Weather here is variable. Could be nice, could be a cold front later today.
I put today’s update in the comments last night.
Work progresses.
I’ll be doing a round trip to Houston today, weather permitting.
I would like to get at least some basic long term food up here asap. Makes me nervous not having it close to hand.
On another front, radio reception is awesome. Shortwave is strong and plentiful. Ham bands were alive last night. I can’t wait to get a radio up here and spin the dial.
Work on your own escape plan. Stack some things.
n
HMart, Ranch99, and Kinokuniya, the big Japanese bookstore. Plus a bunch of other businesses, mostly restaurants, spread across two plazas at the corner. The movie theater complex is in between.
I bored the kids with a return trip to the National Videogame Museum during daylight hours so we endured Kinokuniya for them.
Something is wrong with a lot of kids into the anime/manga scene. Even the Japanese publishers are not happy with what some of the companies here do with the versions which are for sale in the US. Lots of weirdness in the store last night, and everyone was in masks except us.
Funimation, a Sony division, located somewhere around here, has an agenda with the anime translations. If you are a parent, you want to pay attention, especially when they do presentations at cons on subjects like bullying.
BTW, I noticed that the only new car dealer with plenty of product available around here is the Chevy lot right on the freeway. Lots of trucks from GM Arlington.
Something is wrong with a lot of kids into the anime/manga scene. Even the Japanese publishers are not happy with what some of the companies here do with the versions which are for sale in the US. Lots of weirdness in the store last night, and everyone was in masks except us.
I was in Japan during the Swine Flu epidemic back in the 1990s. My agent and I got on the subway in Tokyo that was about 125% full. We were about the only people not wearing masks.
The next day, we took a train to the lower coast to one of the refineries. There was hardly anyone wearing a mask on the train that was about 50% full.
"What's that smoky smell? Houstonians report acrid fumes as fires burn in Central Texas"
https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/What-s-that-smell-Houstonians-report-smell-of-17011228.php
Texas is on fire due to the central Texas drought. Again.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/taxes/the-irs-has-delivered-more-than-45-million-tax-refunds-this-is-the-average-payment/ar-AAVf4Gy?ocid=msedgntp
$3353 is the average refund? Yikes.
The level of theft and corruption concerning taxes is amazing. Not only how much we are taxed, but the gyrations we are put through to pay them.
"NTSB: 13-year-old drove pickup in Texas crash that killed 9"
https://www.chron.com/news/article/9-dead-in-crash-involving-U-of-the-Southwest-17008020.php
Something is really wrong here. And the pickup had the spare tire on a front wheel which apparently blew out.
I have a bad feeling that no one was wearing a seatbelt in either of the two vehicles. I've been in a head on crash where both vehicles were running 70 mph in Navasota, Texas. Our seatbelts saved our lives. I had my right leg broken in two places from the front seat collapsing on it (I had my leg under the front seat). My middle brother had a vein torn loose in his stomach from the seatbelt being across his chest. And my glasses flew off my face, hit the inside of the windshield, and shattered.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/taxes/the-irs-has-delivered-more-than-45-million-tax-refunds-this-is-the-average-payment/ar-AAVf4Gy?ocid=msedgntp
$3353 is the average refund? Yikes.
The level of theft and corruption concerning taxes is amazing. Not only how much we are taxed, but the gyrations we are put through to pay them.
We should have a federal flat tax of 10%. 10% tax on every dollar you make. People and companies both. No deductions, no depreciation.
"Why $100 Oil Is Different This Time Around"
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/why-100-oil-different-time-220000276.html
"The writing is on the wall for Big Oil. While the industry is enjoying an unexpected windfall, it may very well be the last. The case of Houston real estate underlines this fact. The boost in oil prices no longer inspires optimism and a growth mentality. Instead, companies are adopting a “wait and see” approach, which seems to be the only safe option in an era of uncertainty."
I am seeing no interest in new oil facilities and such. People know that this is very short termed, the minute the Russian – Ukraine war is over, the oil prices will drop in half.
I've mentioned before that Milo Yiannopoulos registered for a furry con and they freaked out that a conservative Christian might attend. And didn't someone here post a link to a story about a pre-teen bullied by internet "friends" into TG? IIRC there were aspects of anime and of course private groups on big-tech sites.
"The End Of 3G and What It Means For Your Vehicle (New Info)"
https://www.carprousa.com/blog/the-end-of-3g-and-what-it-means-for-your-vehicle
"The beginning of the end of 3G is officially underway. Later this month, T-Mobile becomes the next major U.S. wireless carrier to shut down a 3G network, as it retires Sprint's 3G network by March 31st. (T-Mobile merged with Sprint in 2020 and T-Mobile will retire its own 3G network in July.) AT&T was the first to retire its 3G network on February 22."
Even my 2019 F-150 uses 3G apparently.
My Subie got a software update for whatever is replacing their Starlink service. It is supposed to be transparent to me. No more 3G in Subies.
“Texas is on fire due to the central Texas drought. Again”.
Yes. The Oak Mott fire, that one at the intersection of Brown and Comanche counties, is just north of us a few miles. My dad just called and told me to walk outside every little while and watch, just in case. May, Texas, about 20 miles northwest of us, has been evacuated. Most of Gorman, near De Leon, has been evacuated. The little town of Carbon, near Gorman, was evacuated yesterday, and has burnt completely to the ground.
https://www.fireweatheravalanche.org/fire/state/texas
Here’s a link with more detail on the areas involved in our part of Texas:
https://www.the-sun.com/news/4926038/what-is-happening-with-wildfires-in-texas/
"Forbes Fires Journalist Who Revealed Fauci's Finances"
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/forbes-fires-journalist-who-revealed-faucis-finances
“The first piece I published in 2021 broke national news that Dr. Fauci was the most highly compensated federal employee and even out-earned the president, four-star generals, and 4.3 million colleagues. That piece alone has 900,000+ views.”
Well, that shows that Forces now does not have a backbone. Every supervisor / manager in the federal, state, and local governments should have their finances displayed on a publicly available website.
And Fauci should not be paid more than the President.
And speaking of the weasel, he is squealing again, "Voice of doom Dr Fauci warns US could face MORE COVID lockdowns as he admits latest variant set to hit US is less serious than Omicron: 'We can't just say we're done'".
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10625773/Fauci-warns-America-face-COVID-lockdowns-cases-tick-again.html
Lockdown ! Lockdown ! Lockdown !
Hat tip to:
https://www.drudgereport.com/
My trade-in "Trash Can" Mac was accepted. $650 back on the card.
My trade-in "Trash Can" Mac was accepted. $650 back on the card.
And the employee immediately walked it to the dumpster behind the store.
How old was that Mac ?
About 10 years old. It will probably end up in a Trash Can Mac Server farm like Macminicolo. They also do/did Trash Cans. You'd send in your Mac and they set it up as your server.
"Making the dream of climate-neutral air travel come true"
https://www.compressortech2.com/news/Making-the-dream-of-climate-neutral-air-travel-come-true/8018983.article
Pull some CO2 out the air, add some hydrogen, compress, and run across a special catalyst to create kerosene. Note that they do not mention the cost of the e-kerosene. Probably in the range of $10 to $100 per gallon as those catalysts are exotic metals.
"A 'conservative' approach to Texas grid operations is raising costs for consumers: ERCOT market monitor"
https://www.utilitydive.com/news/a-conservative-approach-to-texas-grid-operations-is-raising-costs-for-con/620312/
"The expanded use of reliability unit commitments to ensure sufficient reserves is distorting wholesale markets in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, say observers."
Reliability costs money, real money. We are short dispatchable power plants in Texas since so many coal units have been retired in the last ten years. Coal, natural gas, and fuel oil units are dispatchable. Wind and solar are not dispatchable. Hydro is kinda dispatchable unless there is no water above the the turbines or the water is getting ready to go over the dam.
Dispatchable means I jump on the phone and scream that I need 100 MW right now to the power plant operator. If I call at 10pm to a solar farm, not gonna happen. If I call to a wind farm and they ain't got no wind, not gonna happen. If I call to a natural gas power plant and they ain't got no natural gas or diesel, ain't gonna happen. The same with coal.
Fauci is done after the midterms. If he doesn't retire, once Rand Paul takes back the gavel in the Senate's Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, "The Science" will live in the hot seat.
Why not invent a gas engine that takes CO2 our of the air for use in combustion – so it only uses the CO2?
Would that make it 'carbon neutral'?
You know how to get the royalty checks to me …I’ll be waiting …
Home for a brief time.
Picked up all the auction items for the BOL.
@Denis, without traffic, it is 2:15 door to door. If I drove like the other people today, I could shave 15 off that. Normal traffic issues, 2:30 is realistic. The first hour is just getting out of Houston to Conroe.
@pecancorner, lesson learned from my buddy in Cali wrt wildfires- have your bags packed. You can always unpack, and the sheriff might be banging on the door…. also, the only think he regretted leaving behind (due to not thinking) was the old family Bible. His house ended up fine, but he didn't know for 3 days.
Need to update some auction bids and head back out. Truck is packed and dinner will be waiting.
n
Automated iOS app regression testing services require real Macs. The development tools, including the iOS device emulator, only run on Mac OS.
Why not invent a gas engine that takes CO2 our of the air for use in combustion – so it only uses the CO2?
Would that make it 'carbon neutral'?
You know how to get the royalty checks to me …I’ll be waiting …
You forgot the hydrogen tank. Your car could look like the Hindenberg some day.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgWHbpMVQ1U
"Ukraine war disrupts GPS in Finland, Mediterranean"
https://www.spacedaily.com/afp/220318133436.0o7anps9.html
"GPS interferences have intensified in places as far away as Finland, the Mediterranean and Iraq since Russia invaded Ukraine, forcing aircraft to reroute or change destination, according to European aviation authorities."
"Disruptions to Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), which include GPS, are caused by the "jamming" or "spoofing" of satellite signals."
"Since the war erupted on February 24, "jamming and/or possible spoofing has intensified in geographical areas surrounding the conflict zone and other areas," the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) said in an online bulletin Thursday."
I am shocked, shocked I tell you. The Russians are treating this like an actual war.
Hat tip to:
https://www.drudgereport.com/
Expansion of the personal exemption under Trump while simultaneously capping the SALT deduction at $10,000 expanded the number of households in low tax states like TX and FL receiving Federal refunds where they previously paid.
The Dems haven't been able to deliver removal of the SALT deduction without reducing the personal exemption as promised to their voters in the high tax states like CA and NY since the cost to the Treasury would be in the tens of billions of dollars annually.
Disclaimer Our household now receives a refund where we paid before despite no significant change in our income.
I was thinking of an 'air filter' that would filter out everything but CO2. The CO2 would then be combined with the gasoline to power the engine. ©
But I am not a physicist. Although I know one. Don't even know if it is theoretically possible.
But I will still expect the royalties.
I was thinking of an 'air filter' that would filter out everything but CO2. The CO2 would then be combined with the gasoline to power the engine. ©
But I am not a physicist. Although I know one. Don't even know if it is theoretically possible.
But I will still expect the royalties.
No such dry air filter. But, there is a wet air filter that will do the job. Using a slightly toxic 60% water, 35% methyldiethanolamine, and 5% piperazine mixture, that will pull some of the CO2 out of the air. The processing system will weigh 400 to 800 pounds and require around 20 kw of electricity (SWAG) for the pump and compressor.
And the system was patented decades ago so no royalties.
Oh Hunter, say it isn't true ! "Lawyer for mother of Hunter Biden’s child says he expects president’s son to be indicted"
https://nypost.com/2022/03/17/lawyer-for-mother-of-hunter-bidens-child-lunden-roberts-says-he-expects-presidents-son-to-be-indicted/
"Lancaster said Roberts, the 31-year-old mother of Hunter Biden’s young daughter, handed over “a significant amount of Hunter’s financial records” to federal prosecutors after being subpoenaed last month."
Hunter's daughter is really cute. Don't worry little girl, your granddaddy will pardon your daddy from those nasty IRS people.
I would advocate that a flat 10% tax on any money spent. That would encourage savings and would catch everyone, especially those that have a lot of cash in the bank.
And in other news. Currently in the AirBnB in Valley Mills, TX. Weird staying in someone else's house while they are gone. Normally the rest of the family would be here which might be even weirder. Nice place for an antique, built in 1875. Lots of creaky floors. Some would call it quaint; I call it annoying. Strange hallways and openings, stairs.
There are animals in the house, no dogs or cats, but a lizard in one bedroom and a couple of doves in the bedroom in which we are staying. Strange. Owner says to explore, pet the animals, pick berries, make ourselves at home. Did I mention it is weird?
Valley Mills is a small town, population 1,302 according to the sign. Not much going on but very quiet where we are staying.
Regardless, here for two nights.
I forget if you are going through Dallas for a night. We had another excellent dinner at Bellini's Italian Cafe tonight.
Keeping Hunter out of an orange suit was why Biden ran.
Hunter will be pardoned … unless “The Big Guy” is implicated.
Arrived safely. Kinda scary on dark country roads. On the freeway lots of us were doing 10 mph under the limit. Dark two lane roads and everyone wants to go 10 over. And pass.
I'm off to and early bed.
N
No, our path home will skip Dallas. Leaving here on Sunday for Memphis. Wife wants to visit Graceland.
No, our path home will skip Dallas. Leaving here on Sunday for Memphis. Wife wants to visit Graceland.
Dude, you rock !
air:
21% oxygen, O2->CO2 +energy
0.04% carbon dioxide, CO2->???
Just needs a few trillion $US in development and the combined wishful thinking of a billion Green Weinies.
I'd favor a system that concentrates pure carbon and densifies it to diamond, spitting little sparkling rabbit raisins into the ditches. After a few years the albedo of the earth would increase and we would cool off into the Snowball Earth part of the cycle where we should be.Then we could start mining the diamonds and burning them in high-tech pellet stoves.
The Second Law of Thermodynamics is only advisory, you know.
>> Dispatchable means I jump on the phone and scream that I need 100 MW right now to the power plant operator. If I call at 10pm to a solar farm, not gonna happen. If I call to a wind farm and they ain't got no wind, not gonna happen. If I call to a natural gas power plant and they ain't got no natural gas or diesel, ain't gonna happen. The same with coal.
How about the guy with the flock of hamsters and the big wheel?
"SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches record 12th mission, lands on ship at sea"
https://www.space.com/spacex-starlink-launch-falcon-9-12th-flight
"SpaceX has set a new standard for rocket reusability."
Freaking amazing. Dr. Pournelle would be so proud.