Hot and hot and hot. Humid too. Slightly less hot that last week, but still hot. Sun was like a blowtorch against my head and face… but once it went down it wasn’t too bad, even in the heat island of downtown.
I spent most of yesterday (after getting poked and prodded at my morning Dr appointment) going through stuff for my non-prepping hobby sale.
That’s what I’ll be doing today too, with an emphasis on getting stuff from various locations, and staging it at the house. I think I’ll be soaked with sweat fairly early on.
I am still dragging a bit from my cold. Still coughing up phlegm occasionally too. I probably should be sleeping as much as possible, but there are things that need doing… there is always something that needs doing.
It will only be more demanding and hectic if TSHTF. Get what you can do done NOW, so you don’t need to do it later.
Not like me. And stack.
nick
No. Only some form of public execution spectacle will really satisfy his opponents at this point.
Yeah, civilization. Trump tho.
I’ve seen the Honda hydrogen car rolling around in Cedar Park but only once.
If the Exploder is the front wheel drive version and has about 60,000 miles, tell your buddy to have the mechanics check the coolant “weep hole” between the alternator and the engine for encrustation and other signs that the first level of seals are bad. A bad alternator is a huge sign that somthing is amiss with the cooling system.
Hydrogen could be a great energy source for long-haul trucking. Fast refueling (cmpated to EVs), and you only need a limited number of fueling stations (truckcstops on the highways).
Of course, you do have the problems. “Hydrogen wants to be free”, and it also makes metal brittle over time. Plus, you’ve got to create the aforementioned crediting infrastructure.
Still, it’s an interesting option.
Low 80s and some ominous clouds to start the day, but the clouds seem to be clearing. Bus was 10 minutes late, and the proto-teen was surly. She stayed up far too late working on a ‘book nook’ project.
Got my check for my Jury duty, $6. And yes, I will cash it as the gas cost me that much.
Stuff to do today…
n
And you have to report that on your income tax. Which makes the value even less.
Our county hands out cash at the exit, the idea being that you go out the back door and eat in one of the local restaurants in Georgetown, particularly the Monument Cafe, which was on Guy Fieri’s show at some point in the last few years.
https://www.dinersdriveinsdiveslocations.com/monument-cafe-texas.html
It sure would … if we had hydrogen wells.
Who needs hydrogen wells? We can use unicorn farts to produce hydrogen.
“Court rules against Dr. Jordan Peterson, upholds regulatory group’s requirement that he undergo ‘re-education’ for expressing his opinions online: ‘I will let the world know’”
Remember, Crone Ginsburg said she liked the Canadian Constitution better than ours. No First Amendment. Say the wrong thing and get re-educated. I’m sure the PLTs would love that.
A joint effort by our uni-party rulers (Dumbo’s and Redumbo’s).
>> particularly the Monument Cafe, which was on Guy Fieri’s show at some point in the last few years.
Quite the feat leveraging spiked hair and a loud personality into a food-based media empire.
Guy for VP! Cheeseburgers in every pot.
We could do worse. In fact, we often have done worse.
LBJ, Humphrey, Agnew, Rockefeller, Bush, Gore, Biden, and Pence come to mind.
Ford was ok and Quayle wasn’t quite as stupid as they made him out to be.
(not an endorsement for any of them, including Guy)
Odd that that list of VP’s contains so many presidential candidates, and 4 who served in the role. Whether legitimately elected or not.
Part of why I do my own work:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ja3-e4pW1WI
I don’t know Pete’s web site, but this seems pretty good. Don’t quibble over his trigonometry or some of his experiences; he is trying to make a point that lots of shops will and do upsell. Look at some of the mechanics stories in the comments. Many agree.
Lots of people have similar stories. It goes to show that we must find a good shop and mech that we can trust, and stay with them.
As for alignment, if your old tires are wearing evenly, the new ones will also. The only time to have an alignment done is after a mishap, or if one or more tires is wearing unevenly. Don’t forget that some cars wear tires unevenly because of their design, and the only way to deal with this is rotation.
Oops, I didn’t mean to get into the weeds. Tires and alignment can be complex subjects, and I have heard many arguments where both sides are partly right. For my money, if you choose not to do your own alignment, which can be surprisingly easy, go to a “frame” shop that doesn’t sell tires. Ask around for recommendations.
Regarding upselling, a friend, who was a pretty savvy car guy with lots of experience, went to his dealer for a biennial inspection. They told him he had to have his brake system flushed or it wouldn’t pass the “safety” part of the inspection. I said California doesn’t have a safety inspection, only emissions. I could almost see the light bulb over his head. Maybe the dealer had a safety inspection, but they didn’t tell him. These artists can be pretty persuasive. Brake systems almost never need flushing in our dry climate.
Oh, the other part of why I do most of my won work is that I enjoy it.
My Dad didn’t rotate tires. He said if they are wearing evenly why waste your time? Just keep them full of air.
I let Discount Tires (America’s Tires) rotate my tires for free. They also re-balance them.
I suspect they are looking for excessive wear so they can sell some new ones, but haven’t had that problem. And since the rotations and re-balancing are free, it’s worth an hour of my time to let them do it.
In the words of Shrub, “This sucker could go down.”
Someone big stopped providing support at 85, the pandemic low.
https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/DIS
“Ashoka” premiered last night, probably to dismal ratings and reviews, but Netflix is down too.
Cheney.
Hydrogen could be a great energy source for long-haul trucking.
It sure would … if we had hydrogen wells.
Yes we do, they are called natural gas wells.
Many long haul trucks have been converted to LNG (liquefied natural gas). There is a conversion package for just about all diesels built in the last ten years. Spark Plugs, tanks, fuel regulator, boil off gas system (relief valve), etc.
Natural gas is also referred to as: “methane”.
Natural gas is also referred to as: “methane”.
Natural gas / mostly methane is 60% carbon and 40% hydrogen.
Ha, ha:
Biden administration SUES Elon Musk’s SpaceX for ‘only hiring US citizens’ and ‘discouraging’ asylum seekers and refugees from applying for jobs
The downside of being associated with the goobermint in any way. Musk should hire the next janitor from under the closest bridge.
Really, “asylum seekers and refugees” get priority over US Citizens?
“2 Tesla virtual power plants cleared to provide energy to Texas electric grid”
https://www.utilitydive.com/news/tesla-virtual-power-plants-vpp-ercot-puc-texas-grid/691713/
“The pair of aggregated Powerwalls are the first of eight virtual power plants participating in an Electric Reliability Council of Texas pilot project.”
“Resources participating in the ADER pilot must include “power generation devices,” including battery energy storage systems or generators, and may also include demand response devices like smart thermostats, controllable electric vehicle chargers and smart water heaters, the PUC said.”
“Currently there are about 2.3 GW of these types of resources across the state, regulators said. Participating ADER resources must be less than 1 MW each and the pilot is capped at 80 MW of total participation “to ensure a safe and controlled rollout,” they said.””
I have so many questions that I am flabbergasted. First, does the homeowner get paid for their electricity sent to the grid ?
Second, does the homeowner get paid market rate (determined every five minutes via Dutch Auction by ERCOT) ?
Third, is a separate electric meter required ?
Fourth, is a transformer upgrade required ?
Fifth, is there any liability to the homeowner if their power generation device fails to generate power when called upon ?
Sixth, does the homeowner get paid if their power generation system is available to generate power for the grid (capacity payment) ?
I’ve got more questions, many more.
The Border Patrol is the defacto security on the main road to Boca Chica. We never have a problem, but foreign nationals need to be prepared to present paperwork and submit to search of their persons, vehicles, and even cell phones.
As I walked by this morning in the tract next to mine, there were a dozen workers smashing up sidewalks and curbs for repairs. Not one was speaking English, it was all in Spanish. Okay, WRT to this racist employment, I’m calling gov screwsome right now.
“Trump Interview With Tucker Breaks 200 Million Views”
https://thelibertydaily.com/trump-interview-with-tucker-breaks-200-million-views/
“To be clear, impressions do not translate into full video views, but even if only 10% of the people who had the video in their feed watched all or part of it, that’s still over 20 million. That also doesn’t count the views on the various other online channels that published it.”
#011 Scott Adams | The Roseanne Barr Podcast
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-at2Y0o2vfE
“Aug 24, 2023 The Roseanne Barr Podcast“
“In this week’s episode, Roseanne is joined by fellow “disgraced” media personality Scott Adams. Scott is one of the brightest intellectual minds today and this conversation is one of the deepest and most enlightening Roseanne has ever had. They talk about cancel culture, the media, January 6, the state of America, how to reframe your mind to succeed, race, culture, hypnosis, AI, and even the exciting future of sex robots. We are sure you will love this one so make sure to like, subscribe and share! Buy his book here! https://a.co/d/cU7LhWV”
DIS. 82.47 close.
And it still isn’t cheap by any stretch.
All of the support of the last decade is gone at this point. Look out beloooooow.
Quayle ultimately prevailed against “Murphy Brown” as the show eventually bowed to sponsor pressure to make the baby disappear.
Quick – what was the kid’s name?
No Google or Duck.
“Trent Dilfer understands the skepticism.”
He’s a fine Christian man, however.
‘“I didn’t want too many voices of the way it used to be done …” Dilfer said. “A lot of these guys complaining about the good ol’ days — I didn’t want that.”’
God help UAB.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/other/ex-bucs-quarterback-trent-dilfer-isn-t-your-typical-new-college-coach/ar-AA1fI6rx
“Reports: NATO-member Norway Follows the Netherlands, Denmark to Donate F-16 Fighters to Ukraine”
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2023/08/24/reports-nato-member-norway-follows-the-netherlands-denmark-to-donate-f-16-fighters-to-ukraine/
“Last week, the Netherlands and Denmark announced that they would answer that call and donate F-16 aircraft.”
“Denmark said it will provide 19 planes, while the Netherlands has not said how many planes it will donate.”
“In January, Norway received the first of the 52 F-35s it has ordered. The new fighter jets are to replace the country’s existing fleet of F-16s.”
So how long does it take to train an F-16 pilot ? 2 years ? 4 years ?
I just told my girlfriend I saw raindrops outside.
She asked me to describe them, it’s been so long she can’t remember.
Weather radar shows this event entirely isolated between Katy, Cypress, Sugar Land, and the Loop.
Tiny. Houston microclimates strike again. This time, we happen to be under it.
More important question – How long does it take to train a ground crew?
Round Rock didn’t get anything from the storm.
I had a dispute with a sprinkler repair company and the owner emailed today to say he was just waiving the invoice for … well, whatever they did to my system on the wrong day to generate a $120 bill.
Now I have to wait another month for an appointment from someone else.
More important question – How long does it take to train a ground crew?
Oh, I figure for one pass they will not need a ground crew. One takeoff, one SAM.
“That’s what it means to lose a war.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QazA-nl0CE
Best engineering movie ever.
I knew someone who knew him. Reportedly quite intelligent* and well spoken in person. He just had problems in front of audiences with the cameras rolling.
* My acquaintance was a lawyer and an accountant; he made his living by being on corporate and nonprofit boards, as a watchdog. I don’t know if he rated Quayle as intelligent compared to himself, compared to average people, or compared to average politicians.
We got poured on here. I was loading stuff in the back of my truck, pulling stuff out of the storage unit, and here comes the rain! 3 months without, and the day I’m loading my truck ahead of an event, it pours. And it was cats and dogs for a while.
I got soaked thru, chucked everything back in the unit, threw a tarp on the truck and drove home. My load in tomorrow will suck. I may have to make two trips as I’m running the load in, AND I didn’t get all my stuff ready on my truck, so I’ll need to get it for my personal load in and set up. I don’t think I’ll have enough time in the morning to get the drinks, ice, and my stuff…
Grrr.
And the power went out briefly. And the UPS failed to engage so my computers went down again. A UPS should be bullet proof and this one isn’t. I THINK it’s set up and on but it’s apparently not. POOR DESIGN if I can’t tell and if the protection isn’t automatic.
n
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/08/24/will-soaring-insurance-costs-derail-the-ev-revolution/
Fifty years ago there was a niche market for fiberglas auto bodies that replaced the body of a VW bug with something that looked like a sports car, even if it still sounded like a bug.
It’s only a matter of time before someone figures out a way to make use of scrap Tesla bodies. Wouldn’t be surprised to find out that someone has already made a”stretch limo” out of Tesla body parts, just for S&G’s.
There was talk of lots of A-29’s a while back, but that would have made sense.
Really, “asylum seekers and refugees” get priority over US Citizens?
FJB is under pressure from his Chinese masters to get their spies into SpaceX.
I’d buy tickets if he would shoot Hunter into space. Heck, tell SlowJo the stew is only ten and he will want to go, too.
@Lynn
“I’ve got more questions, many more.”
I have a dollar that says that the overhead is more than the savings if an honest CPA is doing the books.
ERCOT issued rolling black out warnings to the utilities this evening. I heard San Antonio’s pinhead Socialist Mayor ranting about it on the news at the top of the 8 PM hour when I went out on a store run.
My understanding is that actually these packs are in high demand, so as to repair or replace individual failing cells in other packs, and resell to working vehicles.
I seem to recall that there was actually a company whose business model was to simply do just that for Leafs, up in Seattle, or Tacoma, I believe.
@Paul
“My Dad didn’t rotate tires. He said if they are wearing evenly why waste your time? Just keep them full of air.”
If you’re running radials and don’t have a spare, and you don’t use snow tires, there is less incentive. But tire rotation is a good time to check the interior sidewalls, the brakes, shocks, etc. And if it’s up on a hoist you can use the MarkOne eyeball on a lot of other things very quickly.
Somone might be doing it under supervision of the manufacturers since any warranty replacement will not be a new battery, but I’m not sure I’d trust a third party re-manufacturing process, especially using cells salvaged from wrecks. New EV batteries are ‘splody enough.
“Quayle wasn’t quite as stupid as they made him out to be.”
I’ll go with JEP’s assessment.
Silly question. Are your computers plugged into the UPS powered battery backed outlets rather than just the protected outlets?
Lots of things look good when you don’t consider or know about all the cost shifting, or cost delaying, or cost disguising…
My Material Handling trade mag has a feature about a fireproof metal enclosure that you install adjacent to your facility to safely store and charge your batteries (for your forktrucks, and robot pickers, ie. lithium based batteries…) It’s like having an armory or explosion proof room next to your warehouse. Wouldn’t do it if the market wasn’t there- so there must be industrial batteries catching fire.
n
Not sure I disagree with you personally, but some folk are just one more year and Timmy’s out of college or whatever.
I can’t find the original link, but there are about a gazillion articles and videos about doing it now.
I just checked closing prices for several auctions I was watching but not bidding in (because I’ll be busy and can’t make the pickup date.) Prices were uniformly low and quite low at that. That is the second week in a row with lower than normal prices. A nice washing machine went for $70 when they usually go for between 100 and $150. An upright freezer went for $38. They normally go for over $100.
Lots of other things were much lower than average too. The normal buyer audience may be out of money.
n
consume this fact…
https://hotair.com/headlines/2023/08/24/more-frightening-but-100-true-facts-about-guns-for-debating-ultra-maga-republicans-n573499
complincently
There was talk of lots of A-29’s a while back, but that would have made sense.
Do you mean the A-10’s ?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairchild_Republic_A-10_Thunderbolt_II
Rain didn’t last long. Just enough to soak me and my stuff. Now it is pretty dang muggy.
I’m headed to bed early. Got a full day tomorrow. I’ll be like the farmer, working from sun up to sun down.
n
From SRW in the Fort Bend Journal:
“You do realize that space could be filled with vampires and you’ll never know because telescopes use mirrors”.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embraer_EMB_314_Super_Tucano
re: UPS
Back when I was the principal DBA for an Electronic Medical Records system rollout, the second-rate IT department (separate from the EMR implementation team) tried to get me to go live with the system in spite of the fact that our tape backup system had not arrived from HP yet. Everything was ready, but we had no backups, and no way to test backups.
I told them that if you don’t have a backup system, and you haven’t tested your backup system to be sure it works, you don’t have a production system. You have an experiment.
That did not go over well, and since my signoff was required, we waited for HP to install before we had our go-live.
I believe to this day that’s a big part of the reason they eventually fired me, for not being flexible. Of course, if we had gone into production, and suffered a failure, you know who’d get the blame, right?
My point is, you don’t have a UPS until you set it up, run it, and intentionally unplug it to see what happens.
https://www.amazon.com/Eagles-Mitsubishi-Story-Zero-Fighter/dp/0295971681/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1FW2DJL2OMP7J&keywords=0295971681&qid=1692935590&sprefix=0295971681%2Caps%2C544&sr=8-1&tag=ttgnet-20
“My point is, you don’t have a UPS until you set it up, run it, and intentionally unplug it to see what happens.”
I taught a short course on programming in Pascal every spring for several years.
Emphasized saving the work and alternating two floppy disks.
Classroom was not a “computer lab” and the power strips were daisy-chained, with the layout carefully designed so that I could “accidentally” shut down a row of three computers.
Which I did for every class.
Inevitably, to their sorrow.
You have to be cruel to be kind.
Interestingly the Zero and Super Tucano have similar specifications, the turboprop giving the edge to the latter.
But in the right measure.
Personally I won’t have the acid-leaking toxic-fume-spurting fire hazards in my house.