Supposed to be beautiful. Pretty nice yesterday, so more of that would be welcome. It’s getting down to the mid to upper 60s at night which lets the tomatoes set fruit. Which they are doing. And it’s getting into the 90s by late afternoon. As long as the rain holds off, I’m happy.
Yesterday was a series of unfortunate incidents.
D2’s orthodontist appointment wasn’t. Got there, the door was locked. Receptionist came out and told us we were 2 weeks early. Bummer.
Dropped kid at school, headed to Costco. No Charmin blue. Some red, limit one bulk pack. Plenty of Kirkland, some Scott. No purchase for me, I decided I really don’t like those and I’ve got blue stacked. I’m just out at the house after restocking the bathroom cabinets. I did get one more black bin, and several “weatherproof” bins. We’ll see about that claim. Didn’t buy anything perishable as I was out of time to meet the teacher and do my volunteer driving. They had spiral sliced ham in stock for the first time in ages. $2/lb.
Met the teacher, picked up the truck, drove to the place, and hit a parked car. Ripped off the front end. I caught the bumper with mine while making a right turn. Lots of time spent on that I didn’t expect to spend. Eventually got loaded up and delivered to school.
Headed to one of my delayed auction pickups. Missed them by 1 hour.
Dropped my shipping at the PO, hit the bins on my way home. Scored a great vacuum for resale, realized I’d left my wallet on my desk at some point while talking to insurance agents. Paid cash, dropped the items at my storage, headed home.
Neighbor’s Night Out was in full swing at the end of the street but by the time I got unloaded, refreshed, and headed that way, most of the couples with young kids were headed home and all the real food was gone. Ate bean dip and cake. Best part of the whole day.
I did have a chance to chat with the neighbor who hunts and has a freezer full of meat. I’m giving him some of the pecan tree we cut down, and I expect he’ll trade me some meat in return. That was good. And after 6 years I finally got a solid indication of his politics, which are conservative. I was pretty sure, but for some reason the younger neighbors are all really tight lipped about politics. That generation must have learned to keep their opinions to themselves like the Soviets.
All this is a long and probably not that interesting way of saying “Things are NOT normal for me.” My life usually coasts along. Things go my way. I find what I need when I need it. I flow around problems like water in a stream flows around rocks. And while I was able to cope with everything today, it was definitely not the way my life usually works. So when I read a headline like “China says WW3 can break out any minute” on a day like yesterday, I really really mean it when I say “I hope WW3 doesn’t break out while I’m in Florida.”
In fact, I’d like it to not break out at all, but war IS the usual path out of the situation the world and the US are in, and it looks more likely every day.
At the risk of repeating myself, figure out what you need, and get it. STACK IT. HIDE IT. Be ready to defend it. And if the bad thing doesn’t happen, we can rejoice later. Bad things have a way of happening though.
So at the risk of repeating myself*, stack it high.
n
* 😉
62F, damp. Very damp.
It appears that TWC ruled in my favor regarding my termination from the last job not having been "for cause".
One year ago today.
Maybe I won by default, but I was completely truthful about what happened since I was under oath and the company has a transcript and audio recording of the incident in Teams. The tribunal could have easily decided that I violated policy and let the decision stand in favor of the company.
Somehow missed this. Guess that's why traffic on the south side was messed up.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10063719/Houston-high-schooler-captures-aftermath-mass-shooting-bloodstained-floor-broken-glass.html
25yo former student with 'mental issues.'
Shot the Principal, no one else. Guy will recover.
n
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/10/explosive-video-emerges-fauci-hhs-officials-plotting-new-avian-flu-virus-enforce-universal-flu-vaccination-video/
Just… wow. Even if they are just 'blue skying' they are so accurate as to be clairvoyant. And I don't believe they are that good.
It's easier to invent the future, than to predict it.
n
From yesterday…
What is going on is politics. There is, as with all pipelines, some risk of failure. Gov. Witmer has promised to revoke a permit issued to allow the pipeline to cross into Michigan underwater. I think she sees this as a "no lose" gambit. If she loses her bid to block it locally, she still kept her promise. If she wins, she kept her promise. If it goes federal (as it has with Canada invoking the treaty), then either she wins at that level, keeping her promise, or loses, still keeping her promise but now making it the fault of the federal government if anything goes wrong with the pipeline. Politically, she doesn't see any of this noise as a loss for her. There are some economic losses locally if the pipeline closes but that appears to be insignificant in her calculations. (That might change if there was a cold winter with energy shortages – heh, if she won, but then needed the energy, I would be amongst those tempted to say "let those Michigan b*****ds freeze", but the cutoff has serious consequences for central Canada).
If she wins, about 50% of energy supplies (well liquid petroleum supplies) to Ontario and Quebec will be cut off, so I have unkind thoughts regarding Gov. Witmer.
(I should mention that this is all in the context of another pipeline from Canada failing a few years ago, causing quite the mess, and is the reason there is political support for closing Line 5. I think her end game is to lose, but pass the buck for any problems to the federal government. It is not a partisan thing, as Witmer and Biden are both Democrats. It is a federal vs. state thing – you know, how politics in the USA used to be in the good old days.)
A lot of people have legitimate medical reasons that they can't receive the traditional egg cultured flu shot, myself included. That is obviously frustrating to Fauci and company, who *run a bio weapons lab*.
Johnson and Johnson uses another novel technique, adenovirus, which is used in animals for the rabies vaccine but is another tech which regulators were reluctant to approve for humans.
The EUAs probably cut about seven years of testing on both techniques, but the problem is that the politics of mandates will totally eliminate any control group that would exist under normal circumstances.
AIDS has an (expensive) treatment regime and clearly understood transmission vaccines. A vaccine does not need to be rushed to market.
Rabies has an even longer history of successful treatment in humans. Painful, but not nearly as risky as a poorly tested vaccine.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/people-are-developing-diabetes-after-covid-19-it-might-be-because-the-virus-messing-with-insulin-producing-cells-new-research-suggests/ar-AAPc7qO?ocid=msedgntp
This isn't the first mention I've seen mentioning a possible link between Covid and T1D. Definitive? Obviously not. I do not, however, believe it's just a coincidence.
It is taking all my restraint to not make a blanket statement about what should happen to every single person responsible for this mess.
From the WSJ article “Science Clses in…”
They wouldn't bother to label it a conspiracy theory if it weren't true enough to damage them.
xkcd: Comet Visitor
https://xkcd.com/2524/
Nah, we don't need to clean up the place since Comet C/2014 UN271 is coming for a visit in 2031. Have you seen the asteroid belt ? It is a total mess.
Explained at:
https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/2524:_Comet_Visitor
All this is a long and probably not that interesting way of saying “Things are NOT normal for me.” My life usually coasts along. Things go my way. I find what I need when I need it. I flow around problems like water in a stream flows around rocks. And while I was able to cope with everything today, it was definitely not the way my life usually works. So when I read a headline like “China says WW3 can break out any minute” on a day like yesterday, I really really mean it when I say “I hope WW3 doesn’t break out while I’m in Florida.”
Have a good time and keep your rental car full of gas at all times so you can bug out if needful.
Well, the old-fashioned managers are struggling mightily, trying to put the genie back into the bottle. We have now been informed that a certificate is required to get into the school building. And since everyone has a certificate, we are going to go back to full in-person teaching, everywhere, for every class. Of course, our school leadership being what it is, we – the teachers – have to be the police and check the students' certificates before every class. Other colleges manage to check students when they enter the building, and give them a bracelet for the day, problem solved. Our school is apparently incapable of doing the same.
Anyway, going back to full in-person instructions? Obviously, some classes are better in person, particularly those in the first semester. However, after nearly two years of mostly online instruction, we have found that many courses are as good – and sometimes better – when offered online.
This does not suit the school administration, not at all. But realistically, there's no going back to the way things were. If they try, well, there are plenty of other schools students can go to. It will be…interesting…to see how things develop over the next few months.
Pearls Before Swine: Leadership Skills Test
https://www.gocomics.com/pearlsbeforeswine/2021/10/05
Uh oh, I had the same answer as Pig.
Chances are that WW3 isn't going to break out.
That said, we had a battery problem with our rental Mazda CX-5 in March, and, evidently, it is an issue with that model.
Something to keep in mind if you end up with the same vehicle as a rental in Orlando. We always fly through Tampa since the security is much more sane at the former AirTran “Spanx” gates now owned by Southwest.
Hey Nick, have you come up with any ideas for a Halloween display this year? I enjoy hearing about them.
And, remember, Goodings is gone along with everything else in Crossroads. If you need a supermarket find the Publix at the outlets nearby — it should be just across the new overpass from the “world’s largest” White Castle. Target is also there … if you insist.
"Windows 11 Needs a Windows 10 Mode"
https://www.pcmag.com/opinions/windows-11-needs-a-windows-10-mode
"Microsoft is betting the farm on its Windows 11 redesign. An interface option would have been a better idea."
"Windows 11 is here. As with every previous mega-update to the desktop operating system of record over the years, the new interface has been met with dissent. It’s no surprise that Twitter is full of outrage over the redesign—and, it must be admitted, some praise, too. The record will show that I’ve never been a hater of new Windows features. I even found things to like in the disastrous Windows 8 release. I was an avid Cortana user, at least while she could still do useful things like shut down the PC or control music."
"But a significant difference is that, at least with Windows 8, Microsoft was creating something original and new. I know that software and all other forms of art borrow from others’ recent work, but the Windows 11 interface design is nearly a clone of Chrome OS rather than anything original. Don’t interpret that to mean that Windows 11 is a complete rip-off—Microsoft’s desktop OS has far more capabilities and even some slickness not found in Google’s OS."
If I ever finish my new office PC build, I am thinking about running Windows 11 Pro on it.
"Three More Companies Join Evergrande – Unable to Meet Debt Obligations – Total Debt of Nearly Half a Trillion USD Facing Solvency Issues in China"
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/10/three-companies-join-evergrande-unable-meet-debt-obligations-far-debt-nearly-half-trillion-usd-facing-solvency-issues-china/
Could China go to war with Taiwan just to hide its increasing bad debt ?
Probably a good idea if you kill time during late night builds at the office streaming "Picard".
I still believe that the studios streaming services are behind the TPM 2.0 dependency. Within a year, I'm guessing that Paramount+ and HBO Max will only support Windows 11 streaming on a PC.
Of course, all bets are off if, as I expect, Apple finally makes a play for Warner Media.
We have had about 7 or 8 short power outages at the office so far this week. Two more of my UPSes have died. I am starting to do a slow burn.
@Lynn
Start prepping for longer ones.
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2021/10/06/chinese-and-indian-climate-policy-power-crisis-worsens/
China and India bidding up the price of fossil fuels. Prime opportunity for FJB to make another mess.
Naps are a good thing…just ask Uncle Joe.
What other reason do they have?
Going back to my experience with my in-laws again, part of the soft tyranny of Number One Son is having a Number Two Son for him to boss around and make do the garbage work like the actual labor involved in taking care of the oldsters.
Number Two Son should not be better off financially than Number One Son, lest Number Two get ideas of … stay with me, Larry .. independence.
When "Captain EO" opened at EPCOT in the 80s, I remember coverage of the event on local TV showing Michael Jackson in attendance wearing a mask, and most people found it strange. Who would wear a mask to Disney World except someone who was totally nuts?
Of course, living near the parks, you would hear about Jackson visiting "incognito" dressed in a nurse's uniform, complete with cap, white shoes … and mask. We figured it was normal for him.
Fast forward nearly four decades, and some people want to turn us all into Michael Jackson.
I am wavering between putting W10 or W11 on the PC that I will be assembling before the end of the month. I have described it before. It will be a fast system. If it is anything like my son's system, W1* will install in under 45 seconds using a USB 3.0 thumb drive, boot time is under 5 seconds.
I have downloaded both onto a thumb drive. I don't have a key for W11 but suspect the key for W10 will work just fine.
@Greg , I don't get a rental car this time, we're doing the last round of the magical express. Not thrilled with that but my sibling will be there and has a vehicle. My mom might have her vehicle there too.
For a while we were unable to do the magical express because I was securing a firearm and they handle the luggage but they have stopped handling the luggage and you have to take care of your own . Which means it doesn't leave my control other than when it's with the airline.
Sibling is also providing the groceries so I don't even have to worry about that other than giving a list .
Scrambling today to get all my errands done now.
N
@Lynn
Start prepping for longer ones.
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2021/10/06/chinese-and-indian-climate-policy-power-crisis-worsens/
China and India bidding up the price of fossil fuels. Prime opportunity for FJB to make another mess.
The USA, specifically Texas, will have plenty of power, except in extreme weather events above 100 F or below 25 F. Texas is rich in all fossil fuels: coal, natural gas, and crude oil. Over half of Texas crude and natural gas is exported to other states, Mexico, and Europe.
None of the Asian countries have very large coal mines. Most of their coal is imported from Australia, Indonesia, or the USA (now that is a long barge ride).
All of the Asian crude oil reservoirs (there is only one super giant in China) are running out of oil. None of the countries have much natural gas. Japan has been importing LNG from Anchorage in the USA since 1972.
ADD: The real question is what will the prices of the fossil fuels be ? According to my Dad, natural gas is headed to $9/mmbtu in January. Coal is $3/mmbtu but BNSF (Warren Buffet) will surely raise that price. Crude oil is headed to $100/bbl according to the traders but their target date was last May.
That's a non-starter for me. I just can't see myself being sexually interested in little boys.
@Lynn
Start prepping for longer ones.
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2021/10/06/chinese-and-indian-climate-policy-power-crisis-worsens/
China and India bidding up the price of fossil fuels. Prime opportunity for FJB to make another mess.
Hey, I did not know that Russia is now exporting electricity to China ! That must be some really long transmission lines. And Russia is 220 volt and 50 hz like Europe. So is China.
>> Two more of my UPSes have died. I am starting to do a slow burn.
@lynn, died as in the battery won't charge or some issue with the UPS internals?
If it's the former I think you have to consider those SLA batteries to be consumables. Unfortunately not the best item to stock spares of as they also age sitting in your supply room.
BNSF doesn't run east of the Mississippi. They don't handle the coal out of WVa headed to the east coast.
When we lived in WA State, the BNSF coal trains out of Wyoming ran day and night, from ~ 2012 until we left in 2014, to Portland and a new specialty terminal in Kalama, WA to load barges bound for China.
As I wrote the other day, if you want to be assured of not losing power to your business, relocate the office to Kiewit Plaza in Omaha.
A major freeze in Texas this winter similar to February will result in outages.
>> I am wavering between putting W10 or W11 on the PC that I will be assembling before the end of the month.
Exact same dilemma here – do I 'waste' time tweaking W10 to my liking only to have to redo things when I get to W11 or just jump into the deep end? Depends on how cold the W11 pool water is right now I guess…
>> Two more of my UPSes have died. I am starting to do a slow burn.
@lynn, died as in the battery won't charge or some issue with the UPS internals?
If it's the former I think you have to consider those SLA batteries to be consumables. Unfortunately not the best item to stock spares of as they also age sitting in your supply room.
A UPS that I put in service in 2018 is refusing to provide power to my internet modems and LAN for more than ten seconds. It is a 1,000 VA Cyberpower UPS with a load of 100 watts at most.
But, those UPS units are also surge protectors. I suspect that the big hits that we have taken this year is killing my UPSes. The Texas Freeze was up and down for days at a time. So, what appears to be battery failure could be electrical failure instead. Hard to know. I have replaced UPS batteries before, I won't do that again as it is a crap shot.
BNSF doesn't run east of the Mississippi. They don't handle the coal out of WVa headed to the east coast.
When we lived in WA State, the BNSF coal trains out of Wyoming ran day and night, from ~ 2012 until we left in 2014, to Portland and a new specialty terminal in Kalama, WA to load barges bound for China.
As I wrote the other day, if you want to be assured of not losing power to your business, relocate the office to Kiewit Plaza in Omaha.
BNSF runs a dozen coal trains from Wyoming to Texas every day. Some days it is two dozen trains.
>> I am wavering between putting W10 or W11 on the PC that I will be assembling before the end of the month.
Exact same dilemma here – do I 'waste' time tweaking W10 to my liking only to have to redo things when I get to W11 or just jump into the deep end? Depends on how cold the W11 pool water is right now I guess…
W11 brings new code developed with Intel for the new CPUs that have Big/Little cores. The UI "improvements" are not that much and for me there are one or two issues that will mean I will delay. The trigger of Task Manager from the Taskbar is not a righy-click away and , more importantly, you can't put the taskbar vertical on the left side of the screen. Both the win and browser taskbars are vertical on the left in my current win10 and make better use of widescreen monitor real estate.
Lynn, here's a suggestion that will be a massive pain in the Garland* but might save you money: if you have several of each model UPS which is failing, at least one of them working properly, swap the battery from the good UPS into a failing UPS and see if the problem is the battery or the electronics.
* In order to keep this site family-friendly-ish, I'm falling back to my old policy of using the names of scumbag politicians instead of swear words.
Taking the RV to Spring Lake RV park located near Crossville for a week starting this Sunday. Nice place. Have been there before. Will also go see Little House on the Prairie performed by the Cumberland County Playhouse. Have seen several plays there and all were excellent. Music Man, Beauty and the Beast, Oklahoma, South Pacific, The Odd Couple, Sound of Music to name a few.
Appointment with the VA audiology clinic tomorrow to have the hearing aids adjusted. The right one is not performing properly or my hearing has gotten worse. If the hearing has gotten worse I will schedule with the VA for another hearing exam to get my rating increased.
@stevef:
I sometimes use deliberate archaisms, such as "fundament" for a**. Or else "splat out" the offending word.
G.
I'm surprised about the Magical Express ending for arrivals. The I-drive property owners are throwing a snit fit about the Brightline route along 417 and the city/county cater to them.
It will be four years easily before the first train pulls into the station at Disney Springs. More if the I-drive landlords get their way.
Though, I don’t see Brightline to Tampa much less Tampa Airport happening in my lifetime because of the property owners there. Seriously connected people own the redevelopment rights to land around Tampa’s Amtrak station.
I never paid much attention to MJ, but I do pay attention to Razorfist and in his usual calm, nuanced fashion, he's a staunch defender of MJ against all the accusations. (For the sarcasm challenged, Razorfist is calm and nuanced like SteveF is soft, harmless, and cuddly.)
Razorfist being the opposite of family friendly. For those who don't know him, he's a gamer, metal musician and commentator on Youtube, lives in Arizona, and may hate John McCain even more than I do. His rants are epic.
Additional:
It seems that MS took too little time in final testing. There are issues they are addressing as we speak. One of them is with AMD CPUs.
https://www.thurrott.com/windows/windows-11/257678/windows-11-review-fresh-familiar-incomplete
https://www.neowin.net/news/amd-processors-hit-by-performance-issues-on-windows-11-patch-on-the-way/
I would give them 6 months patching time before moving in any case.
"‘I’m not OK’: Wolfgang Van Halen pays tribute on anniversary of father Eddie’s death"
https://www.today.com/popculture/music/m-not-ok-wolfgang-van-halen-pays-tribute-anniversary-father-eddies-dea-rcna2667
FM 107.5 in Houston has been playing tributes to Eddie Van Halen all day.
Leaniest of the lean-left polls:
October 06, 2021
Americans Give President Biden Lowest Marks Across The Board, Quinnipiac University National Poll Finds; Say The Biden Administration Is Not Competent
President Joe Biden receives a negative 38 – 53 percent job approval rating, the lowest score he's received from the American people on his job performance since taking office, according to a Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pea- ack) University national poll of adults released today. In Quinnipiac's last national poll released 3 weeks ago, he received a negative 42 – 50 percent job approval rating. Today, Republicans (94 – 4 percent) and independents (60 – 32 percent) disapprove of the job Biden is doing, while Democrats approve 80 – 10 percent.
https://poll.qu.edu/poll-release?ReleaseID=3824
Yup. I'll replace batteries in big 7KVA units, but even then it's a crap shoot.
I had a 1000VA unit stop providing battery backup a couple months ago. The only thing connected to it was the living room tv and the roku. Since I don't use the Tivo anymore, I ordered an APC power strip for it. I forgot about it (was backordered) and it finally came in a couple weeks ago. I noticed a black liquid was dripping out of the UPS. Uh oh. I got it out and took it into the garage to examine. It has 2 batteries in it, physically secured to each other with electrical tape. The batteries wer HOT. The electrical tape was melting , which is what the black liquid was. I'm glad I caught it in time. So, another lesson learned. When a UPS fails, don't continue using it for surge protection. Remove it from service immediately.
Interesting.
The Dodge (Ram) dealer left a message on my phone, basically asking if I want to sell my 2yo truck back.
I know the supply chains are clogged, but…
Then again, there are people who buy new every couple of years.
@~jim, I don't have a plan for my Halloween display yet. Knowing I'd be gone for a weekend pushed it off. I kind of slapdash somethings anyway….
What I have done is collect a bunch more treasure for any pirates that might be in it. Gold plates, silver chalices, piles of looted jewelry, that sort of thing.
I've also collected a bunch of the "torch" flame bulbs and might do some sort of tiki torches, combined with primitive savage macrame' and skulls.
Or it might be time to animate another witch from a mic stand, big hat, black shirt, and lady's stocking soft sculpture. I think spooning the cauldron contents to her mouth would be a fun addition to the one stirring the pot and the one turning the piggy on the spit.
Since the 'eye of Sauron' projection worked so well, I might expand on that a bit too.
It's all gonna come down to time, inspiration, and which of my simmering ideas bubbles to the top.
And I can bring back and re-dress the conveyor belt candy machine too if needed.
n
Interesting.
The Dodge (Ram) dealer left a message on my phone, basically asking if I want to sell my 2yo truck back.
I know the supply chains are clogged, but…
Then again, there are people who buy new every couple of years.
I am getting emails and texts every week from my Ford dealer to buy back my 2019 F-150 4×4. The promises are amazing.
The desire is none whatsoever. I am not going back to the garage queen, our 2005 Honda Civic EX SE Coupe. It is a fun drive for about ten miles then the buzzy engine and shifting the five speed around gets old in a hurry.
I had a 1000VA unit stop providing battery backup a couple months ago. The only thing connected to it was the living room tv and the roku. Since I don't use the Tivo anymore, I ordered an APC power strip for it. I forgot about it (was backordered) and it finally came in a couple weeks ago. I noticed a black liquid was dripping out of the UPS. Uh oh. I got it out and took it into the garage to examine. It has 2 batteries in it, physically secured to each other with electrical tape. The batteries wer HOT. The electrical tape was melting , which is what the black liquid was. I'm glad I caught it in time. So, another lesson learned. When a UPS fails, don't continue using it for surge protection. Remove it from service immediately.
I replaces the batteries in my Cyberpower 1500 VA UPS that runs my cable modem, wifi, den Roku, and den TV last year. Works fine now. The previous one I tried did not take the new battery. So I am one for two attempts.
So how does one dispose of an old UPS ? I have eight of them to dispose of now. It used to be I just threw them away. I called the metal recycler today, they will not take the lead acid batteries unless from a car, truck, or tractor.
@lynn, I'd just leave them by the curb on trash day if you have scrappers come by your house. The battery and a giant transformer are both recyclable.
n