Sun. May 26, 2024 – another day to work… and there is work that needs doing

Warm and humid rapidly becoming hot and crazy humid. Like yesterday did.

I tried to stay out of the sun, and not really exert myself. Those leg cramps kinda scared me. So I mostly worked on the mower. Details are in comments yesterday, but the summary is, there is always something more. And spending time on the mower, when I used to have a working mower, is time spent going backwards.

That is one of the risks of keeping older stuff running. The time it takes can be trivial or it can eat days. And you probably won’t know until it happens. On the other hand, new stuff breaks too, and the starting cost is higher.

While searching for the parts I know I bought, I did do a bit of sorting and organizing. That’s always good.

I’m hoping to finish messing with the mower, and actually cut some grass today. Then I’ll probably do some more demo in the dock house, and maybe give it one more spray with the ‘kills everything’ treatment (VitalOxide, if you were wondering, and not from any specific knowledge, but from getting it cheap in the auctions last year.) In Houston Texas you know you’ll need cleaner and disinfectant eventually. This stuff is supposed to be better than plain bleach, and has an odor reducing property too. Seems to be working so far.

I’ve got some other gas powered equipment that needs work too, so maybe I’ll get to that.

Or maybe I’ll do something else. The lists are long.

Having part on hand helps. Having the supplies you need on hand helps. Having the knowledge to apply them helps a lot. Stack all three.

nick

80 Comments and discussion on "Sun. May 26, 2024 – another day to work… and there is work that needs doing"

  1. lynn says:

    It is 79 F and about one million percent humidity here on the west side of Fort Bend County.  Gonna go to church after a shower.  

    Gonna clean our shower this afternoon with the plain old bleachy cleaner.  The spray on stuff.  Works great for a while.

  2. Greg Norton says:

    @Bob, CMIIW but doesn’t the Radeon video card have its own Display Settings software that overrides the default Windows Display Settings? If so, check there. 

    @Greg (resident Radeon expert) is the above accurate? 

    All of my PCs have Nvidia cards.

    I’ve noticed something weird with my POS “road” laptop lately, where the sound from the integrated speakers will go MIA until I plug a recent vintage display into the HDMI port and reboot.

    I’m wondering if I’m experiencing something odd with HDMI and the security features. Maybe Bob is too.

    The monitor is one of my employers’ models with a built in USB-C dock. I don’t know if that makes a difference.

    Windows 11 was about Hollywood closing the streaming piracy capabilities offered by the legacy Windows display stack, and I suspect some tinkering was done in the HDMI specs as well.

    Unfortunately users pay the price since Hollywood has now abandoned physical media and has no choice but to be aggressive at the hardware and OS levels about piracy in order to keep the revenue streams flowing to Vanguard, Blackrock, and State Street.

  3. Greg Norton says:

    George Floyd Getting Hollywood Treatment

    I never understood why BLM made him into a martyr, when they had Breonna Taylor. She really was innocent and killed by incompetent police, and would have made a much better figure to rally around.

    Breonna Taylor was tougher to spin since the story has holes if you dig deep enough. Her story also brings to light some ugly truths about black women and their relationships with men in this country that few want talked about.

    Plus Derek Chauvin exposed the system’s overly generous first responder pension arrangements so the union had to throw him under the bus once BLM doxxed Chauvin and the protests started in Orlando.

    Sure, a cop who serves 20 years is entitled to a nice house on a lake and a bass rig, but a Florida condo in Winderemere, playing golf on the same courses as Tiger Woods?

    The city entity known as Houston is effectively insolvent due to first responder pension generosity, granted in part by the sister-in-law of the new Mayor when she occupied that office 40 years ago.

    I guess the family is playing CYA while trying to get one more “puff from that cigar” to borrow another piece of the Geico Gecko’s Simple Homespun Wisdom (Still Written by Carol Loomis of Fortune, Now Retired At 80 Something) (TM).

  4. Greg Norton says:

    Sure, a cop who serves 20 years is entitled to a nice house on a lake and a bass rig, but a Florida condo in Winderemere, playing golf on the same courses as Tiger Woods?

    In Vantucky, the weekend after our house sale in Florida closed and the equity check was all the free cash we had available on our balance sheet, we got shaken down by my wife’s lead nurse, the sister of a San Francisco Police Department detective, who was trying to put together a six figured down payment on property in a development on a private island off the coast of Honduras which the department rank and file had been pitched in seminars that year.

    What is your retirement looking like?

    Condo in Florida?

    Island in Central America?

    We passed on the “opportunity” which the nurse turned into a man/woman thing and soured the relationship with her for the rest of our sentence.

    Nurses.

    She was the worst kind too – she didn’t get the license until her 40s.

  5. ITGuy1998 says:

    Having part on hand helps. Having the supplies you need on hand helps. Having the knowledge to apply them helps a lot. Stack all three.
     

    I can fix almost anything around the house. I am amazed how many people can’t do even basic maintenance tasks. 

  6. Greg Norton says:

    Beau … Beau … Beau … 

    and Roger Staubach.

    The Staubach thing is something I haven’t heard before.

    https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2024/05/25/fact-check-biden-claims-he-was-appointed-to-naval-academy-roger-staubach-prevented-him-from-attending/

    Republican or Democrat, don’t mess with Cowboys players, kids, if you want to get along in Texas.

    Jerry Jones is fair game, even Tom Landry if you insist, but not the players.

  7. Greg Norton says:

    All of my PCs have Nvidia cards.

    BTW, I do not own Nvidia stock except whatever is in VTSMX – they own everything — and my other mutual funds.

    The monitor with the built-in dock came from Amazon. Our discount is lousy.

  8. Greg Norton says:

    We passed on the “opportunity” which the nurse turned into a man/woman thing and soured the relationship with her for the rest of our sentence.

    I imagine the line in the office was, “He’s a man. He’ll let a little thing about a coup in Honduras discourage him from the ‘opportunity of a lifetime’.”

    The problem with a hot Civil War 2.0 in this country is that it will touch on the frequently caustic state of man/women relationships that currently prevail, particularly among my age group.

    Most males my age just give in right now … which works until the divorce lawyer serves papers.

  9. MrAtoz says:

    Beau … Beau … Beau … 

    and Roger Staubach.

    LOL, plugs’ brain is mashed potatoes. Yet, the LSM lets this and a myriad of other lies from plugs go unchallenged. Over and over.

  10. ITGuy1998 says:

    LOL, plugs’ brain is mashed potatoes. Yet, the LSM lets this and a myriad of other lies from plugs go unchallenged. Over and over.

    But, but, but TRUMP! Seriously!  

    /sarc

  11. drwilliams says:

    “Gonna clean our shower this afternoon with the plain old bleachy cleaner.  The spray on stuff.  Works great for a while.”

    Using a hard water cleaner (CLR, Limeaway) will keep the calcium deposits from building up and giving a more solid base to other things. 

  12. drwilliams says:

    No Deal: W.H.O. Fails to Secure Global Pandemic Treaty

    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2024/05/26/no-deal-w-h-o-fails-to-secure-global-pandemic-treaty/

    1.  Treaties have to be ratified by the U.S. Senate. ←

    2. No treaty can amend or limit the U.S. Constitution. ←

    Arrows point to periods. There are no modifying clauses appended to either sentence.

  13. drwilliams says:

    Fact Check: Biden Claims He Was ‘Appointed’ to Naval Academy, Roger Staubach Prevented Him from Attending

    https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2024/05/25/fact-check-biden-claims-he-was-appointed-to-naval-academy-roger-staubach-prevented-him-from-attending/

    If a lie is told often enough, it just becomes a more embarrassing lie.

  14. Bob Sprowl says:

    Monitor problem is fixed; it was a driver’s issue.

    I used Device Manager and deleted all of the display and monitor drivers and devices. Rebooted and everything works properly.  

    I’ve never had a problem which required me to delete the devices and drivers.  I thought that if you did the computer would crash because it couldn’t use the deleted items.  Apparently, the deleted items are loaded into working memory as the system boots.   When the system boots, the stored items are missing so that the O/S must search for and setup the device drivers as it loads them.  The actual time to do this was not noticeable; I was expecting a longer boot time.

    Thanks for all of the suggestions.

    10
  15. Ray Thompson says:

    Apparently, the deleted items are loaded into working memory as the system boots

    Generic drivers are installed and used. Such drivers generally do not provide optimal performance and in the case of monitors, less than ideal resolution. After Windows detects the hardware Windows will install better drivers. Windows uses the web or driver packages installed on the system. Sometimes manual intervention is required to get the proper drivers from the vendor’s website.

    Check device manager for any yellow exclamation marks which indicates a generic driver is being used. Best to find the optimal driver, if one can determine the actual device. Windows is not very helpful in that regard.

  16. Ken Mitchell says:

    1.  Treaties have to be ratified by the U.S. Senate. ←

    And major modifications of a treaty require RE-ratification, and all 49 of the GOP senators have said that they wouldn’t vote for the modified WHO pandemic treaty. 

    And I note that the head of the World HEALTH Organization is not a doctor, but a Communist organizer. 

  17. Greg Norton says:

    Check device manager for any yellow exclamation marks which indicates a generic driver is being used. Best to find the optimal driver, if one can determine the actual device. Windows is not very helpful in that regard.

    Nvidia and AMD have also neglected maintenance on their Windows drivers, even for cards only a few years old.

    I doubt the situation will improve as both companies chase the AI market.

  18. drwilliams says:

    The Internationalists and the Death of Raisi

    Iran’s president Ebrahim Raisi died in a helicopter crash this week along with several other officials of the Iranian government, including Iran’s foreign minister. Raisi was a monster, a man who murdered by slow strangulation thousands of Iranians, and who tortured and murdered a pregnant woman. He was known as “the butcher of Teheran.”

     If, like me, you think the international organizations created after World War II have outlived their purpose, have admitted members of failed states who hold views antithetical to the organizations’ stated missions, and need to be abolished and recast, this week, they punked themselves and made our case. 

    Among those offering condolences and tributes were NATO, the European Union, the Secretary-General of the UN, the UN Security Council, and the International Atomic Energy Commission (IAEA) which Iran has made a monkey of for years. Even our own State Department joined in this absurd sympathy charade. 

    https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2024/05/punked.html

    U.S. State Department offers condolences for death of a mass murder, proving again that the Biden Administration is a stain on the history of our country.

  19. Ray Thompson says:

    Nvidia and AMD have also neglected maintenance on their Windows drivers, even for cards only a few years old.

    That issue is not unique to Nvidia and AMD. Many vendors abandon drivers for older products. Finding a decent driver is sometimes a difficult task. HP falls in that category and many times a generic driver must be used for a printer. Scanners become even more difficult. Some vendors are fairly good about keeping drivers up to date.

  20. Nick Flandrey says:

    I was wrong.  It’s 80F and 80% but the sky is overcast and the wind is blowing like crazy.

    Had a weird night.   Went to bed feeling a bit chilly, woke up with the blanket sopping wet from sweat.   Felt like I’d been sunburned, but I was in shade all day and don’t have any color…  No cramps at least.

    ———–

    I need to get up on the roof and put a tarp over the chimney.    The tree knocked the chimney cap off.  It was  a midcentury style thing where there is a gap between the chimney top and a flat cap that is like a rectangular slab that covers the whole thing.   Flat part is in a million pieces now.   I actually hope  I can find a tarp.   I’ve used up a bunch over the years without replacing them.   And I don’t think I ever brought up a roll of plastic either.    Hum.   Gaps, I got  ’em.

    n

  21. Greg Norton says:

    That issue is not unique to Nvidia and AMD. Many vendors abandon drivers for older products. Finding a decent driver is sometimes a difficult task. HP falls in that category and many times a generic driver must be used for a printer. Scanners become even more difficult. Some vendors are fairly good about keeping drivers up to date.

    AI may reverse the trend, but discrete PC graphics cards have been about Nvidia and AMD for a while.

    Intel kinda-sorta tried with Arc, but the requisite  resizeable bar setting in the BIOS is, ironically, not well supported on motherboards made for Intel CPUs.

  22. Greg Norton says:

    That issue is not unique to Nvidia and AMD. Many vendors abandon drivers for older products. Finding a decent driver is sometimes a difficult task. HP falls in that category and many times a generic driver must be used for a printer. Scanners become even more difficult. Some vendors are fairly good about keeping drivers up to date.

    As for HP, I bought a recent design HP LaserJet Pro to replace our much-missed 4000N, and the new hardware is garbage IMHO. They’ve seriously lost their way.

    The HP went back in favor of a Brother with BR-Script.

    I’ve written before that we lost our lease in Vantucky ten years ago because the landlord wanted to chase HP L1 visa worker gold as the company brought engineers in from Indonesia to have them learn the printer design process in Vantucky – where the HP Inkjet was invented – as part of an offshoring of the design centers.

  23. EdH says:

    The HP went back in favor of a Brother with BR-Script.

    I love my Brother printers, but at some point the “manual duplex” option went away for an early model in an update, which mildly annoyed me. 

    I often printed equipment manuals out for field use back in the day, and that doubled the thickess of stuff I had to carry.

    Still better than the “competition”

  24. Ray Thompson says:

    I love my Brother printers, but at some point the “manual duplex” option went away for an early model in an update, which mildly annoyed me.

    I have a Brother color laser that I got for about ⅔ off on Black Friday many moons ago. Only issue I have had was the fusing roller tearing which was covered by the warranty.

    My other main printer is an Epson Eco-Tank. That is a good printer and the ink per page is cheap, even cheaper than my Brother laser.

    I have a third printer, a Canon, that I bought from HSN for about the cost of the cartridges. In fact, when the cartridges ran dry it was cheaper to toss the printer and just buy another with new cartridges. The only reason I keep that printer is that it can print on DVD blanks.

    Brother seems to make good products for the home consumer.

  25. Rick H says:

    We’ve got two Canon Image CLASS LBP6230dw laser printers; one bought in Oct 2020, the other in Dec 2022. The older one has seen the most use, and the only maintenance is a new toner cartridge. Both have worked really well. 

    The printers are connected to our wifi network via a simple setup process. I can print from both laptops, and my phone. No issues, other than remembering to turn on the printer after when the power is restored after an outage. 

    2
    1
  26. Bob Sprowl says:

    I checked Device Manager for warnings and errors.  Everything is fine.  AMD drivers dated 2-20-24 were installed.  Two generic monitors found.  

    No telling what caused the problem.  Oh well…

    Thanks again for the assistance.

  27. MrAtoz says:

    NumbNuts The Judge issues unConstitutional guidance to tRump porn-trial jury that guarantees a verdict reversal:

    ‘So DESPERATE to Convict Trump They’re BREAKING the Law’: Greta Van Susteren Goes OFF on Trump’s Judge

    I agree with the comments: the judge is doing everything possible to convict tRump just to affect the election process. When it is all over, said judge should be imprisoned.

    plugsy McSpongeBrain The Last has now said he will issue a statement on the trial after the jury returns. This is another idiotic attempt to tarnish tRump and interfere in the election. The Dumbo’s and PLT’s must be running scared. What will plugs say if a unanimous “not guilty” verdict comes back? I know, I know, it is NYFC with a guaranteed Dumbo-leaning jury. But, maybe some jurors see the farce for what it is and can convince the others. A hung jury will get plugsy crowing about injustice, and, a re-trial is certain.

    8
    1
  28. Greg Norton says:

    I agree with the comments: the judge is doing everything possible to convict tRump just to affect the election process. When it is all over, said judge should be imprisoned.

    A conviction that sticks is the last thing the Dems want. They want the outrage of a hung jury, acquittal, or, most likely, Trump running around free while the lawyers work the appeals process to overturn the guilty verdict on a technicality.

    OUTRAGE!!!!

    Big Mike will settle the score, and once their Orange King is imprisoned, he’s gonna go get the rest of the White Devils.

    3
    1
  29. Ray Thompson says:

    I agree with the comments: the judge is doing everything possible to convict tRump just to affect the election process. When it is all over, said judge should be imprisoned.

    The legal system is being used for political purposes. The way things are moving a person could be convicted for being ugly. SteveF would get a felony life conviction. I would get the electric chair for gas. One spark and I would have the last laugh.

    11
    1
  30. paul says:

    That $1 after coupon half pound of chorizo I mentioned?  I think I’ll get a few more while there’s a coupon.  It’s not great, it’s chorizo after all.

    Good flavor.  Not greasy, just enough to get a little frying action.  A pinch too much chili powder but with eggs and or fried potatoes mixed in, just right.

    So excitement  Much wow.    

    I went to Harbor Freight for retractable dog leashes for Buddy the Beagle.  When they start to chatter while retracting the leash the end is near.  What do you expect for $6?  Ten months or so of use seems ok for the price.

    Then Wal-Mart.  I had three of the large containers of store brand sugar free Metamucil.  About $73 worth.  Sell  by October.  I’ve had them too long.  I expected that answer.  I told them to keep it…. you have big dumpsters if you want to throw it away.   Put it back on the shelf and sell it.   The look on their faces was great.  I guess they expected a big argument.  “Do you want your receipt?”  Nah, I don’t need it.

    Next was Tractor Supply.  Cat and Dog chows.  Enough for a couple of months, maybe mid-August. 

    Traffic wasn’t too bad.  Though for idiot on a little motorcycle that had to cut in front and suddenly slow to turn into a parking lot, dude, you will have a nasty crash soon enough.  If you don’t get run over by a Suburban. 

  31. Alan says:

    >>The legal system is being used for political purposes. The way things are moving a person could be convicted for being ugly. SteveF would get a felony life conviction. I would get the electric chair for gas. One spark and I would have the last laugh.

    For @Ray all they would need to do is bring back the gas chamber… the rest should be self-explanatory… 

  32. Ken Mitchell says:

    Using a hard water cleaner (CLR, Limeaway) will keep the calcium deposits from building up

    Cheap store-brand vinegar is almost as good and much less expensive. 

    And if you’re using the vinegar for washing stuff, you can re-use the same vinegar several times before it stops being effective.

  33. Alan says:

    Re the current Trump trial, if there’s a hung jury, how many reasons will Bragg come prepared with that the retrial MUST start immediately, if not sooner? 

  34. paul says:

    Last time I looked HEB has 9 grain vinegar for about 50¢ more per gallon than regular vinegar.   Like gee, the gallon jug container is the expensive part?  It’s been a couple of years. 

  35. Ken Mitchell says:

    HEB has 9 grain vinegar

    CHEAP store-brand vinegar. It’ll clean stuff as well or better than the “apple cider vinegar” or anything that costs extra for the added syllables. 

  36. paul says:

    That’s what I’m saying.  Cheap store brand vinegar.  Hill Country Fare 9% versus the usual 5%.  Sometimes it’s over with the canning supplies.  50¢ or so more per gallon but use half as much. 

    Totally different than apple cider vinegar.

  37. Rick H says:

    Actually, distilled ‘white’ vinegar is best for cleaning. But not to be used on some surfaces, or inside washer/dishwasher as it can damage the rubber seals. 

    Distilled white vinegar acts on the hard water minerals, softening them so they are easier to remove. Still takes some scrubbing after you soak it.  And don’t use it full-strength – about a 5% in water solution is best. It is a ‘dissolver’, so be careful about surfaces.

  38. paul says:

    CLR and Limeaway work.  My water is hare enough that I was still needing a single edge razor at the water line in the toilets.  I installed a water softener and all of the lime problems went away.  Well worth the money.

  39. paul says:

    I have this:  https://www.ebay.com/itm/142684195867   Prices vary, I paid $639 and it’s now $795 four years later.   Shop around.  For comparison, the GE I had, to replace it was around $950 at Lowes.

    “Fleck 5600 SXT Metered On-Demand 64,000 Grain Whole House Water Softener”  It simply works.  Much better than the GE.    I had a couple of questions and they replied pretty quick.

    There are different Grain ratings.  I went with 64,000 because it doesn’t need to recharge as often….. which saves wear and tear on the valves. 

  40. Lynn says:

    Wow, Texas is generating 17,401 MW from solar power alone today at noon.  Too bad it is all gone by 8pm.

  41. paul says:

    Try https://www.ebay.com/itm/142684195867  I don’t know where the &nbsp came from.

  42. paul says:

    Anyway.  Everyone’s house is different.  Fromm my well I cut into the pipe feeding the house.  Installed a whole house filter.  Then the water softener.

    I may or may not need the filter.  In 30+ years here I’ve had a grain of sand while cleaning faucet aerators all of three times.  I look at the filter like a surge suppressor for my PC.

  43. Greg Norton says:

    Wow, Texas is generating 17,401 MW from solar power alone today at noon.  Too bad it is all gone by 8pm.

    More than one million Tonymobiles!

    I saw a Model X today at Home Depot which was just purchased used from the local Land Rover dealer not far from Apple’s new campus on Parmer.

    I’d be really wary about used Teslas in Austin right now because I know that quite a few were totaled since the first of the year by the insurance mafia from damage due to last year’s hail storm.

    My manager accepted half of what he paid for his Model X in settlement from Prudential. He was driving a new RAV4 hybrid on Friday when we went to lunch.

  44. drwilliams says:

    When Schools Hire an Unqualified Scammer

    When Dazhon Darien was hired as the athletic director at Pikesville High School in Baltimore County Maryland last summer, the school felt like they had really landed someone special. After all, Darien had degrees from prestigious universities and more than a decade of experience as an administrator in higher education. He even had experience with Artificial Intelligence. There was only one problem with this ideal employment match. None of that was true.

    https://hotair.com/jazz-shaw/2024/05/26/when-schools-hire-an-unqualified-scammer-n3789107

    The PLT’s want to make it illegal to do background checks as part of the hiring process. 

    Is this the real reason?

  45. Lynn says:

    CLR and Limeaway work.  My water is hare enough that I was still needing a single edge razor at the water line in the toilets.  I installed a water softener and all of the lime problems went away.  Well worth the money.

    Doesn’t that make the water in the house soft ?  I hate soft water, I cannot get the soap off me.

  46. paul says:

    No, it’s not the icky can’t rinse off the soap kind of soft. 

    I’m gonna pull this out of my butt.  I can be wrong but this is my understanding. 

    You have natural soft water in some places.  That’s where you can’t rinse off the soap and it feels like you took your shower with baby oil. 

    What’s the big aquifer that runs south of Dallas?  I’m told I’m on the edge of it.  The mineral buildup in toilets and sinks and critter water tubs is a sandy tan color. 

    A water softener uses the salt to bind the limestone into an inert form that doesn’t make rings in your toilets and stop up faucet aerators and all the rest of the fun things like the water heater filling full of minerals.  Call it magic.

    The limestone is still in the water but it’s bound up.  A water softener is not a filter.   The water from the softener when it back washes isn’t salty.  I made a point to go taste it. 

    Now, some folks filter their softened water and then run it thru a charcoal filter or two.   That might get you the slimy soap feel.  I don’t know.  

    I do know I use Ivory soap (it’s cheap!) in the shower and I feel clean and don’t stink.  If I double wash my hair it will squeak. 

    I know I don’t have a hard water problem anymore.

  47. Greg Norton says:

    Doesn’t that make the water in the house soft ?  I hate soft water, I cannot get the soap off me.

    Most decent softeners have a level adjustment. Some softening is desirable. We killed an ice maker when our previous softener went bad and we didn’t replace the system quickly.

    The myth around here is that a softener isn’t necessary since the municipal water supplies are drawn from surface sources, but the dirty secret of the utilities is that they’re drawing more on the aquifer as the lakes are still depleted from the heat wave and drought going back more than a decade.

    Lake Travis currently sits at 39% full, down from 45.2% before the dry season started at this time last year.

  48. drwilliams says:

    ‘Absolute miracle’ breakthrough provides recipe for zero-carbon cement

    “I had a vague idea from previous work that if it were possible to crush old concrete, taking out the sand and stones, heating the cement would remove the water, and then it would form clinker again,” said Dr. Cyrille Dunant, first author of the study. “A bath of liquid metal would help this chemical reaction along, and an electric arc furnace, used to recycle steel, felt like a strong possibility. We had to try.”

    https://newatlas.com/materials/concrete-steel-recycle-cambridge-zero-carbon-cement/

    Nonsense.

    I haven’t read the Nature article, but I’m willing to risk my reputation. [cough, cough]

    Concrete is a mixture of large aggregate (gravel), small aggregate (sand) and cement reacted with water. The ratios vary according to the specifications of the concrete, but the amount of cement is typically one-sixth to one-fifth of the mix by weight.

    So if you pulverize the concrete and separate the cured cement from the sand and gravel, you have a small pile of potentially useful material (if further processed) and another pile of waste that is 4-5 times bigger. 

    If you “process” the cured cement by using it in steel making, essentially reversing the chemical reactions that took place when the cement (ground clinker) reacted with water, the recycled clinker must be reground to produce cement, which then has to meet the specifications.

    The first problem is transportation of the used concrete to the steel making process. It’s similar to the problem of reprocessing old tires–the costs are prohibitive.

    The second is that only a tiny fraction of the used concrete available would be sufficient to supply all the needs of steel making.

    The third is that the process of getting to the “net zero” clinker–transporting, crushing, separating, transporting to the steelmakers, separating, transporting, regrinding, etc.–has costs. The  “net zero” clinker is going to be much more expensive (just as other “net zero” building materials are more expensive). As a first estimate the cost of material is fungible with the cost of energy, so “net zero” is unlikely to be anywhere close to zero.

    The fourth is that a more expensive material will not get market penetration.

    Bit of history:

    The Romans made exceptionally good cement and the secret was lost for centuries until the benefits of adding pulverized Italian pumice to the mix was rediscovered and the class of reactive materials was dubbed “pozzolans”.

    Pozzolans increase strength and other desirable cement properties and also reduce the amount of cement needed in the mixture. Italian pumice is too expensive to use, but other materials have been found to exhibit pozzolanic activity.

    Much work has been done in the past to develop fly ash (residue of coal burning), silica fume (residue of silicon processing), and metakaolin (thermally processed kaolin clay) as pozzolanic additives. All three can enhance the properties of concrete, but all three add cost to the mix, and none has captured a large market share.

  49. paul says:
    Most decent softeners have a level adjustment. 

    I think my Fleck has that adjustment.  It has LOTS of settings.  I left the default settings in place.  Mostly.  

    It was set to recycle every seven days even if “that” amount of water wasn’t used.  To keep the resin clean.  I changed that to ten days. 

  50. drwilliams says:

    @paul

    “A water softener uses the salt to bind the limestone into an inert form that doesn’t make rings in your toilets and stop up faucet aerators and all the rest of the fun things like the water heater filling full of minerals.  Call it magic.”

    A water softener uses a material called an “ion exchange resin” to partially replace the calcium ions in hard water with sodium ions. When the resin gets saturated with calcium, the process is reversed by running tap water over a bed of salt and washing the resin with salt water. The high concentration of sodium ions in the salt water reverses the ion exchange, and the resulting wash water, which is much higher in calcium than your tap water, is flushed out as waste.

    The tan, brown, red, black colors in hard water deposits are the result of other ions in the water, such as iron and manganese.

    ADDED:
    If you take some of the wash water that you tasted and let it evaporate, you would get much hard water deposit than the original tap water.

    Eventually it ends up in the ocean and the marine life uses it to make shells. Which then die, sink to the bottom, form thick beds, get crushed, uplifted, and rainwater that is acidic from the carbonic acide leaches through and makes hard water again. In the year 2,225,000

  51. Lynn says:

    OK, I am freaked.  My wife is reading a Harry Turtledove book, Alpha and Omega.   She rarely reads SF (speculative fiction).

  52. Lynn says:

    “Biden’s $320M Gaza Pier Has Detached & Drifted Onto Israeli Beach”

       https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/bidens-320m-gaza-pier-has-detached-drifted-israeli-beach

    “A section of the $320 million floating pier built and erected off Gaza’s coast has broken off and floated onto an Israeli beach. The Saturday mishap is the latest setback for the US humanitarian aid project, after three US troops were reported injured aboard the pier two days prior, including one critically.”

    “The Times of Isreal’s military correspondent Emanuel Fabian has reported that “An American vessel used to unload humanitarian aid from ships into the Gaza Strip via a floating pier disconnected from a small boat tugging it this morning due to stormy seas, leading it to get stuck on the coast of Ashdod, eyewitnesses say.””

    Biden reminds me more and more of Jimmy Carter every day.  Reference the failed helicopter rescue of the Iranian hostages by the USA in 1979 ?

  53. Nightraker says:

    Slime free, no salt, water softener:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEaRFcB1vm8&t=5s

  54. paul says:

    Then again, I don’t think so.  The resin pellets can hold just so much before they need their salt bath.  

    The water up around P’ville and Wells Branch was horrible when I worked at the U-Tote-Em Truck Stop.  Flakes of minerals like glitter swirling in a glass of water.

    As for ice makers, they build junk now.  My Kenmore fridge didn’t come with an ice maker.  I added the kit.  $100.  Sears wanted $200.  It STILL works.  I bought that fridge in 1980 or 1981 and it was a lot of money to me at the time making $5.50 an hour.   On hard water from my well, too.  

    The Kenmore in the house, with the freezer on the bottom, is on the third ice maker.  I bought it in 9/2001.  New, yeah.

    I fix things.  I bought the Kenmore in the house because the other died.  “Deliver this floor model today!” and they did.  Happily.

    The old fridge had the defrost timer go bad.  After 20 years.   $15 part and a trip to Austin to fetch it.  It’s running great, still. 

    The new fridge had a thermostat that clips to the coil in the freezer go bad.  $20 part.  Figuring out that problem was an adventure.   Other than changing the ice maker every few years, no problems.

  55. paul says:

    @drwilliams  Like I said, magic!  🙂

  56. paul says:

    Time for potty walks with the dogs.  Although by the looks of Buddy, it’s going to be about an hour.

    He makes me laugh. 

  57. Lynn says:

    https://newatlas.com/materials/concrete-steel-recycle-cambridge-zero-carbon-cement/

    Nonsense.

    I haven’t read the Nature article, but I’m willing to risk my reputation. [cough, cough]

    You would not believe what people are using my software for.  One of the last ones is grinding up used aluminum, adding water, producing alumina and hydrogen.  The temperatures can hit almost 2,000 F if you control all air input.  If there is excess water then the process also produces steam.  That reverses a very expensive electrical process to produce aluminum from alumina.

    Several of my customers are wanting to produce methanol from various feedstocks and ship it to the Gulf Coast ports for ships to use as fuel instead of diesel.  

    Others are looking at replacing fluorocarbon refrigerants with mixtures of lithium-bromide (a salt) and methanol.

    The first world is crazy with the rush to replace cheap carbon with incredibly expensive exotic materials or hydrogen, an incredibly dangerous gas that is difficult to store.

    The second and third worlds are rushing to increase their carbon production.

  58. paul says:

    What about Hawaiian or anywhere else pumice for concrete?  

    I guess my question is “what makes pumice so special?”

  59. paul says:

    I hang out here.  I learn stuff.  

  60. drwilliams says:

    Descendant of Castillian New World invaders and member of Nicaraguan royalty condemns Hispanic Trump supporters as “Very Stupid”

    https://hotair.com/karen-townsend/2024/05/25/ana-navarro-blasts-latino-supporters-of-trump-as-very-stupid-n3789056

    Chupa-Bushee.

  61. Lynn says:

    “CIA Involved in Manufacturing of COVID Vaccines — Bombshell Report”

       https://www.infowars.com/posts/cia-involved-in-manufacturing-of-covid-vaccines-bombshell-report/

    And the crazy keeps on building.

  62. drwilliams says:

    @paul

    What about Hawaiian or anywhere else pumice for concrete?  

    I guess my question is “what makes pumice so special?”

    I don’t know of any cement production in Hawaii. There is no limestone, and no natural gas as needed to make cement. Shipping limestone in to make cement would make no sense, as shipping cement from a location with cheap energy would be less expensive. Likewise, shipping a natural pozzolan from Hawaii does not make economic sense.

    Pozzolanic materials have a small particle size. The chemical reactions are not well-understood, but the materials share an ability to accelerate conversion of calcium hydroxide (the weakest link in cement) into stronger and more water-resistant compounds.

    Concrete cures (not “dries”) as a variety of reactions that occur when water is added to Portland cement. There are four primary reactions, and each has it’s own rate (i.e., the speed that it progresses). Unlike the reactions that occur with two-part polymers such as epoxies and polyurethanes, cement reactions are relatively slow. The strength of concrete is typically measured at 7-days and considered “cured” at 28-days, but these are more handy benchmarks for construction applications than measures of reality. The concrete continues curing for months and years, as anyone who has had to demo an old concrete slab can testify.

    Portland cement, BTW, is named after a natural stone quarried on the Isle of Portland in England which has a similar color and was renowned for strength.

  63. Lynn says:

    I hang out here.  I learn stuff.  

    You ain’t the only one.

  64. drwilliams says:

    I hang out here.  I learn stuff.  

    “You ain’t the only one.”

    Count me in.

  65. drwilliams says:

    Denali National Park Superintendent Tells Construction Workers They Cannot Fly the US Flag: It ‘Detracts’

    https://redstate.com/jenniferoo/2024/05/26/denali-park-service-director-tells-construction-workers-they-cannot-fly-the-us-flag-it-detracts-n2174687

    If I were the contractor, my reply would have been simple:

    “I’m not familiar with any such restriction in the contract that my company signed with the National Park Service. 

    As a United States citizen, your assertion offends me. I’m not a lawyer, but I suspect it may be a violation of the  rights recognized by the U.S. Constitution.

    Nonetheless, if you issue an order to that effect on National Park Service letterhead as Superintendent of Denali National Park, we will comply. “

    If she were foolish enough to issue such an order, I would remove he flags, along with the trucks and the workers.

    I note that Alaska, like the other 49 states, has two U.S. Senators, but only one is quoted in the article. I’d like to see the other get off her precious backside and get on the record.

  66. Greg Norton says:

    The first world is crazy with the rush to replace cheap carbon with incredibly expensive exotic materials or hydrogen, an incredibly dangerous gas that is difficult to store.

    The second and third worlds are rushing to increase their carbon production.

    Patent royalties are at stake in the first world.

  67. drwilliams says:

    Cruz Flips the Script on Code Pink When They Try to Corner Him, Exposes What They’re Really About

    https://redstate.com/nick-arama/2024/05/26/cruz-takes-on-code-pink-n2174693

    Should have been:

    “So you stand in solidarity with Hamas? What the heck are you doing here? Why are you not in Gaza? Tell you what–I can help. I can get you transportation and have you there tomorrow. I’m sure I can pull a few favors and get you in with a UN  observer team. I’ll have my car take you home, you can pack a bag and grab your passport, and you can be on your way. What do you say? Maybe take some friends with you?”

  68. Greg Norton says:

    You would not believe what people are using my software for.  One of the last ones is grinding up used aluminum, adding water, producing alumina and hydrogen.  The temperatures can hit almost 2,000 F if you control all air input.  If there is excess water then the process also produces steam.  That reverses a very expensive electrical process to produce aluminum from alumina.

    Thermite with water providing the oxygen.

    What? To produce hydrogen?

    The Mythbusters are professionals. Kids, don’t try this at home.

    That reminds me – Adam Savage will be at Dallas Fan Expo in two weeks. He’s scheduled to talk the first night and then sign autographs – for a fee, of course – on Saturday and Sunday.

  69. Greg Norton says:

    As for ice makers, they build junk now.  My Kenmore fridge didn’t come with an ice maker.  I added the kit.  $100.  Sears wanted $200.  It STILL works.  I bought that fridge in 1980 or 1981 and it was a lot of money to me at the time making $5.50 an hour.   On hard water from my well, too.  

    I bought the replacement ice maker for $90 plus shipping from a third party place online selling Whirlpool parts.

    We are still using the Kenmore refrigerator we bought for $375 when we moved here broke in 2014 and didn’t know Texas rental houses omit that appliance.

  70. drwilliams says:

    “Patent royalties are at stake in the first world.”

    Any p!ssing contest that results is irrelevant.

    Half the world has no regard for patents.

    The other half has perverted the system to serve corporations run by leftist billionaires that want 90% of the people dead and the remainder eating bugs–except for them.

  71. Lynn says:

    Thermite with water providing the oxygen.

    What? To produce hydrogen?

    Yup.  Hydrogen is the new guzzoline.

  72. drwilliams says:

    @Lynn

    You software so I don’t have to:

    How much hydrogen do you get from a pound of aluminum?

  73. Lynn says:

    Thermite with water providing the oxygen.

    What? To produce hydrogen?

    Yup.  Hydrogen is the new guzzoline.

    The scary thing, is that people in the government want to spend trillions of dollars on hydrogen generation, storage, transportation, and usage without serious testing that this all will work.  This is all based on a paper written by a University of Texas PhD professor about 25 years ago.

    The conversion of gas turbines from 40% hydrogen (natural gas) to 100% hydrogen is not going well.  The metal ceramic combustion pots and blades are apparently not lasting very well.  They last 5 to 10 years using natural gas and depending on number of starts.  

    The propane storage tanks repurposed to low pressure hydrogen storage have not been tested yet for probable life.  I have not heard how the hydrogen house guy did with his repurposed tanks.  Texas alone needs 140,000 of the 40 foot long by six foot diameter propane tanks distributed around the state.

  74. drwilliams says:

    @Lynn

    They need to relocate the entire lives of the University of Texas PhD professor and his department.

    – Offices next to repurposed propane tanks.

    – Houses next to next to repurposed propane tanks.

    – Children’s schools next to repurposed propane tanks.

    – Parents and siblings  next to repurposed propane tanks.

    See how long it takes them to revisit that paper.

    Oh, yeah, almost forgot:

    “people in the government”? Relocate their lives, too.

    Just flat-out tired of pointy-hairs with no real-world experience that have no concept of safety and reliability trying to remake shiite that millions of people depend on so they can chase fame and fortune and CO2 emissions that will never matter a darn and just incidentally kill people along the way.

    One of the many reasons that Fauci needs to be investigated, charged, convicted, stripped of his fat pension and left to rot in a small cell is to make a horrible example of him.

  75. Nick Flandrey says:

    Headed to bed soon.  Played Mille Bourne for family game night.  I hate the game.  I don’t ever get to play, just keep drawing and flipping cards to the discard pile.

    ———

    Very sore after messing with the lawn tractor most of the day.   I did finally cut for about 10 minutes, but I don’t consider it “fixed.”   

    ——–

    Had to move on and do some other things.   Covered the chimney.   The liner tiles were shot, visible wide cracks in them.   We knew (I was pretty sure) the fireplace was shot.  It’s coming out anyway to increase the view of the lake, but nice to know I was right.

    ————

    removed the last of the furring strips that got wet, and the door jamb moulding.    And it was molding.   There was drywall under the paneling, but only around the door.   And it wasn’t dry anymore.    Water will wick up into the tiniest gaps.  I’m really glad I took the time to remove them as now it will dry and I can access it to spray.

    ————-

    Not going down for a tiny fire or any radio tonight.  I’m taking some tylenol and going to bed.

    ———-

    This summary will take the place of most of my post for tomorrow.    I could copy and paste it, but this will be cleaner.

    Enjoy the holiday, but remember the reason….

    n

  76. Lynn says:

    @Lynn

    You software so I don’t have to:

    How much hydrogen do you get from a pound of aluminum?

    Input at 77 F:

                            TOTAL     VAPOR    LIQUID 1  LIQUID 2   SOLID     TOTAL    VAP-LIQ2
    ID   COMPONENT NAME    LB/HR     LB/HR     LB/HR     LB/HR     LB/HR     MASS %    KVALUE
    ---- ---------------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
    1533 ALUMINUM          594.8514        0.        0.        0.  594.8514  74.87995        0.
    1536 ALUMINUM OXIDE          0.        0.        0.        0.        0.        0.        0.
     62 WATER             198.5852        0.        0.  198.5852        0.  24.99792        0.
      1 HYDROGEN                0.        0.        0.        0.        0.        0.        0.
     49 CARBON DIOXIDE   0.9702281        0.        0. 0.9702281        0. 0.1221324        0.
    ---- ---------------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
    TOTAL                  794.4068        0.        0.  199.5554  594.8514  100.0000

    Output at 3,625 F:

                            TOTAL     VAPOR    LIQUID 1  LIQUID 2   SOLID     TOTAL    VAP-LIQ2
    ID   COMPONENT NAME    LB/HR     LB/HR     LB/HR     LB/HR     LB/HR     MASS %    KVALUE
    ---- ---------------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
    1533 ALUMINUM          396.5676  155.7097  240.8579        0.        0.  49.92028        0.
    1536 ALUMINUM OXIDE    374.6426  3.694816  144.3704        0.  226.5774  47.16035        0.
     62 WATER                   0.        0.        0.        0.        0.        0.        0.
      1 HYDROGEN          22.22128  22.22083 0.0004449        0.        0.  2.797234        0.
     49 CARBON DIOXIDE   0.9702281 0.9702251 .3071E-05        0.        0. 0.1221332        0.
    ---- ---------------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
    TOTAL                  794.4017  182.5956  385.2287        0.  226.5774  100.0000

    Not much H2. But this reaction ran out of water.

  77. Greg Norton says:

    Not much H2. But this reaction ran out of water.

    That strikes me as having the potential to be very splody at large scale.

    As Dr. Pournelle used to point out, hydrogen wants to be free.

  78. ayjblog says:

    rediscovering the powder

    Generally scientists are not engineers, concepts of reliability, maintanability,  etc are 2nd derivative

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