08:36 – Heavy rain in the forecast, so we’re doing inside stuff today.
Colin made a break for it yesterday while Barbara was outside working in the yard. He was there one moment and gone the next. We went off walking around the neighborhood looking for him, Barbara in one direction and me in another. He was nowhere to be seen, so we returned to the house to make sure he hadn’t been accidentally shut into the basement or something. While we were there, I grabbed a pair of FRS/GMRS radios that were sitting on the charger in the kitchen. We used those to communicate as we continued the search, me on foot and Barbara driving around the neighborhood. They worked fine. I found Colin and got him on leash and walked him home. I stuck one of the radios in each of our vehicles when we got back. Colin got a stern talking to.
09:55 – Here’s an item of prepping gear that most people forget to buy: a bulk propane cannister adapter hose.
Most portable propane appliances–stoves, lanterns, and so on–are designed to accept disposable 1-pound propane cylinders. These adapter hoses let you run those appliances from a bulk 20-pound cannister. It’s not so much a matter of cost. A full 20-pound cannister costs only a bit less than 20 1-pound cylinders. But many people keep a propane cannister or two for their gas grills, while few people would want to store two or three dozen of the small cylinders. In a typical neighborhood, most of the stored propane will be in 20-pound cannisters. Also, if you know an emergency is imminent, it’s a lot easier to grab two or three extra cannisters at a Blue Rhino stall than to get the equivalent in cylinders at a Home Depot or Lowes. (Just remember that the cannisters at those exchange stalls are typically underfilled, to perhaps 15 or 16 pounds, and plan accordingly.)
Note that there are two types of adapter hoses, high- and low-pressure. The one you want is a high-pressure adapter hose, which has no regulator built in. Devices designed for cylinders have built-in regulators. The low-pressure adapter hoses with regulators are designed to be used with specific models of propane appliances that have no built-in regulators.
A 20-pound propane cannister contains a lot of heat energy. We have an old Coleman 5029 catalytic propane heater, since discontinued, that produces 3,000 BTUs and runs for eight hours on a one-pound cylinder. It’ll run continuously for about a week on a 20-pound cylinder. It’s safe to use indoors, as long as you keep a window cracked for ventilation, and 3,000 BTUs is sufficient to keep a small room reasonably warm even when it’s below zero outside. Similar catalytic propane heaters are available new on Amazon and elsewhere for under $100.
Around here, 1# bottles are between $4 and $6. I can get my 20# bottle refilled for $12. Even at Blue Rhino it’s only $18 per tank. That’s a pretty big difference! (I can usually pick up 1# bottles at estate sales for $1-2 and 20#ers for $20-25 if full. It pays to keep an eye open.)
You can also get a refill adapter at wal*mart to refill your 1# bottles from the bigger bottle. There are lots of videos on youtube of the process.
Glad you got Collin back. It’s one of my nightmares that the dog runs into the street at the wrong time.
nick
The 1# cylinders were not designed to be refilled. Propane is potentially dangerous. I would not refill them.
Rick in Portland
The issue with the 1# cylinders is the valve, which was designed to be disposable. That doesn’t mean these bottles can’t be refilled and used safely. When you refill one, you simply put a little water around the valve to see if it’s leaking. If not, you’re fine (although I wouldn’t store them indoors). I have a refill adapter, but I wouldn’t use it except in an emergency.
The trick to refilling and getting more than half a pound into the cylinder is to freeze the 1# cylinder and heat the 20# cannister. Doing that, you can get nearly a full pound into the cylinder.
@rick
Acknowledged, but then, most things in this life come with risks attached, and most are potentially dangerous.
The 3 most dangerous things you do without even considering the risks are move around in your own house (slip and fall), drive (accidents), and visit a Dr (medical malpractice).
I’m not saying we shouldn’t consider risk vs reward, or take steps to minimize risk, or point out potential risks, but most people have a very skewed appreciation of risk.
In this case, refilling the bottle that fits on your camp stove so you can boil drinking water, to half its capacity and checking for a proper seal on the valve, is way less risky than water borne disease.
Of course, having the proper bulk adapter hose obviates the need, which is where being properly prepared comes in.
nick
Options, alternatives, and backups!
The ol’ intellectual dimmer switch is stuck on low …
http://www.gocomics.com/overthehedge/2015/04/19
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/waiting-list-for-legal-immigrants-surges-to-4.4-million/article/2563279
Come one, come all, ye surging masses yearning to…what? breathe free? raid the land of the Big PX? for love? Who cares? Cue up Frank Zappa and the Mothers with “American Drinks and Goes Home.”
“An ex-KGB officer, Igor Panarin, has apparently argued in a recent monograph that the United States will soon split up, as the Soviet Union did twenty years ago. That spontaneous disintegration of the Stalinist Empire was the best fate that could have overcome the superannuated Bolshevik experiment and its subject peoples. In one of history’s ironies, the European nation-states began their march into lock-step rule by apparatchiks at exactly the moment when their old enemy ceased to exist. The United States, too, under Bush I and Bush II and now Obama, has embraced a new doctrine of centripetal authoritarianism and coercive ideological reconstruction. The much-to-be-hoped-for failures both of the European Community and the socialist-in-fact-but-not-by-name Democrat-Party regime in the United States, followed by the genuine re-federalization of Europe and North America, might be the most providential turn of events as the world lurches stupidly into its Twenty-First Century “Globalist” delusions.”
http://www.brusselsjournal.com/node/3851
Some of us have our doubts as to how “providential” this century will be here.
Mrs. OFD hit 60 today; we had a lunch for her in town with Princess, Grandma, one aunt and one cousin. All panned out well with a few laffs, and mostly decent grub. Cousin’s son is graduating both college and Army ROTC this year and will be assigned to the Transportation org in the Army, with his first posting to Fort Lee, VA. I remember when this guy was a little toddler chasing Princess around when she was also a not much older toddler.
The aunt, his mom, and his grandma, allow as to how his superior officer told him he’ll learn a good set of skillz to take back into civvie life, unlike those other dopes in Infantry, Armor and Artillery, ferinstance. And his mom thinks he might even make a career of it.
I said nothing, but merely listened politely. Later, Mrs. OFD said she could sense my Bullshit Detector going off pretty good. I told her the kid will likely change his mind a bit once they ship his ass over to do “transportation” shit in the Sandbox and/or the Suck, like moving tanks and trucks around, or the Army’s new self-propelled artillery toyz. Under fire. While driving past buried IEDs. You know, shit like that. While the heat and sand work on him and…not least…incompetent, murderous field-grade officers.
I just wish all these damn kids would read some history and a little fiction here and there before getting sucked into Moloch’s bloody jaws every generation.
@Lynn, better get ready looks like what is over me will be sweeping you soon. The main E-W system is trending south, having just crossed 10. Take a look at weatherunderground.com
From Houston EMgmt
“Storm spotters are reporting quarter and tennis-ball-sized hail with this storm. ”
I’ve got typical Tstorms, not too high wind, and no hail yet.
nick
Yup, I was over at a friend’s Bible study and we broke it up when the wind started blowing.
You keep that hail over in your section of H-town, you hear! We don’t want any of that nonsense here tonight.
“…I was over at a friend’s Bible study and we broke it up when the wind started blowing.”
O ye of little faith!
I’m slowly working my way through the two-volume Norton Critical Edition English Bible; man, the notes and footnotes alone would equal one additional volume in regular typeface. But for my standard Bible reading it’s the 1611 KJV; I merely put up with the modern translations of the Catholic Bibles and missals for the regular church services.
We’re expecting some wind and rain tomorrow night here but probably nothing like what you poor souls are suffering with in the Great Lone Star State.
Et fides, fortitudo
Well, we escaped pretty much unscathed at mi casa. The Wundermap shows all the exciting stuff past us.
Had the SDR and another scanner running to monitor the local constabulary. Heard about the giant hail early enough to get the stuff under cover. Heard about some local flooding. Good practice I guess.
Need to get some sleep tonight!
nick
On a totally different subject: did you know that Google will be changing the search ranking displays for mobile searches? If your site is not responsive, then your ranking will get demoted.
Here’s the page to test any site : https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/ .
And, sorry to say, your site didn’t pass. If you are concerned.
Since you have a WP site, getting ‘responsive’ will require a theme change. My latest favorite is “Mantra”, which I use for many of my sites and Dr. Pournelle’s Chaos Manor and Chaos Manor Reviews site. That theme is fairly easy to customize.
Again, if you are concerned. (As one of the fellow ‘DayNoters” — although I don’t post as much as I used to — I can help out if needed.)
Rick Hellewell (nice day today on the Olympic Peninsula)
“But for my standard Bible reading it’s the 1611 KJV; I merely put up with the modern translations of the Catholic Bibles and missals for the regular church services.”
My favourite is the New Scofield Reference Bible, published in about 1968 and given to me in 1974. It’s basically KJV with some of the words modernised. I got a NIV version of the same in about 1990 but never got used to it.
It’s basically KJV with some of the words modernised.
That’s kind of what they did with the New Revised Standard. There are words on KJV that have changed meaning since it was written, English being such a flexible mutt of a language. Look at the words that have changed meaning in the last 30 years or so, e.g. gay.
I’ve an interesting book about the authors of the KJV, God’s Secretaries: The Making of the King James Bible that has biographical info on the authors, and some info on how they did their work. It fully explains the religious and political imperatives that caused James I to have the translation done.
That’s a pretty good book; I read it a while back.
The KJV and 1928 BCP is what I grew up with and I’m very comfortable with the language.
I find modern translations bland, treacly and boring. And the PC versions are even worse. Catholics are given the Revised Standard Version and modern translations in the Missal and liturgy, which, along with the music of the past fifty years, suck. We’re fortunate to have a good music program at our local parish and the Latin Rite, with a knowledgeable and conservative/traditionalist priest.
YMMV.
Thanks, but I don’t think I’ll worry about it.
The new mobile site rankings from Google are a nuisance for small companies. If you want to really optimize, you need a completely separate, parallel web site. Having only one really good site is already hard enough for little companies.
ech wrote:
“Look at the words that have changed meaning in the last 30 years or so, e.g. gay.”
Heh, I had some Scottish friends surnamed Gay who ran Gay’s Shoe Shop. They resented the extra meaning their name had acquired.
Which reminds me of 40 years or so ago when I was with a British friend, who disappeared on me. When he returned, I asked him where he’d been. His response gave me momentary pause: “In the gents, sucking on a fag.”
Well, since the subject of the Bible has been brought up, I’ll add my 2-cents and hope you all find it informative.
I too am a fan of the 1611 King James (and 1928 Book of Common Prayer), probably because it was the first Bible I was exposed to (back when the Episcopal Church still believed in the Bible). Even though our Assistant Pastor taught us the 1611 King James, he also exposed us to other interpretations and encouraged us to read and discuss them. He also taught us history from a number of ancient and modern books. That made Bible Study very interesting. And yes, I was an Acolyte and member of the Order of Saint Vincent.
I use an App called YouVersion (https://www.youversion.com/). It is free and does not spam you. However it will remind you if you set up a reading plan and miss a few days. It has many versions and translations available and is adding more all the time. This App is available on all platforms. Far easier and more discreet than carrying around a “book” all the time.
The new mobile site rankings from Google are a nuisance for small companies. If you want to really optimize, you need a completely separate, parallel web site. Having only one really good site is already hard enough for little companies.
True, very true. I note that several businesses seem to be creating m.your_domain.com versions of their websites and automatically moving your phone to them. I have no idea what the tablets do.
My favorite Bible used to be the NIV but I have moved on to the NRSV. I was reading out of The Message last night which does not even have verse numbers besides its hipster prose.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Revised_Standard_Version
Our Kindle Fire defaults to the mobile version of any site that has one.
Our Kindle Fire defaults to the mobile version of any site that has one.
I figured as much. I really need to get a tablet, if not just for the experience.
BTW, the Mariott Riverwalk hotel that I was staying in last week was charging $13/day for wifi. Unreal for a $279/night hotel (and that was the conference rate). My wife still uses an old cellphone, not a new smartphone. She checks her email on my netbook that I still carry occasionally. I need to move her to a smartphone.
The Kindle Fire HD 7 is on sale for $79.00 until the end of today 4/20/2015 (that is $60.00 off) http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IKPYKWG/ref=fs_fas
I have no idea what the tablets do.
iPad also defaults to the mobile version and it is most annoying. Some site provide no method to get to the full site and you are stuck with a crappy site on your tablet designed for a phone.
charging $13/day for wifi
Probably slow WIFI. One of the biggest complaints at our annual convention is the lack of WIFI. The students just have to have their WIFI. If the venue does not provide WIFI the attendees can pay their own. Some do and then try to put it on an expense report. We deny the expense. Others have data plans.
It is amazing to me that teenagers and young adults are so attached to their devices. They are constantly texting, walking without looking. Had one approaching me and I stopped. They ran into me and yelled at me for not getting out of the way. I yelled back and told them to look where they were going as I was not moving.
Our current exchange student’s iPhone must be charged three times a day on a weekend because the device is constantly in use.
One of my pals had his significant other sew an iPad sized pouch in his jacket so he could easily take it everywhere. I take it to uni (in my backpack) and that’s almost all. I get barked at by my sister if I take it to her place – makes me anti-social she says. I charge mine once a week normally.
I pre-emptively growl at them when they’re about four feet away. Most often they’ll stop dead, which is good enough because I can treat them as physically and mentally inert objects.
“I too am a fan of the 1611 King James (and 1928 Book of Common Prayer), probably because it was the first Bible I was exposed to (back when the Episcopal Church still believed in the Bible). Even though our Assistant Pastor taught us the 1611 King James, he also exposed us to other interpretations and encouraged us to read and discuss them. He also taught us history from a number of ancient and modern books. That made Bible Study very interesting. And yes, I was an Acolyte and member of the Order of Saint Vincent.
Yep, that’s how I was raised, and yep, back when ECUSA was still relatively squared-away on Bible, BCP, liturgy and ordinations. My rector for a while was also very up to date on the scholarship and had been to England for a study sabbatical with the late Bishop John A.T. Robinson on the dating of the New Testament, and when he got back he did a class with us on it. Very cool. I, too, was an acolyte and member of the Episcopal Youth Fellowship as a kid, and later I was a Sunday school teacher and verger. Converted to Roman Catholic on Easter of 1996, but I’d long been Anglo-Catholic anyway.
On the phones; I see peeps, mostly the youngsters, on them constantly, in vehicles, standing on the side of the road, in stores, etc. Gonna be a shock if and when the Grid fizzes out and there ain’t no juice for that no mo.
Gonna be a shock if and when the Grid fizzes out and there ain’t no juice for that no mo.
If the grid fizzles (and I doubt that it will), the things that I will miss the most is air conditioning and microwaves. And gasoline pumps.