Cool and damp.
Today is the two year anniversary of the passing of Robert Bruce Thompson. It seems incredible to me that two years have passed both because it doesn’t seem that long, and because that means I’ve done more than 700 blog posts (wordpress says 756 of 3157).
When some men die, it’s as if a library burned, and that is certainly true for Bob. I thought to ask him a chemistry question just a couple of days ago. His books and kits go a way toward filling the gap, but the gap remains.
I’m enormously grateful for all the people who visit and comment here and help keep the place a living legacy. My sincere thanks for hanging around. It is the commentors and exchanges in the comments that make this place what it is. And I couldn’t do it without Rick’s help and support.
So please, take a moment, raise a glass to absent friends. Remember those who have gone before us, and those left behind.
nick
So please, take a moment, raise a glass to absent friends. Remember those who have gone before us, and those left behind.
Also, if you think you have something going wrong, see a doctor, even if it means spending an hour listening to a Prog.
Med school diploma from overseas, especially the Subcontinent? Unhappy with the diagnosis? Get a second opinion even if it means paying cash … while you can.
Those of you dependent on the VA — this President seems determined to do something there before leaving office. Take advantage of the situation as best as the bureaucracy will allow.
Most of the regulars here are active enough that someone, often less able, depends on them remaining so in the long term.
Fair winds and following seas.
RIP Dr. Bob. One of a kind.
Hi Mr. DadCooks.
When some men die, it’s as if a library burned, and that is certainly true for Bob.
Dr. Pournelle as well. I would love to be able to hear his take on the Starliner failure, and I’m sure he would have plenty to say about 737MAX as well.
RIP, Bob. That this site remains vital is a tribute to you.
And, hi to @DadCooks, too. Thanks for checking in. In the spirit of Greg’s advice, we should make sure friends are OK.
I certainly miss Bob. I rarely, if ever, commented while he was alive. I think I’m a reasonably smart person, but he was always impressive.
Jerry too. I’m sure we all have an idea what his opinion would be regarding MBAs overriding Engineers.
Meanwhile the wheel turns…
Keep your eyes on Virginia today.
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/come-and-take-it-massive-virginia-gun-rights-rally-kicks-richmond
The bottom of the page linked has a live feed from one of the streets.
n
Fairly reasonable coverage-
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7907885/Crowds-line-guns-Richmond-gun-rally.html
They mention that the KKK was started by the Dems for one thing.
Lot’s of prosperity on display in the photos. Some of those folks are carrying a sh!tton of expensive gear, and it’s not just the protesters carrying extra gear. Man we’re a fat nation. I’m sure a couple of years of guerrilla warfare will solve that for both sides.
As we descend into third world conditions, we’ll all be ‘skinnies’.
n
@Mark, I read Bob’s posts for years without ever reading the comments. Most mainstream blogs, the comments are incredibly stupid anyway, so I didn’t even look. Thank God I eventually did. The comments are the biggest part of this site.
n
And in other news,
Flu kills more people than ebola…. just sayin’
n
RIP, RBT.
Another thing I’ve noticed about the pics coming out of Virginia- look at the protest signs. This is a crowd full of HANDMADE signs, where they have them at all. MOST of the protesters don’t even have signs (although carrying rifles says more than any sign.)
Contrast with any of the astroturfed soros rallies, filled with crowds carrying pre-printed signs, many if not most, with URLs to the sponsoring commie/prog/socialist orgs funding them.
Also, no one in the media says a word when the lefty rallies are filled with disparate groups, many just trotting out the lines they use at ANY rally, ie. they’re just there for their own cause. Let this rally encompass a bunch of different groups and it’s ‘guilty by association.’
n
Over The Hedge: trimming toenails
https://www.gocomics.com/overthehedge/2020/01/20
You know, trimming toenails is something that I never thought about when wanting to own a …
Fairly reasonable coverage-
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7907885/Crowds-line-guns-Richmond-gun-rally.html
“Protester Brandon Lewis, who traveled from Buffalo, New York, proudly carrying a Barrett M82 rifle which can be used by the military to shoot down planes at Monday’s rally. The recoil-operated, semi-automatic anti-materiel sniper system is used in the military and was also a favorite weapon of the IRA. He said he brought such a large weapon ‘because he can'”
Ok, I am impressed.
These people are serious. They will not allow their guns and / or ammo to be seized.
“Registered Democrat Dave (left) – a former Marine and pro gun advocate – and his friend Phil (right) at the rally. They declined to give their full names”
How can you be a dumbocrat and supporter of the second amendment now ? Not him specifically as he later says in the article that he feels betrayed. Just the regular run of the mill dumbocrat.
And some days the repuglicans are not much better.
In the tradition of RBT, the wife and I are dropping DirecTV and moving solely to Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, Disney+, and over the air. That $148/month for DirecTV is just not being useful to us anymore. The wife binged Arrow on Netflix all weekend, coming to bed at 3am last night as she is loving the old DC comic that I never read. I binged Daybreak on Netflix (don’t, just don’t, Matthew Broderick is not worth it) and Wolfblood on Amazon Prime. The daughter is living on Hulu and Disney+. I suspect that 99.999% is available on a streaming service somewhere, except for “Light Of Day” with Michael J. Fox and Joan Jett, which I cannot find except for a poor and jumpy vcr tape rendition on Youtube.
I am just trying to get up the guts for the hour long phone call to DirecTV where they treat me like a prisoner with alternating good cop and bad cop (the retention department).
BTW, AT&T knows that DirecTV is dying and is starting a new conglomeration server over the intertubes. I predict failure due to high prices and the failure to support Roku devices.
https://www.cordcuttersnews.com/att-tv-now-has-improved-their-dvr-changed-their-channel-lineup-more-heres-our-2020-guide-to-att-tv-now/
Easy. “I’m moving.”
Add a lie if you wish “I’ll call when I get the new house set up.”
Ten minutes max.
Don’t forget to cancel auto pay.
RIP RBT (and JEP)
Thanks again to Nick and Rick and everyone else for keeping this place going.
@Nick I read most blogs on Feedly, for convenience and comment-avoidance. This site and Jerry’s were (are) always open tabs in my browser. The drive-by comment a couple of weeks ago reminded me why I avoid most sites’ comments.
Don’t forget to cancel auto pay.
I don’t auto pay anything except for my EZ Tag and that is via credit card when they reload it. I do not allow any auto pays from one of our checking accounts except the commercial mortgage as they gave me a 0.25% lower interest rate for the auto pay on the 15th of each month.
And any auto pays would die now as we got our credit card cloned over the weekend. Supposedly there is new one coming in the mail.
I binged Daybreak on Netflix (don’t, just don’t, Matthew Broderick is not worth it)
Matthew Broderick has been phoning it in for decades. The last decent film work he did was “Election” … geesh, 20 years ago.
Friends who saw “The Producers” on Broadway said that he was excellent, but that excellence sure didn’t make it into the film version or much else he’s done on screen lately. I’ll give him the bit part on”30 Rock”, but that was nearly a decade ago as well.
Sitting at the dentist, waiting to have my fangs cleaned. 🙂 Kids and wife are ahead of me. Nor my favorite thing.
N
I suspect that 99.999% is available on a streaming service somewhere, except for “Light Of Day” with Michael J. Fox and Joan Jett, which I cannot find except for a poor and jumpy vcr tape rendition on Youtube.
DVDs are around, but streaming of 80s TriStar material is limited since the rights are split between three different studios now — Sony/Columbia, Warner Bros/HBO., and Viacom/CBS.
Go back 30 years, and CocaCola owned Columbia Pictures, HBO was an arms-length subsidiary of Time-Warner, and CBS was just a TV/radio network.
Open Road Tolling (well, no tollbooth operators at least), email on the beach, and movies on demand were the stuff of AT&T’s early 90s “You Will” commercials, back when the Death Star still owned NCR, had a decent market cap, and Bernie Ebbers was a former basketball coach in Mississippi shilling long distance prepaid cards out of the trunk of his car.
“Elon Musk: Starship Will Fly for 20-30 Years, Aiming for Fleet of 1,000”
https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/305021-elon-musk-starship-will-last-20-30-years-aiming-for-fleet-of-1000
“The goal, according to the tweets is to have a fleet of about 1,000 Starships in service. Musk believes the company will eventually be able to produce 100 vessels per year, and each hull should be good for 20-30 years of service. With that many ships, SpaceX would be able to transport up to 100 megatons of cargo to Mars every year. That’s the equivalent of 100,000 passengers.”
Wow, now that is a goal.
I’ll give this one to Plugs. The Dems have to maintain the fiction about Robert Francis as long as they can as part of their Texas strategy in 2020.
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/leahbarkoukis/2020/01/17/biden-appears-to-believe-beto-is-latino-n2559679
The website is slow today …
Wow, now that is a goal.
He’s the Real Life Tony Stark (TM)!
Sales figures are out there, but Tesla’s profit/loss numbers for 4Q have yet to see the light of day. Plus more vehicle self immolations made front page news this weekend, clear cracks in the united media front that protects Musk.
Also, I’ll bet that NASA either finds something went wrong in this weekend’s Dragon escape system test -or- they simply clear Boeing to fly the Starliner first despite the software issues that marred their first flight attempt to the International Space Station.
As for lying to DirecTV, what do you call it when you are paying the monthly “equipment warranty” or whatever they call it and when they do replace your noisy tuner/dvr box you have your 2 year contract renewed?
Ah. I’m sure it was in the fine print on the tablet screen you sign on. But actually telling you? Nope.
As for AutoPay, the electric company hits the checking account. Never a problem. Other auto things hit credit cards. Cash back, ya know? The ISP, cell phone, insurance. And Roku.
I have a buffer there. If one screws it totally up, I can tell Discover to bite me if they won’t fix the problem. And my checking account isn’t drained.
So it’s not my ISP.
RIP RBT. Missed. (and others as well.)
As for lying to DirecTV, what do you call it when you are paying the monthly “equipment warranty” or whatever they call it and when they do replace your noisy tuner/dvr box you have your 2 year contract renewed?
I have been running on the same Genie DVR box for six years now. Works well for satellite downloads. Streaming sucks on it.
I have not signed or agreed to a new contract in that six years. I did move seven years ago but did not agree to a new contract then.
Sales figures are out there, but Tesla’s profit/loss numbers for 4Q have yet to see the light of day. Plus more vehicle self immolations made front page news this weekend, clear cracks in the united media front that protects Musk.
“Pleasanton: Tesla driver killed after Model S hits wall, catches fire”
https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/01/19/pleasanton-tesla-driver-killed-after-slamming-into-cement-wall/
One car accidents are usually driving way too fast or drunk. Or both. In either case, hitting a wall at high speed in any vehicle is to be avoided.
Somewhere I saw that the Tesla accident rate is about 1/3rd of the typical automobile accident rate. At some point, the automobile insurance industry is going to take notice of that.
Frontier? I’m shocked. Shocked!
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2020/01/frontier-an-isp-in-29-states-plans-to-file-for-bankruptcy/
SNET (Connecticut) was my original pole climbing strike assignment at the Death Star 10 years ago. That is possibly the worst copper infrastructure in the country since everything is overhead, literally on telephone poles, and vulnerable to ice storms.
I need a new vacuum cleaner. It appears that Panasonic no longer makes vacuum cleaners. Does anyone like their upright vacuum with the throwaway bags ?
I have one of the filthy dyson balls and it’s gross. One of the smaller battery ones too. Also filthy and stinky.
Look at Oreck, especially in the secondary market. I saw a woman buy one at the thrift store yesterday. That one is headed for ebay for sure.
n
I need a new vacuum cleaner. It appears that Panasonic no longer makes vacuum cleaners. Does anyone like their upright vacuum with the throwaway bags ?
I have a Hoover Made-in-USA WindTunnel which uses throwaway bags that I just paid a mint to have rebuilt because the new ones don’t work as well.
If it dies again, we’ll bite the bullet and go with a Miele as other friends with pets have recommended.
Dyson essentially owns the under-$500 consumer market. Whirlpool gave up on Hoover when they acquired it as part of Maytag, and I believe the Dirt Devil parent company runs Hoover currently. The Hoover commercial line may still be made here, but assembly of everything else went to China or Mexico.
As much as it pains me to say it as a Berkshire stockholder, don’t let a Kirby salesman into your house under any circumstances.
[snip] How can you be a dumbocrat and supporter of the second amendment now ? [snip]
Joe Lieberman is an Orthodox Jew who votes for gun control. As I’ve posted before, I want an assault rifle because Anne Frank didn’t have one. Maybe Joe’s not read a history book.
need a new vacuum cleaner. It appears that Panasonic no longer makes vacuum cleaners. Does anyone like their upright vacuum with the throwaway bags ?
I have a Hoover Made-in-USA WindTunnel which uses throwaway bags that I just paid a mint to have rebuilt because the new ones don’t work as well.
Hey, that Hoover Windtunnel bagged upright looks good. Has tools and a 30 ft cord. The prevailing complaint seems to be that it is now all plastic and light. That sounds like our Panasonic UG571.
https://www.amazon.com/Hoover-WindTunnel-Upright-Cleaner-UH30600/dp/B0055SNR2A/?tag=ttgnet-20
I am bothered by the fact that it is not rated at least 4 stars, just 3.8 stars. That may be a killer.
I forgot to mention that I have to have tools. I use the vacuum to clean my home pc, etc.
Frontier: I’m surprised it took so long. I used to work with their wholesale people. Good people but they work in an impossible environment.
Consider getting a Roomba or one of the other brands. The ones that map your house are awesome. You can select your cleaning zones and what rooms you want vacuumed on a given day. Advantage is that the machines can get under furniture such as beds and living room tables. They do a remarkable cleaning job.
I just upgraded an old PC at the church that is used for the screen graphics. It was running Window 7 and ya’ll know support is ending. I could not take the chance of having a reminder from W7 popping up on the screen during services. The primary video output (which is HDMI) is what is used for the graphics. The control screen runs on the VGA output. Booting the machine all output is on the HDMI output so I suspect the BIOS considers the HDMI the main output and knows nothing about the VGA. HDMI is easier to convert to SDI than the VGA output.
Anyway, the conversion trundled for a couple of hours and seemed to work. Both displays were properly detected. I did have to tell W10 to not display the tool bar on all displays and assign the primary output to the VGA output. Thus a clean blue screen for the graphics display.
The presentation software balked and required a new activation code. The company that made the software no longer exists but I was able to find the new company that produces the software. They provided me with a new activation code and all was good for that software.
I also use some software on that machine to control the sanctuary projectors. That machine is on the same network as the projectors, a private network with no guest access. It had to futz around and configure some driver software to run as administrator as W10 was now complaining.
Licensing is good for the machine, W10 PRO as the machine had W7 PRO. No need to get a new activation key so the free upgrade to W10 from W7 is apparently still working.
I have also acquired a ROKU for $30.00 that does 4K. There is an app for Xfinity (Comcast) that can be installed. The app is still in Beta but generally mimics what the TV adapters provide. Some stuff is more difficult as there is no numeric keypad on the ROKU device. According to Comcast I can eliminate the TV box ($5.00 a month) and use ROKU instead. I have not made the jump as there is some chatter about Comcast charging $7.95 a month for using ROKU. Currently the cost is $0.00.
I do fail to understand the ROKU pricing. $29.95 for the SD/HD device. $29.95 for the SD/HD/4K device. Bought mine at Walmart. They tried to charge $39.95, the old price. I showed the cashier the $29.99 on the Walmart website. Cashier stated that was for a store in Kansas and they don’t price match other Walmart stores not in the area. I then brought up their store as the store in the app and guess what? Yep, $29.95.
Shark vacuums are well thought of, but do not have bags AFAIK. Mine suits my cat fur infested place.
I have not made the jump as there is some chatter about Comcast charging $7.95 a month for using ROKU. Currently the cost is $0.00.
What ? Are they going to detect you using a Roku and charge you ? I just don’t see that working very well.
BTW, I am paying Comcast $30/month plus taxes at the new used house for 30/2 mbps. After we get moved in I am going to turn it up to 175/10 mbps for $70/month.
I killed off the DirecTV at the old house. It only took me 30 minutes. The lady I was talking to did not have a clue so no bad cop, no good cop, just clueless cop. I am hoping that she did not kill off my AT&T DSL line also, she said that she did not. I will kill that off after we move. I forgot that AT&T DSL line does bill my credit card each month.
You have to activate the device on Xfinity before you can use the app on the ROKU.
I am hoping that Comcast does as they do for modems. Bring your own device and no charge. Using the ROKU Xfinity app does not count against the 1TB download limit. Currently the app is still in beta status. Will have to see what the final app is like and if there is a charge. If no charge I will eliminate all three set top boxes and save $15.00 a month (plus tax).
Be aware of an item on recurring charges. Even if you get a new card with a new number recurring charges will still be applied and put on the new card. Cancelling a card completely is the only way to block recurring charges and even then it can be a struggle with some issuers.
Well, it looks like 20K+ gun owners came together, and none of their guns shot anyone.
I’m glad, beyond words, that this didn’t turn into a buffalo jump, or staged tragedy.
n
Our readers in the UK might want to check out this guy on youtube, if you like to eat, and might be near a coastal area if TEOTWAWKI happens….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yH5JbzaNrw
He forages and cooks on the beach. And it looks YUMMY.
Reminds me of my trip to Plymoth and Cape Cod- there was food everywhere if you know where to look.
n
What ? Are they going to detect you using a Roku and charge you ? I just don’t see that working very well.
You have to activate the device on Xfinity before you can use the app on the ROKU.
Gotcha. We do not have any of the Comast / Xfinity devices at the new used house. So we will not be using the Xfinity app on the Roku’s.
BTW, we bought these Roku Ultra’s for $69 each for the three TVs in the house. They really work well. At first I thought that the remote was a joke, now I love it’s simplicity.
https://www.amazon.com/Roku-Streaming-Player-Premium-Headphones/dp/B07WVF9SL5/?tag=ttgnet-20
I would like to find a full blown keyboard for the Roku though. And a mouse. Typing in searches in Netflix and Amazon is a pain in the butt.
Well, it looks like 20K+ gun owners came together, and none of their guns shot anyone.
I’m glad, beyond words, that this didn’t turn into a buffalo jump, or staged tragedy.
It looks like the bad actors chose to stay away. Because, there were a LOT of guns.
https://apnews.com/2c997c92fa7acd394f7cbb89882d9b5b
And the gun rally was not just Virginians. The guy carrying the Barrett .50 was from New York State which surprised me.
“John Cusack: ‘We Have 10 to 12 Years’ to Save the Planet from Climate, Capitalism”
https://news.grabien.com/story-john-cusack-we-have-10-12-years-save-planet-climate-capitali
A multi-millionaire (estimated net worth of $50 million) complaining about billionaires and millionaires.
One gets the feeling that he does not understand what capitalism is even though he practices it extensively (selling his image).
Hat tip to:
http://drudgereport.com/
Well, it looks like 20K+ gun owners came together, and none of their guns shot anyone.
I’m glad, beyond words, that this didn’t turn into a buffalo jump, or staged tragedy.
From what I understand, the Virginia recall process gets the courts involved once there are enough signatures on a recall petition. So far, the Governor has not done anything truly wrong which would move a judge to set a new election.
A multi-millionaire (estimated new worth of $50 million) complaining about billionaires and millionaires.
Didn’t Bernie get a multi-million dollar lake house on the cheap (gratis?) in return for keeping his mouth shut about what really happened in 2016?
The Dems won’t win with one of the wheezebags. Plugs would bring some fire to the debates, but he’d still lose.
Shark vacuums are well thought of, but do not have bags AFAIK. Mine suits my cat fur infested place.
I have a Shark for our stairs and light duty. The dust collection cup does get full quickly, but I empty it after each use.
We pay $50/month for 100/100 google fiber. Beginning February 1st, we will be at 500/500 for 55/month. These prices won’t last, as our local utility company is scheduled to take over the serve in about 3 years. I do have Comcast and the Death Star available as well (Hawk, spit.)
Airwaves are alive tonight.
Cuba and Tennessee booming in on shortwave.
40 and 20M are silent though
n
My wife cooks, I do the heavy cleaning. Her back is weak, and mine is strong. 🙂 I doubt the following old stuff will help, except in general, but it was fun to write.
All of my newer upright vacuums are bagless. I have two old Hoovers that have bags: one disposable and the other cloth, vintage 1945. That last one has been in the family since new. I have a Shark Navigator, the original model, a Hoover Wind Tunnel with dual brush rolls, and a five year old Hoover Costco cheapie I paid $70 for. Yeah, I have trouble throwing things away.
My $0.02 on uprights. Disposable bags are convenient, but finding them for older vacs can be a pain. Some are expensive. Even more convenient are bagless, but I need to explain. We switched to bagless when I had trouble finding bags for two old vacs that still worked fine. Yes, bagless can be dirty, but I never run out of bags.
The Hoover with the dual counterrotating brush rolls is a beast; nothing cleans our deep pile carpet as well. Really noisy. Its dirt canister and filters are easy to manage, and it holds a lot. It is heavy and awkward. Needs but does not have propulsion. No longer made. Lots of plastic, but durable so far.
Then I bought the original Shark Navigator many years ago on the recommendation of a relative. It is a bit heavy, but navigates (!) extremely well. It seems flimsy, but has lasted. It is the perfect vac for small rooms and tight spaces. Doesn’t clean carpets as well as the Hoover.
The new Hoover cheapie is, well, cheap. Oh, and it cleans second best. Fairly easy to maneuver. Noisy. It would be a champ if it were better made.
The oldest Hoover looks like the still-made Sanitaire commercial. It could be converted to disposable bags, I think. It is easy to maneuver in spite of its weight. Cleans well. I keep it for sentimental reasons. Have threatened to put it back into service.
The last one is a Hoover Dial-A-Matic. Don’t like it. ‘Nuff said.
None of these would please many people. No matter, most are no longer made. But… some cleaning principles. An upright needs lots of airflow and agitation, NOT high sealed suction. The old ones had single stage fans and beaters that made them work well, especially on thin, dense carpets. Later, the desire to add attachments forced the makers to go to dual stage fans so there could be that impressive sealed suction. They do well with their attachments; the old ones with their low suction do not. But, IMHO, never use attachments with an upright except in an emergency. Most (I’m looking at you, Shark) are cumbersome and a joke. Get a good small canister. I have a Eureka C that is about the size of a football. Or, even better, a Hoover Brush Vac. I think these are still available. They have a brush roll, and are great for stairs and spot deep cleaning. Don’t get the Royal (Dirt Devil?) look alike. I used one once, and it was weak.
Final thought. My sister-in-law had a vac I have never seen before, and probably isn’t made any more. It looked like a small shop vac with a hose and power head. I know, these two piece things are an abomination: they are the most cumbersome design. But, hers wasn’t. If I could make room for yet another vac, I might try one. Seems the best of both worlds. Note that I used an old Electrolux two piece that I didn’t like because of its clumsiness. Go figure.
If I have learned anything, it is to actually TRY different vacs. I have been surprised. Logic doesn’t seem to apply.
Oh, and the Panasonic, if it was like the one I saw, is a great vac. Light, maneuverable, durable, and the attachments actually work. Exception.
Not everywhere. I have Frontier, and everything is underground. It was originally put in by Contel, then neglected by GTE, then Verizon, now Frontier.
No ice here, but critters that chew. And, occasional corrosion. Reliability is mediocre.
We like to say that Verizon had money but didn’t care about its customers. Frontier seems to care, but has no money. Now in spades.
I am hoping for either Google Point to Point Wireless (a long shot) or Airborne Wireless (a slightly shorter shot) or Starlink, looks possible. Hoping. One never knows with Elon.
Not everywhere. I have Frontier, and everything is underground. It was originally put in by Contel, then neglected by GTE, then Verizon, now Frontier.
Frontier is the old, unprofitable GTE territories and, from what I understand, managers who Verizon didn’t want. The only pieces of GTE that Bell Atlantic really wanted were the long distance and UUNet.
I was at GTE through the initial buyout (merger of “equals” it was not) led by … Bill Barr! … along with Chuck Lee and Ivan Seidenberg. Unlike my friends, I escaped before my pension was cashed out to help fund Syniverse.
SNET was a later addition to Frontier after AT&T decided they didn’t want the grief following a prolonged contract negotiation with the union during CP09. The company quickly broke the rest of CWA in 2009-10, as I’ve written about in this space before.
Ah, vacuums. As a building manager I became more than experienced with ’em. I speculate that it was the last awkwardly shaped item for residents moving out and therefore frequently abandoned. I’d change the belt, clean ’em out and use ’em till they crapped out again. Gifted ’em to 1st time apartment dwellers who were doing without. Mostly Dirt Devils, low end Hoovers and Eureka uprights.
Still ended up with an embarrassing selection of 2 now unused Kirbys (with paint stirring, among other attachments!), a hospital quiet Danish model that I had to special order bags, 2 or 3 Eureka mini canisters left over from a foreclosure management contract and half a dozen Ridgid shop vacs of various capacities.
The Shark “Professional Rotator” is the only one getting regular use. Heavy for a mostly plastic machine, fairly maneuverable and effective enough on pet hair infused carpet. It does have on board tools that I rarely use which probably says more about my cleaning standards. Converts to a lug-gable canister if you insist. Rinsing out the gallon-ish dust container occasionally keeps it looking new.