Beyond. The three movies made with the new Kirk and Spock. For a whopping $9.60 delivered. I don’t recall ever seeing any of the three. I can’t find saved video clips on my PC. But it feels like I have watched them before. Or read books with similar plots. Shrug, I liked watching them.
Yesterday morning I woke with a thought. “What about Babylon 5?” I went looking. I found a nice deal, item B00COTLTUA if you want all of the details. $94 with tax. Free shipping. No I still don’t want to start my trail of Prime and get this purchase tomorrow.
I got my purchase today. Babylon 5. All five seasons, cased by year, six discs per season. Plus a little set of five B5 movies. Plus a series that was going to succeed B5 called Crusade. Never heard of it but it has 13 episodes. Everything is in a slipcase. Looks nice.
Seems like a pretty good deal. I like where is says on the bottom of the slipcase “Not authorized for sale or rental outside of Canada”.
I’m clearing out stuff. Pictures that have been hanging on the wall since forever? Maybe it’s time for a change. Glassware and stuff I can’t recall even buying. Stuff I can’t give away…. and I’ve offered.
I’m stacking stuff in the dining room. Boxing what needs boxing as I find boxes. Today I moved it all out into the van. Nice sunny and warm 83f. Why wait until it is 65f?
The dining room sure looks roomy. I’ll go to Goodwill next week or maybe the next. No hurry. If there is something I change my mind about it’s in the van.
The three films are Jar Jar Abrams “Star Trek”.
Simon Pegg, who plays Scotty in the new cast, co-wrote “Beyond” and really did a nice job tying the “Enterprise” era into canon. Up until that point, “Enterprise” was the scape goat for the franchise running out of steam just short of 20 years after “Next Generation” premiered.
BTW, you should be able to get Pegg/Wright/Frost’s “Three Flavours Cornetto” trilogy cheap these days – “Shaun of the Dead”, “Hot Fuzz”, and “The World’s End”.
“Hot Fuzz” is awesome IMHO, but the first two minutes are the litmus test.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Lqd-UwZmJ4
“Dressed … as Father Christmas.”
There will always be a Britain even if it will only exist on video.
New Years eve tasks.
I picked up some carpet tiles to put down in the office so I spent the afternoon cleaning and pulling stuff out of there. It occurred to me that I probably haven’t written 100 lines of code all year, perhaps I should call it something besides the office?
Apples developer DB has rotted, the business shows a weird amalgation of mine and the partners names and addresses…
I am also trying to get rid of a lot of furniture, most of it is junk and has just accumulated over the last few years.
I am, as always, short of bookcase space, tho going mostly electronic is helped a lot with that. The Kindle says 96 books this year.
Fixed it for you. I have no issues flying in planes in Germany, Norway and Switzerland. Having done so many times.
Germany has become a turd world country.
Time of Use Electrical Metering; About 25 years ago, an acquaintance of mine in Sacramento started building small electrical devices that could remotely power up or shut down electrical devices based on the momentary cost of electricity. You could then program each device individually to run, or to shut down, electrical devices based on the cost of power.
So you could program your electric clothes dryer to only run when the power was below some set price. Air conditioning could turn itself off as the price of power increased. Ditto for freezers, because if your freezer is only powered up half the time, it’ll probably still keep the food frozen. And there were a few electrical utilities in Cacafornia that would send hourly or momentary data about the current price of power.
It was all very cutting edge and pie-in-the-sky stuff, and I’ not sure if he ever got it working well enough to make it practical.
DAVID MARCUS: MAGA’s H-1B ‘civil war’ is exactly how politics is supposed to work
This is how things get ironed out under a big tent
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/david-marcus-magas-h-1b-civil-war-exactly-how-politics-supposed-work
Yeah, no.
Elon and Vivek are supposed to be exceptionally intelligent, yes they waded into this without doing any basic historical research, just bringing their own tiny-slice perspective.
It evidently didn’t take Elon very long, once he realized he’d stubbed his toe, or maybe he got some good advice, but the reforms he’s proposing are f-ing obvious, yet haven’t been so publicly aired for decades. Asking why and finding out how reforms have been spiked might be interesting.
Whether Vivek learned anything is open to question. I’d suggest he put in an hour with someone conversant with the destruction of the American public education system by the Democrats, the teacher’s unions, the DoEd, and the DIE disease.
https://nationalmerit.imodules.com/s/1758/images/gid2/editor_documents/merit_about_leaflet.pdf?cc=1&sessionid=9fcee9a7-ec93-491f-91bb-65609502fcbc
Merit Scholars represent less than 1% of each years class, yet only a tiny fraction get scholarships. Most of those are one-time awards and even the 4-year awards only cover a tiny fraction of the current cost of a 4-year degree. 1.293 million of the top 1% get nothing from National Merit. I wonder if any figures are available on the aggregate college debt burden of both groups?
And I wonder of Vivek or Elon, both smart guys who have made a pile of money, are on the list of corporate sponsors of Merit Scholarships?
[NB: quick estimate is that the NM scholarship headcount and dollar amount is less than and much less than, respectively, that of the D1 and D2 NCAA football numbers]
The Carter presidency:
Carter Hagiographers Are 100% Wrong
https://hotair.com/david-strom/2024/12/30/carter-hagiographers-are-100-wrong-n3798331
and after:
Eye-Opening Thread Takes Apart Media’s Sugarcoated Narrative About Jimmy Carter’s Post-Presidential Work
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2024/12/jimmy_carter_his_image_vs_the_reality_i_experienced_covering_his_1976_campaign.html
and some personal remembrances:
Jimmy Carter: His image vs. the reality I experienced covering his 1976 campaign
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2024/12/jimmy_carter_his_image_vs_the_reality_i_experienced_covering_his_1976_campaign.html
That doesn’t address the spouse work permit salary numbers, which are often low.
Why would they? Their job is to make as much money as possible.
“Here Comes the Untested mRNA Bird Flu Non-Vaccine Vaccine”
https://www.independentsentinel.com/here-comes-the-untested-mrna-bird-flu-non-vaccine-vaccine/
“The untested mRNA Bird Flu vaccine, which isn’t a vaccine, is being promoted in the media at crisis levels. We have Wen, the vax pusher, on CNN calling for more over testing with bad tests to terrify people. They want you to take an unsterilized leaky non-vaccine vaccine that won’t work. The leaky part is no joke.”
“Companies are rushing these vaccinations, hoping for an EUA so no one is liable, and people like Gavin Newsom can force people to get the shot.”
No.
Not just No.
F*** NO.
Wesley Treat has a new video:
Recreating Lawn Darts: History’s Deadliest Toy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tBpQ-R2H48
The “deadliest toy” label is crap. Hello? Bicycles, bows and arrows, backyard wading pools? Baseballs?
Wes admits to rushing the video as the last of the year, and it shows. He did some prototypes several years ago and they sucked (SDBTAS, as JEP would say). So no excuses for going into this half-ashed.
He didn’t have originals to work from, took measurements from photos, and used inadequate materials for his fins. And he seems to be unaware of the fundamental importance of balance, from which I infer that he has little experience in throwing knives, axes, or similar linearly asymmetrical objects.
Grade: C (but only because he made me smile and say “fluke!” when he stuck the first prototype.
And why, speaking of injuries, is virtually every YouTuber apparently unacquainted with the concept of adjusting the height of the blade guide to the material being cut?
Wes is linking his Bomba Socks “One Purchased = One Donated™”
So I’m paying for two pairs but get only one? That’s a business model?
Once Bird Flu kills all the livestock, you will be eating Ze Bugs, ja.
Whether or not you take the jab really doesn’t matter.
>>Off shortly to the doc for my quarterly well-care visit.
Results posted eight hours after leaving the office. Concierge medicine is a wonderful thing 🙂
Doc said I have blood test results of a 25 year-old. Unfortunately the rest of the body has other ideas…
I really like Wesley Treat, haven’t watched the Jarts ep yet… Looked at the sock website because he gets metrics based on click thru… even if no purchase, or at least I recall reading that somewhere regarding sponsored videos.
No way to search by the material the socks are made of, and apparently no choices in wool or wool blend. I don’t wear anything else these past years and I won’t ever go back to cotton.
I’ve got a set of Jarts, in the box. They are unsellable as it’s a federal crime to do so. Some ebayers will sell “the box” but the shipping weight confirms that the darts are included. I didn’t want to risk a ban so mine are at the BOL. Kids have played with them. Without cousins and friendly rivalry, they didn’t get the full use of the Jarts…
———
Made it home, lots of cops on the roads, lots of minor single vehicle incidents. I’ve had two pieces of pumpkin pie, heated, with whipped cream, because there is too much pie in the house. I’m doing my part to reduce the over abundance of baked goods…
———
IIRC the smart meters were initially distributed with load shedding capability AND a discounted rate, because you were willing to load shed. Like so many things, acceptance leads to tolerance leads to support leads to mandates. Now everyone has them and no longer gets a choice OR a benefit.
———
I rarely fly my flags at half staff. Yeah, I’m picking and choosing which rules to follow, but I won’t “honor” some people. The direction is voluntary for private citizens anyway.
n
That’s a business model?
– it’s A business model. there is an online shoe store that does the same thing. Dunno if they can stay in business forever, but they seem to be keeping it together for a while.
n
I’m reading the latest Matt Bracken book in his Castigo Key series, Doomsday Reef.
It’s tedious. Post collapse world, 10years on, some recovery happening. Book has holes you can drive a truck thru, he is trying to teach sailing and running a particular type of vessel, and he keeps repeating himself. It’s not the worst of post apoc fic, but it’s not good.
What it does have is the most frank and blunt exploration of what cannibalism and life after a collapse that DOESN”T kill a lot of people might be like that I’ve ever read. Most zombie or post apoc fiction assumes most of the population dies off BEFORE all the resources are used up, leaving a lot of salvage for the plucky survivors. Not this story.
I’m half way thru the book and I’ll finish it, but I’m not recommending it at this point.
n
I’m reading the latest Matt Bracken book in his Castigo Key series, Doomsday Reef.
I have had this book in my SBR for over a decade. I just cannot get to it.
The mentioning of plot holes is not good. But, I have a super high suspension of disbelief.
Not big enough for this. 60ft steel sailing cargo boat, no water distiller. No mention of one, no explanation that theirs broke and couldn’t be fixed, nothing but an exposition on how everyone is on a half gallon a day ration of clean water for the duration of the trip. No RO filters either.
Single side band radio is broken. He “thinks it is probably just a capacitor” with no other explanation or comment, and no attempt to fix it, find another radio in two years of coast hopping, or find scrap electronics to cannibalize for parts.
They’re headed for Argentina because weather is cooling in the US, but he doesn’t know anyone there, know anything about conditions there, have contacts there, no mention of what his trade cargo is, where he got it, or what he expects to find.
And the writing is just bad. In one paragraph the Captain tells the crewmember that he has plenty of sea room to try to outrun the storm, but at the end of the paragraph the Captain/narrator muses that he doesn’t want to run out of sea room and hit the Bahamas.
There are endless paragraphs about setting up the watch rotation, and then it repeats a few paras later. He has explained that there are red LED nightlights in the cabin “to save the crew’s night vision” about 30 times in 300 pages.
And there is a whole minor plot about having an accurate chronometer set to GMT time provided by a government time service so they can figure longitude, which the seller has “confirmed” by working the math backwards from known points of LATLON, completely ignoring that if you can confirm the time on the clock is correct, you can do the math backwards and DERIVE the time, so that you can set your chronometer from that known position.
It’s tedious, and definitely not up to his previous work. I didn’t think much of the other two in this series either, but I remember them being better than this.
n
Oh, and I forgot the whole thing about there not being any working fridges or freezers anywhere, because reasons… Freaking chest freezer runs for decades and sips power, and people have and use solar panels and even generators, so why not freezers?
n
As an aside: when I moved our dogs to Vegas a couple of months ago, I used my smaller BourgeRV 12V cooler as a freezer (frozen raw dog food). I set it at 0F plugged it into my big Anker solar generator and it will run it for about 3 days on battery. As a test before we left, I ran it for a week and charged the generator with it’s solar panels with no problem.
Bottom Line: you could easily run a full freezer on solar with a battery. With access to Sun Shine, of course.