Tues. Feb. 18, 2025 – still at the BOL, but heading home later

By on February 18th, 2025 in culture, decline and fall, lakehouse

Cool, cold even but not end of the world cold. It’s winter. The world has been so focused on the AGW scam they seem to have forgotten winter exists. And sometimes, winter is cold. Morons, deluded, or lemmings, who knows?

I had a pretty good day yesterday. Said goodby to visitors and got the RV stuff wrapped up. No evidence of flooding after using the unknown drain… looks like I have an additional septic system, of unknown design, age, condition, and capacity.

Spent the afternoon knocking little things off my list. Tree trimming. Work on the front walk. Work on the plantings. Work on the dock (replacing rotten deck boards). Work on the dockhouse (install and trim out threshold, which now finishes my part of the flood restoration.) Clear a path for the tree guy. Put some stuff away… All needed doing, none critical or high priority, but solid work off the ToDo list. It felt good to do a bunch of things.

Today I’ll be closing up and wrapping up this stay. I’ve got some stuff to put in the freezer, and some stuff to bring back home. I’ll fold my clean laundry, and put it away. Domestic bliss, can’t escape it.

Later I’ll head home, stopping for a couple of auction pickups along the way. I’m combining trips and saving gas and time. Go me!

The rest of the week I’ve got stuff to do at home. Like always. And maybe a couple of things I don’t usually do. We’ll see.

Don’t stop stacking, unless you are working to improve your situation… then you can shift focus!

nick

71 Comments and discussion on "Tues. Feb. 18, 2025 – still at the BOL, but heading home later"

  1. Greg Norton says:

    Who is the Locust Class ?

    Largely the management layers of the major tech companies and VC funded projects who could, for a time, work from anywhere but chose specific locations like Austin for the “culture”.

    Think the “B Ark” in “Hitchhiker’s Guide”. 

    They drained San Francisco and Seattle dry. Austin is almost done.

    If you want to study the species in the their natural habitat, visit The Domain in Austin on a Friday night.

    Whatever real culture exists in a city being drained, the critters always build a place like The Domain, patterned after what they did to Downtown Palo Alto and Pioneer Square in Seattle.

    Of course The Domain is the location of Austin’s main Apple Store.

    Nashville around the Apple Store is being similarly terraformed into the species preferred type of habitat.

    I’d give Texas a 50-50 chance at avoiding income tax before the infestation currently plaguing the state takes flight to Tennessee.

  2. brad says:

    the infestation currently plaguing the state takes flight to Tennessee

    Why Tennessee? But then again, 30 years ago I would never have thought Texas would be a target.

  3. Ray Thompson says:

    If they respect the region coding, they will never be able to use all of the numbers.

    That is no longer done.

    looks like I have an additional septic system, of unknown design, age, condition, and capacity.

    Maybe. We can go three days, and nights, on a 30 gallon gray water tank and 30 gallon black water tank. And that is only three fourths full. That is not a lot of material.

  4. Nick Flandrey says:

    Waddayaknow?   The tree guy is here so I’m up.    Good thing I went to bed early.  Had to move my truck so they had a good path.

    —-

    51F and overcast but the sun might poke thru later.

    —-

    Yeah, back is still killing me.

    —–

    Coffee is in the pot though.   And there is bacon in the fridge.

    —–

    they are never used for identity, only for things that actually have to do with your retirement (work contracts, etc. 

    – that is supposed to be true for SSN here as well.   It says “not for identification” on it.   But everyone has a nice convenient number so it got abused.   My first university used them for student ID until someone called them on it.

    There may technically be  half a billion, but the region code limits that dramatically when used IRL.   Like credit card numbers, the pool of “real” numbers is smaller than the total of digits.   At least it’s not algorithmic like a cc number.

    —-

    chainsaws running already

    n

  5. Greg Norton says:

    the infestation currently plaguing the state takes flight to Tennessee

    Why Tennessee? But then again, 30 years ago I would never have thought Texas would be a target.

    Nashville “culture”. Relatively low taxes and insurance costs. Easy access to Atlanta airport. Low grade weed legalization with the probability of more coming. Lots of Medical-Industrial complex jobs. Non-extreme weather. Cheap electricity … for now.

    To be fair, Nashville does have real culture, but that’s not what the Locusts really want.

    The Real Life Tony Stark is building his AI complex in Memphis while Oracle just announced moving the “HQ” (central party location) to Nashville.

    Friends say that a weed billionare from Colorado bought Gatlinberg’s ski mountain.

  6. Ray Thompson says:

    that is supposed to be true for SSN here as well.   It says “not for identification” on it.   But everyone has a nice convenient number so it got abused.   My first university used them for student ID until someone called them on it

    Even the military got on the band wagon for SSN. I was issued the last serial number for the military, June 30,1969. The next day the military transitioned to the SSN. A really bad idea

    Now everyone wants the SS number and who know how poorly they protect the number. I really despise doctor’s offices that require SSN. I am also not keen on the driver’s licenses requiring SSN to get Real ID. Too many places that number can be easily exposed by a data breach or a disgruntled employee passing the numbers on to nefarious friends. I have freezes on all the credit bureaus and use a PIN with the IRS. I do as much as I can to protect myself.

    the region code limits that dramatically when used IRL

    Region codes are no longer used. You used to be able to tell where a person was from by the first three digits of the SSN. That is no longer true and the numbers are issued randomly from the existing pool of numbers.

  7. EdH says:

    Sadly, only Barry Gibb is still alive at 78 years of age.

    I was never a fan, but never wished any of them dead.

    Well, not often. 

    Except during the Disco craze.

    6
    1
  8. EdH says:

    My regards to the structural engineers at Bombardier: plane flipped, wings torn off, but the fuselage intact and only a small fire, everyone out alive.

    11
  9. Ray Thompson says:

    Nashville “culture”. Relatively low taxes and insurance costs

    They still get us on sales taxes. 7.00% state sales tax on everything but medical and prescriptions. Add in the maximum the counties can charge in the amount of 2.75% (and they all do) and the tax on almost everything is 9.75%. Property taxes are not too bad and there is no property tax on autos like California. I really despise the tax on groceries.

    When buying an Apple product, it is much cheaper for me to have the item shipped to a friend in Oregon where there is no sales tax and the friend then ships the item to me. It costs me about $40.00 in insured FedEx shipping but will save $200.00 on a MacBook for a net gain of $160.00. Along with my veteran discount that saves me almost 18% on the price of a new computer.

    11
  10. drwilliams says:

    Or maybe an eternity in purgatory with Slim Whitman piped into their headphones. 

  11. Greg Norton says:

    When buying an Apple product, it is much cheaper for me to have the item shipped to a friend in Oregon where there is no sales tax and the friend then ships the item to me. It costs me about $40.00 in insured FedEx shipping but will save $200.00 on a MacBook for a net gain of $160.00. Along with my veteran discount that saves me almost 18% on the price of a new computer.
     

    The Portland Apple Store is the busiest in North America. Half of Canada shops for gear there.

    Before the Supreme Court overturned National Bellas Hess, I could order from Newegg to Vantucky, and everything shipped free next day to my house via Newegg’s West Coast courier service.

    The courier service may still run to addresses near Portland Airport,but Vantucky now charges ~ 10% sales taxes on mail order combined, state, county, city, and neighborhood.

  12. Greg Norton says:

    I was never a fan, but never wished any of them dead.

    Well, not often. 

    Except during the Disco craze.
     

    Music survived disco.

    Let the artists live a long healthy life with their shame.

  13. MrAtoz says:

    Or maybe an eternity in purgatory with Slim Whitman piped into their headphones. 

    Slim’s vocal range was demonstrated in “Mars Attacks!” Who knew yodeling was so powerful.

  14. Nick Flandrey says:

    “Disco sucks, it won’t last too long.  It’s big right now but it’s gonna fade away! …” 

    Repeat until the bridge…

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqSBQFJRKq8 

    Chuck Wagon and the Wheels

    n

    Lift one for Cowboy Slim

    11
  15. Ray Thompson says:

    It just takes one clerk typing in a birthday of 1865 instead of 1965 to give us a 160-year old SSN recipient who’s still alive

    A reasonably intelligent computer system should flag such errors. I realize the government coders, working on 60 year old systems, are probably senile and don’t have good coding skills.

    My regards to the structural engineers at Bombardier

    Watching the video of the plane crash, my un-educated guessing, it appears the plane the plane landed hard, collapsed the starboard landing gear, the starboard wing hit the ground and was ripped off the plane, the lift on the port wing (more air molecules banging on the bottom of the wing than on the top) from the speed of the aircraft flipped it over as there was no starboard wing to arrest the flip.

    I would think the wing would have a stronger attachment. So my judgement is still out on the structural engineers. Or at least the clod that designed the wing attachment. Then again, it may be an engineering marvel. Rip the fuel tanks off the fuselage in case of a crash.

  16. Lynn says:

    Think the “B Ark” in “Hitchhiker’s Guide”. 

    Never read “The Hitchhiker’s Guide”.  Bounced off it a couple of times.

  17. Lynn says:

    My regards to the structural engineers at Bombardier

    Watching the video of the plane crash, my un-educated guessing, it appears the plane the plane landed hard, collapsed the starboard landing gear, the starboard wing hit the ground and was ripped off the plane, the lift on the port wing (more air molecules banging on the bottom of the wing than on the top) from the speed of the aircraft flipped it over as there was no starboard wing to arrest the flip.

    I would think the wing would have a stronger attachment. So my judgement is still out on the structural engineers. Or at least the clod that designed the wing attachment. Then again, it may be an engineering marvel. Rip the fuel tanks off the fuselage in case of a crash.

    The rumor floating around the intertubes is that the flaps were frozen shut on one wing.  So the plane tried to land with flaps on one wing and no flaps on the other wing.  It is amazing that there were not any deaths.

  18. Lynn says:

    The buzzards are circling Intel today.  “Why Intel could be worth more than $200 billion if it breaks up”

       https://finance.yahoo.com/news/why-intel-could-be-worth-more-than-200-billion-if-it-breaks-up-154736492.html

    “Chip rivals Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM) and Broadcom (AVGO) are each eyeing deals with Intel that could break up the company, the Wall Street Journal reported over the weekend.”

    And there is a big rumor running around that the next Windows will be ARM cpu only with x86 and x64 emulators. ARM cpus use a lot less power so most of the cloud servers have headed that direction. The AI stuff will probably go there soon.

  19. Lynn says:

    “Disco sucks, it won’t last too long.  It’s big right now but it’s gonna fade away! …” 

    Repeat until the bridge…

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqSBQFJRKq8 

    Chuck Wagon and the Wheels

    n

    Hey, that song music is a ripoff of Ray Stevens: “Ray Stevens – “The Mississippi Squirrel Revival” (Music Video)”

       https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K16fG1sDagU

  20. Lynn says:

    Sadly, only Barry Gibb is still alive at 78 years of age.

    I was never a fan, but never wished any of them dead.

    Well, not often. 

    Except during the Disco craze.

    The Bee Gees were rock before they were fast moving disco (which is just fast moving rock): “Bee Gees – Too Much Heaven”

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6iBAuwBODA

    Only Paul McCartney and John Lennon had more number one songs in the 1960s and 1970s than the Bee Gees.

  21. Ray Thompson says:

    The rumor floating around the intertubes is that the flaps were frozen shut on one wing.  So the plane tried to land with flaps on one wing and no flaps on the other wing.

    I don’t agree with that theory. It would be really stupid to try to land with unequal lift on the wings. What I would agree with is the flaps deployed on one side, but not on the other, and the pilots were unable to retract the flaps that were extended, or extend the flaps that were not extended. In other words, no control of the flaps.

    It is amazing that there were not any deaths.

    Yes, just injuries. Another really good reason to keep the seatbelts fastened. I suspect the injuries were people did fasten their belts, or were injured when their belts were released. Or maybe some bruises from being jostled. Better than an “E“ ticket ride at Disneyland.

  22. Lynn says:

    The rumor floating around the intertubes is that the flaps were frozen shut on one wing.  So the plane tried to land with flaps on one wing and no flaps on the other wing.

    I don’t agree with that theory. It would be really stupid to try to land with unequal lift on the wings. What I would agree with is the flaps deployed on one side, but not on the other, and the pilots were unable to retract the flaps that were extended, or extend the flaps that were not extended. In other words, no control of the flaps.

    Yup, just a theory.  And you would balance the flaps by slowing the unflapped engine.  Dicey, very dicey.  Might end up with the plane upside down.

  23. Lynn says:

    “Trump Fixed the Penny Problem But Now We Have a Nickel Problem”

        https://headlineusa.com/trump-fixed-the-penny-problem-but-now-we-have-a-nickel-problem/

    “By phasing out the penny, the Mint will need to produce more 5-cent coins. The problem is it costs more to make than it does a penny.”

    “According to the most recent annual report produced by the U.S. Mint, it costs 13.8 cents to produce and distribute one nickel.”

    We need to make the nickel and penny out of aluminum.

  24. Lynn says:

    It is amazing that there were not any deaths.

    Yes, just injuries. Another really good reason to keep the seatbelts fastened. I suspect the injuries were people did fasten their belts, or were injured when their belts were released. Or maybe some bruises from being jostled. Better than an “E“ ticket ride at Disneyland.

    I always wear my seatbelt in a plane when in my seat.  I am always amazed at people who do not.

    I have done laps around the plane corridors every couple of hours when on intercontinental flights.  The flight to Japan is a long time to sit, 13+ hours.

  25. Lynn says:

    There are two new houses being built on the two streets just north of my house.  I walked by one yesterday as they were finishing the sand for the foundation.  The sand was a foot below the street level !  I went and knocked on the neighbor’s house who is watching the builder for the lady building the house.  He came out on the phone saying, “yeah, I know, I know”.  He got a hold of the builder and told him to raise the foundation sand two feet.  The builder refused to do so without the owner’s permission.  But my friend could not get a hold of the owner at that moment.

    Today they are raising the foundation sand two feet.  BTW, my friend has a video from a couple of months ago with water almost level with the street on that lot.

  26. Lynn says:

    It just takes one clerk typing in a birthday of 1865 instead of 1965 to give us a 160-year old SSN recipient who’s still alive

    A reasonably intelligent computer system should flag such errors. I realize the government coders, working on 60 year old systems, are probably senile and don’t have good coding skills.

    It is my understanding that the Social security clerks fill out paper forms and that data entry clerks type them in.  I am not even sure if they have terminals or collator cards.  Those systems are ancient Univac 1108s dating back to the 1960s.

    So that is two points of failure.  The clerks and the data entry clerks.  I think the IRS get got rid of their Univac 1108s a few years ago so they can now send out letters in mixed case instead of just upper case.

  27. Greg Norton says:

    And there is a big rumor running around that the next Windows will be ARM cpu only with x86 and x64 emulators. ARM cpus use a lot less power so most of the cloud servers have headed that direction. The AI stuff will probably go there soon.
     

    The AI servers still depend on Chipzilla to provide the CPUs, even the systems running AMD GPUs.

    AMD CPUs in AI servers will happen before ARM.

  28. Lynn says:

    The AI servers still depend on Chipzilla to provide the CPUs, even the systems running AMD GPUs.

    AMD CPUs in AI servers will happen before ARM.

    What operating system are they running on the AI servers ?

  29. Greg Norton says:

    What operating system are they running on the AI servers ?
     

    Windows or Linux. 

    NVIDIA’s Project Digits with the ARM CPU will run a proprietary Linux.

    Run an ARM CPU in an AI server and you give up some hardware interfaces useful for telemetry.

  30. Ray Thompson says:

    What operating system are they running on the AI servers ?

    DOS or CP/M.

  31. Ray Thompson says:

    And you would balance the flaps by slowing the unflapped engine

    That would be to balance thrust, not lift. The engines don’t have anything to do with lift. 

  32. PaultheManc says:

    the lift on the port wing (more air molecules banging on the bottom of the wing than on the top)

    From my Air Cadet youth, I believe it is the Bernoulli  effect is the principle factor in lift.  Faster air above the aerofoil creates lower pressure, therefore lift.

  33. Greg Norton says:

    Think the “B Ark” in “Hitchhiker’s Guide”. 

    Never read “The Hitchhiker’s Guide”.  Bounced off it a couple of times.

    “We’ll see who rusts first” originates in “Hitchhiker’s Guide”.

    The 45 year-old TV miniseries from the BBC still holds up as the best TV/movie version.

    The film “12 Monkeys” has a very cool nod to the TV miniseries, including an appearance from Simon Jones, Arthur Dent himself, in a key scene.

  34. Lynn says:

    And you would balance the flaps by slowing the unflapped engine

    That would be to balance thrust, not lift. The engines don’t have anything to do with lift. 

    When you drop the flaps, the wings get “dirty” and require more thrust to fly (more pressure drop across the wing).  If one set of wing flaps would not drop, that thrust would need to be balanced between the sides.  If the failure was one side of the flaps, then the plane was basically horribly unbalanced upon landing.  

    Hopefully they will tell us some day what really happened.

  35. EdH says:

    Civil aircraft are designed for a 2.5 vertical gee loading, with a safety factor of 1.5.

    I don’t recall a fore-aft loading criterion, which is what a wing-ground strike might induce. 

    My economium is for the fuselage design, which stayed intact while rolling sideways at maybe 150mph.  Amazing.

  36. Greg Norton says:

    The long international nightmare might be over.

    https://www.thesun.co.uk/tv/33425340/doctor-who-axe-ncuti-gatwa-quits-bbc/

  37. Lynn says:

    “A unique submarine battery recharging system?”

        https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2025/02/a-unique-submarine-battery-recharging.html

    “China’s new nuclear-battery attack submarine – a unique hybrid boat running on batteries like a conventional sub but which recharges them using a tiny nuclear reactor – could be the ultimate near-shore defence sub, and a big problem for US and allied forces in the western Pacific.”

    Definitely a game changer.  The Israeli Dolphin II diesel electric submarines have oxygen stored on board for use with fuel cells to prolong their underwater time by a couple of days instead of having to surface or snorkel to charge their batteries every 12+ hours.

  38. ITGuy1998 says:

    Maybe a decade or so off will do some good for the Doctor.

  39. Lynn says:

    “An important warning about some canned foods”

        https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2025/02/an-important-warning-about-some-canned.html

    “A voluntary recall has been issued for some canned tuna products — sold across the country at Trader Joe’s, Walmart, Costco and other stores — because of a pull tab defect that could lead to potentially fatal botulism food poisoning.”

    Eeek !

    I had some cans of sweet potatoes fail last year in the pantry with a best by date in 2018 or 2019 IIRC.  Made a mess !  But they were cut open, not pull open.

  40. nick flandrey says:

    The BBC miniseries is the definitive Hitchhiker’s Guide in my estimation.   The book (which I read with D2) goes way off the rails with raingods, reincarnation to the earth after the big reset, and a lot of other tedium.

    —-

    made it home.    Then the sky opened and the ocean fell out.  Streets are flooded, kid is wet, and everything is a mess.  MASSIVE thunderstorm.   I don ‘t see freezing temps tonight with this big storm and so much warm water around…

    —-

    BTW, did you all realize that there have been Petawatt lasers for about 10 years now?  That we know of…

    There was an article in one of my magazines with a chart.   They mentioned that it’s like Moore’s Law for power output.  That means we’re WAY above that by now.  IIRC they mentioned 1000 times increase every 10 years…

    That makes what, and exawatt now?

    We are living in the future.

    n

    Any plane crash that doesn’t kill all the passengers is a miracle.

  41. Lynn says:

    Civil aircraft are designed for a 2.5 vertical gee loading, with a safety factor of 1.5.

    I don’t recall a fore-aft loading criterion, which is what a wing-ground strike might induce. 

    My economium is for the fuselage design, which stayed intact while rolling sideways at maybe 150mph.  Amazing.

    I wonder what Navy aircraft are designed for ?  10 g vertical loading ?

    My Navy fighter jet uncle with 4,500 carrier landings said landing on a carrier is just a controlled crash.  His A4 was the worst since it had delta wings (small surface area) and landed at 175 knots.  The only other US government plane to land at 175 knots was the Space Shuttle.

       https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_A-4_Skyhawk

    What is economium ? Ah, praise.

  42. Lynn says:

    Any plane crash that doesn’t kill all the passengers is a miracle.

    Clint Eastwood made a big deal of that in the Sully movie.  The air safety board said that it was the first crash where both pilots were present at the investigation.

  43. Lynn says:

    “New Footage of Toronto Plane Crash Shows It’s a Miracle That Nobody Died”

       https://rumble.com/v6m9ke3-new-footage-of-toronto-plane-crash-shows-its-a-miracle-that-nobody-died.html?e9s=src_v1_upp

    How did anyone survive ?

  44. dcp says:

    Air Force landing vs. Navy landing:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCG6mLHaNr4

  45. Lynn says:

    Air Force landing vs. Navy landing:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCG6mLHaNr4

    That is awesome !

  46. Lynn says:

    “Boeing’s New Air Force One Faces Potential Delays Until 2029 or Later.”

        https://thenationalpulse.com/2025/02/18/boeings-new-air-force-one-faces-potential-delays-until-2029-or-later/

    “Boeing’s work to develop the new Air Force One presidential aircraft could be delayed until 2029 or even much later. A senior White House official says Boeing’s ongoing supply chain challenges are causing production delays. The updated aircraft was originally slated for completion last year.”

    “The supply chain problems are, for the most part, caused by a number of manufacturers critical to component supply for the aircraft having ceased operations. Known as the VC-25B, the new Air Force One aircraft has already seen its delivery date postponed several times, being pushed to 2027, then 2028, and now 2029.”

    Uh, is Boeing going to keep on being a premier aeronautical company ?

    Hat tip to:
    https://thelibertydaily.com/

  47. Greg Norton says:

    Uh, is Boeing going to keep on being a premier aeronautical company ?

    Yes, but not in WA State much longer.

  48. drwilliams says:

    Dr. Birx Admits Young and Healthy People Didn’t Need COVID Vaccine

    Top Trump Supporters Call For His Own Administration Official to Be Executed in Shocking Posts

    In response to that tweet, BlazeTV host Steve Deace took it a step further when he referenced the Nuremberg Trials and suggested Birx be hung. Like Trump, he went out of his way to make a note about Birx’s scarves.

    “She should be marched before a tribunal and put on trial for crimes against humanity,” Deace said in a tweet, “with the ultimate penalty if she’s found guilty to be hung by her bedazzled scarf Nuremberg-style.”

    https://www.mediaite.com/news/top-trump-supporters-call-for-his-own-administration-official-to-be-executed-in-shocking-posts/

    crimes against humanity

    exactly 

    she should be sent to hell–slowly

    along with Fauci

    but there is no sentence, no method of execution, that could begin to pay for their crimes

  49. Greg Norton says:

    Top Trump Supporters Call For His Own Administration Official to Be Executed in Shocking Posts

    The Scarf Queen didn’t receive a preemptive pardon?

  50. EdH says:

    I didn’t realize the new AF One was another 747.  

    That production line has been closed for a while I think, no wonder there are supply chain issues.

  51. Bob Sprowl says:

    Boeing ahould move their offices to a third world … where their products would fit in just fine.

  52. drwilliams says:

    Education Association Tells Administrators Across The Country To Ignore Trump Guidance on Ending DEI

    AASA told its members to ignore the guidance in a Monday blog post, relying on courts to stop the Trump administration’s reforms and a “long-drawn out process for rescinding funding for failure to comply with civil rights laws.”

    Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., also egged AASA on, glomming on to a left-wing bait-and-switch tactic that attempts to make the argument that no one knows what conservatives mean by DEI. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., tried to pull the same stunt during Education Secretary-designate Linda McMahon’s confirmation hearing.

    https://thefederalist.com/2025/02/18/education-association-tells-administrators-across-the-country-to-ignore-trump-guidance-on-ending-dei/

    The plan is clear: Start with the AASA’s board schools, and half a dozen each of Washington and Connecticut schools, followed by Oregon and Cacafornia. Illinois, Minnesota and Wisconsin next. 

    Just open up a tip line and parents will bring the evidence in piles. I’m sure Legal Insurrection will help if they put Cornell on the list.

  53. Lynn says:

    I didn’t realize the new AF One was another 747.  

    That production line has been closed for a while I think, no wonder there are supply chain issues.

    I believe it is six 747s.  Three passenger and three cargo.

    I suspect that the supply chain issues are the “special” stuff.  You know, missile detection systems, chaff launch systems, missile launch systems, radar jamming, etc.

  54. EdH says:

    I suspect that the supply chain issues are the “special” stuff.  You know, missile detection systems, chaff launch systems, missile launch systems, radar jamming, etc.

    Could be.   Trying to get China out of the chain is a real problem.

    https://cdrsalamander.substack.com/p/you-cant-go-to-war-with-your-factory

  55. Lynn says:

    Wow, the wind is coming out of the NNW at 23 mph.  The temperature has dropped from 60 F to 48 F in the last hour.  It is suppose to be 35 F in the morning with a high of 41 F Wednesday.

       https://www.wunderground.com/forecast/us/tx/richmond?cm_ven=localwx_10day

    ERCOT thinks that they are going to set a new winter peak of 83,000 MW on Thursday.

    That means that they have probably enacted a system wide force ON for all steam boiler units across Texas. I would. The big power plant (Parish, 4,200 MW) east of my house and office had steam plumes all over it last weekend.

    And then start the gas turbines at 4 am on Thursday morning, it is going to be a rough ride. They may see a delta of 5,000 MW / hour (83 MW / minute) of electric power demand increase.

  56. Ken Mitchell says:

    Never read “The Hitchhiker’s Guide”.  Bounced off it a couple of times.

    You need to give it another chance. It is a rare gem of a novel. All of Douglas Adams’ work was. GOOD stuff. 

  57. Lynn says:

    Never read “The Hitchhiker’s Guide”.  Bounced off it a couple of times.

    You need to give it another chance. It is a rare gem of a novel. All of Douglas Adams’ work was. GOOD stuff. 

    Nope.  Three bounces is way over my limit.  I even tried the movie which was entertaining for ten minutes then I went back to my Spider Solitaire game.

    I am just not a light fantasy guy.  My favorites in order are Space Opera, Science Fiction, alternate history, medium fantasy, dark fantasy (horror), and then light fantasy.  No unicorns sashaying across a meadow with purple farts for me.  However, Ariel …

         https://www.arielbook.com/chapter1.html

  58. Lynn says:

    Nope.  Three bounces is way over my limit.  I even tried the movie which was entertaining for ten minutes then I went back to my Spider Solitaire game.

    I think I threw my copy against the wall last time and then threw it in the trash.

    I do have over 200 bounced books in my 500+ book SBR.  My wife wants me to get rid of (take to the library) of the books that I bounced off of.  I’ll get right on that…

  59. Nick Flandrey says:

    I don’t have a pile of bounced books, but I do have a couple of unfinished books and some that I’ll get to “someday”.

    n

  60. Ken Mitchell says:

    Why not use a military aircraft for Air Force 1?  A C-17 airframe, perhaps.  C-5 airframes are probably getting old-ish. 

  61. Lynn says:

    Why not use a military aircraft for Air Force 1?  A C-17 airframe, perhaps.  C-5 airframes are probably getting old-ish. 

    Too noisy and those canvas seats are uncomfortable ?

  62. Lynn says:

    “Did you really have to ask if this was in Texas?”

        https://www.reddit.com/r/texas/comments/1irpdge/did_you_really_have_to_ask_if_this_was_in_texas/?post_fullname=t3_1irpdge&post_index=2

    Don’t leave guns and money in your car, I understand.  But whiskey ?

  63. Bob Sprowl says:

    The C-17 is slower and range (without refueling)  limited.  

    747-8:  Mach .855,  9,200 miles

    C-17:   Mach .744,  2,800 

  64. Lynn says:

    747-8:  Mach .855,  9,200 miles

    Is that range with the belly tank or just the wing tanks ?

    I know that Air Force 1 and 2 travel with the President along with several cargo planes for the six ??? Beasts and the Secret Service Suburbans.  I wonder if the C-17 is the cargo plane ?

    Can the C-17 refuel midair from a KC-135 ?  The current Air Force 1 can refuel from a KC-135.

    https://www.aflcmc.af.mil/News/Photos/igphoto/2002566181/

    Oh yeah, a C-17 can refuel from a KC-135.

  65. Lynn says:

    I don’t have a pile of bounced books, but I do have a couple of unfinished books and some that I’ll get to “someday”.

    I am rereading a favorite book right now that I have read 5 or 6 times in my life.  Definitely a young man’s adventure story.

  66. brad says:

    Lot’s of interesting comments yesterday. Picking up on a few of them:

    A reasonably intelligent computer system should flag such errors. I realize the government coders, working on 60 year old systems, are probably senile and don’t have good coding skills.

    Legacy systems and legacy databases. I have converted a number of (much smaller) databases from a legacy system to a modern one. The absolute trash that you find in the data is unbelievable. Older systems didn’t bother much with data validation. Combine that with human error and laziness and outright incompetence, and, well…

    You can write scripts to fix a lot of it, but some stuff just has to be corrected by hand. Meaning that someone, somewhere has to hunt down the correct info. In a database of 300+ million people, there’s going to be a lot of that.

    We need to make the nickel and penny out of aluminum.

    You need to let both the penny and the nickel fall out of circulation. Just collect them as they are spent, don’t mint any more. Round to the nearest 10 cents for cash transactions.

    What operating system are they running on the AI servers ?

    Surely it is all Linux?

    In my experience, very few servers run Windows anymore, and then only in Windows-only businesses. Now that Microsoft Office has moved into the cloud, and Steam has enabled gaming on Linux, even the days of Windows on the desktop may be numbered.

    I didn’t realize the new AF One was another 747

    I suppose it would be a scandal to buy from outside the US, but the US no longer has a competent aircraft company.

    There is also perhaps the question of why Air Force One needs to be so gigantic. Is it a dick-measuring contest? Why not a smaller plane?
     

  67. Lynn says:

    I didn’t realize the new AF One was another 747

    I suppose it would be a scandal to buy from outside the US, but the US no longer has a competent aircraft company.

    There is also perhaps the question of why Air Force One needs to be so gigantic. Is it a dick-measuring contest? Why not a smaller plane?

    200+ reporters follow the president wherever he goes.  Some of them get to ride in AF1 and the others ride in the reporter plane. There are about 50 seats in AF1.

  68. Lynn says:

    Dadgumit, I spent all day writing this validation code and it does not work of course.  Tomorrow is debug day.

     if (initStream > 0)
     {
      validateFlowrates ( aDict, errors);
      validateCrudeSpecs ( aDict, errors);

      DataItem * comItem = getItem (GEN_COM, SYM_GenGroup, false);
      std::vector <std::string> comIds;
      if (comItem)
       comIds = comItem -> getInputStringArrayValue ();

      std::string kGenMethod = “”;
      std::string hGenMethod = “”;
      std::string dGenMethod = “”;
      std::string denGenLiqMethod = “”;
      DataItem * diGen_K_Method = getItem (GEN_KMET, SYM_GenGroup, false);
      DataItem * diGen_H_Method = getItem (GEN_HMET, SYM_GenGroup, false);
      DataItem * diGen_D_Method = getItem (GEN_DMET, SYM_GenGroup, false);
      DataItem * denGenLiqMethodItem = getItem (GEN_DENLIQMET, SYM_GenGroup, false);
      if (diGen_K_Method)
       kGenMethod = diGen_K_Method -> getInputStringValue ();
      if (diGen_H_Method)
       hGenMethod = diGen_H_Method -> getInputStringValue ();
      if (diGen_D_Method)
       dGenMethod = diGen_D_Method -> getInputStringValue ();
      if (denGenLiqMethodItem) 
       denGenLiqMethod = denGenLiqMethodItem -> getInputStringValue ();

      std::string kStrmMethod = “”;
      std::string hStrmMethod = “”;
      std::string dStrmMethod = “”;
      std::string denStrmLiqMethod = “”;
      DataItem * diStrm_K_Method = getItemNoCreate (NOD_UNITKMETH);
      DataItem * diStrm_H_Method = getItemNoCreate (NOD_UNITHMETH);
      DataItem * diStrm_D_Method = getItemNoCreate (NOD_UNITDMETH);
      DataItem * denStrmLiqMethodItem = getItemNoCreate (NOD_UNITDENLIQMETH);
      if (diStrm_K_Method)
       kStrmMethod = diStrm_K_Method -> getInputStringValue ();
      if (diStrm_H_Method)
       hStrmMethod = diStrm_H_Method -> getInputStringValue ();
      if (diStrm_D_Method)
       dStrmMethod = diStrm_D_Method -> getInputStringValue ();
      if (denStrmLiqMethodItem) 
       denStrmLiqMethod = denStrmLiqMethodItem -> getInputStringValue ();

       //  if gerg thermo then only allow the 21 pure components: 
       //  2 – CH4, 46 – N2, 49 – CO2, 3 – C2H6, 4 – C3H8, 6 – n-C4H10, 
       //  5 – i-C4H10, 8 – n-C5H12, 7 – i-C5H12, 10 – n-C6H14, 11 – n-C7H16, 
       //  12 – n-C8H18, 13 – n-C9H20, 14 – n-C10H22, 1 – H2, 
       //  47 – O2, 48 – CO, 62 – H2O, 50 – H2S, 1172 – He and 1171 – Ar
      if ((kStrmMethod == “GERG 2008” || (kStrmMethod == “” && kGenMethod == “GERG 2008”)) || 
       (hStrmMethod == “GERG 2008” || (hStrmMethod == “” && hGenMethod == “GERG 2008”)) || 
       (dStrmMethod == “GERG 2008” || (dStrmMethod == “” && dGenMethod == “GERG 2008”)) || 
       (denStrmLiqMethod == “GERG 2008” || (denStrmLiqMethod == “” && denGenLiqMethod == “GERG 2008”))) 
      {
       std::vector <double> flowrates;
       DataItem * fractionsItem = (* aDict) [STR_FRACTION];
       DataItem * molesItem = (* aDict) [STR_COMMOL];
       DataItem * massItem = (* aDict) [STR_COMMAS];
       DataItem * liqVolItem = (* aDict) [STR_COMLIQVOL];
       DataItem * vapVolItem = (* aDict) [STR_COMVAPVOL];
       DataItem * feePseItem = (* aDict) [STR_FEEPSEVOL];
       if (fractionsItem && fractionsItem -> isInput ())
        flowrates = fractionsItem -> getInputDoubleArrayValue ();
       else if (molesItem && molesItem -> isInput ())
        flowrates = molesItem -> getInputDoubleArrayValue ();
       else if (massItem && massItem -> isInput ())
        flowrates = massItem -> getInputDoubleArrayValue ();
       else if (liqVolItem && liqVolItem -> isInput ())
        flowrates = liqVolItem -> getInputDoubleArrayValue ();
       else if (vapVolItem && vapVolItem -> isInput ())
        flowrates = vapVolItem -> getInputDoubleArrayValue ();
       else if (feePseItem && feePseItem -> isInput ())
        flowrates = feePseItem -> getInputDoubleArrayValue ();

       int num = comIds.size ();
       for (int i = 0; i < num; i++)
       {
        int id = atoi (comIds [i].c_str ());
        if (id != 1 && id != 2 && id != 3 && id != 4 && id != 5 && 
         id != 6 && id != 7 && id != 8 && id != 10 && id != 11 && 
         id != 12 && id != 13 && id != 14 && id != 46 && 
         id != 47 && id != 48 && id != 49 && 
         id != 62 && id != 50 && id != 1171 && id != 1172)
        {
         int numFlowrates = flowrates.size ();
         if (i < numFlowrates && flowrates [i] > 0)
          add (errors, comItem -> makeError (“If you are using GERG 2008 thermo method(s) “
           “then the stream component flowrates must be composed of the 21 pure “
           “components: 2 – CH4, 46 – N2, 49 – CO2, 3 – C2H6, 4 – C3H8, “
           “6 – n-C4H10, 5 – i-C4H10, 8 – n-C5H12, 7 – i-C5H12, “
           “10 – n-C6H14, 11 – n-C7H16, 12 – n-C8H18, “
           “13 – n-C9H20, 14 – n-C10H22, 1 – H2, 47 – O2, 48 – CO, “
         “62 – H2O, 50 – H2S, 1172 – He, and 1171 – Ar”, this));
        }
       }
      }
     }
     

  69. Gavin says:

    However, Ariel …

    Wonderful book. I’ve read it several times, as well as “The Architect of Sleep”, which was supposed to be the first in a series. He’s refused to release any more in the series because the furrys decided to ‘adopt’ it, and harassed him regarding the additional novels.

  70. brad says:

    @Lynn: I see the mistake. You wrote “GERG” when I am sure you meant “George”.

    😛

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