Weather was fantastic Saturday and I’m hoping for more of the same today. Evening and nighttime couldn’t have been nicer.
We had a good day yesterday. The new and me to me attractions, and updates to old attractions, have all been good and policy changes have been ok to great.
The parks are in great condition. A lot of shiny new things, fresh paint, etc.
Today we start at the Magic Kingdom. I’m a bit tired and foot sore but determined to have fun.
The difference between the 10 yo and the 12yo is dramatic. I’m hating that I missed this with D1 two years ago because of China flu. It’s a small thing viewed against all the other losses, but I still hate it.
This is a nice break, but I still think worse is headed our way. Stack it up.
( including the good times and memories,)
N
My guess is that you didn't hit Epcot. Cheapek had the bulldozers rolling even before he was named CEO in that video debacle with Iger last year.
The Mouse is cynically charging full price for Epcot with half of what used to be called “Future World” demolished or shuttered, counting on Mom and Dad not caring beyond the beer being cold in the Germany pavilion.
Yes, much like "working" from home, I have an issue with the Germany pavilion at Epcot.
I don't drink beer, the food is mediocre, and the service indifferent. Yet, every time we go to the parks with family or friends, the obsession is always dinner in that place.
Is it at least good, German beer?
In addition to the virus mandate walkouts at the Air Traffic Control Jacksonville Center yesterday, apparently Southwest Airlines is ALSO staging a "sick-out" today.
https://mobile.twitter.com/skiplacombe/status/1447245349106618376/photo/1
Pearls Before Swine: Motivation For Going To Work
https://www.gocomics.com/pearlsbeforeswine/2021/10/10
Yup, that is the one.
Home from MK. Hot in the sun. Crispy hot. Cool in the shade. Rode most of what we wanted to. Nap and maybe swim then EPCOT.
Haven't been there yet this trip. We eat dinner in Japan or Morocco, never Germany. Today the dinner plan is graze thru the nations.
Half the park was already abandoned 4 years ago. New stuff is good. Once they abandoned Walt's plan, they never had a good one, and the nations didn't flock to fill in the world. It would be nice if that changed.
N
I haven't been in the pavilion since ~ 2009.
I assume it is German beer.
I'm curious as to whether Japan has adapted for the Tonkatsu craze happening back home.
Safe for picky eaters. It is a pork cutlet in butter, and the sauce, essentially ketchup, should be served on the side.
Walt's plan included a nuclear reactor, which The Mouse only recently gave up the right to build in exchange for a deal from the FL Legislature on something.
They gave up the nuke? Bummer, I loved sharing that tidbit.
Its funny the hate Disney gets from locals, almost all of whom moved here AFTER Walt turned a swamp and orange grove into a booming metro and license to print money. It's actually a bit psychotic.
Germany's restaurant is staffed by real Germans…. One could make a crack about why the service is what it is….
I love a katsudon but rarely see one made the way I like it.
Temps went down with the sun. It's another gorgeous day.
Headed out soon. The fireworks are at 945 tonight so we've got time. No " must do" attractions for us at EPCOT, although I like Soarin' and Mission Space. Test track is Not one of my favs.
N
I haven't been in the pavilion since ~ 2009.
I assume it is German beer.
Almost as good as Belgium beer.
Walt's plan included a nuclear reactor, which The Mouse only recently gave up the right to build in exchange for a deal from the FL Legislature on something.
That would have been an exciting feature. Disney could teach the kids what SCRAM stands for. The ride accessories would a hard hat, a white lab coat, and an axe.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scram
SCRAM = "Safety Control Rod Axe Man"
I always figured that the S stood for Secondary when the control rods failed to reenter the nuclear reactor. In that case, you use the flat edge of the axe to beat the control rod into the reactor.
Of course, another fun Disney ride could be the Nuclear Submarine Panic Room where the pressure door is closed, a pipe fails, and water starts jetting in. The water starts rising at a inch a minute and you and your fellow passengers must fix the leak. A young man at church who spent six years in the US Navy as a member of the silver crew for the USS Alabama told me that the panic room was quite the experience each time.
The Mouse has (or had) two big gas turbine generators on the other side of Space Mountain, near the monorail barn, but I believe those made way for the Tron coaster.
I'm not sure of the details but watching the Network news it appears Southwest Airlines had to cancel around 1800 flights. Because "you must be vaccinated" and the help waved middle fingers and walked off of the job.
Trippy.
Nov. 24th is the deadline at SWA to be “fully vaccinated”. That means the second shot of Moderna/Pfizer or single J&J had to be in the arm today.
Did the employees quit or were they fired?
I don’t think the airline has a choice … or do they?
The private employer rule has yet to be published, but I think the airline workers are a special category like healthcare.
I received my TWC paperwork confirming overturning of my "for cause" termination due to lack of interest on the part of management to defend their side of the situation.
I'm still not clear on the payout. I can live without the money, but I want the chuckeheads to feel the pain from not showing up. Just overturning the block on payment is, evidently, a big deal if it happens more than a few times with an employer in Texas. However, a payout will increase the UI premiums the company will pay in this state, which will get noticed in Austria.
In light of what's going on at SWA, I should probably call TWC tomorrow.
My TWC paperwork made it clear that my former employer would be billed.
The payments came relatively quickly and via direct deposit to my credit union.
@Greg Norton
Get a clear understanding of the timeline for payment, emphasize the hardship entailed by the long delay. Mark your calendar for one day after the payment deadline.
@lpdbw
Were payments from TWC or your former employer?
"Having Fun Watching Wind And Solar Failing To Step Up To Power The World Economy" by Framcos Menton
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2021/10/10/having-fun-watching-wind-and-solar-failing-to-step-up-to-power-the-world-economy/
"You don’t have to be any kind of a genius to figure out that wind and solar generation are never going to supplant fossil fuels in powering the world economy. The main reason is that the wind and sun only work part time, indeed well less than half of the time at best. With wind, you never know when it might work, and over a year a given facility might on average produce about 30-35% of rated capacity, with long and random periods of nothing. With the sun, you know from the get-go that you will get nothing fully half the time (i.e., night); and cloudy days wipe out half and more of the remaining half, again at random times. Averaged over the year, you’ll be lucky to get 20% of rated capacity from a solar facility."
"With the world economy finally bouncing back (hopefully) from the year-and-a-half of pandemic, this is the moment for wind and solar to step up and show what they can do. All the advanced economies (Europe, UK, U.S., Canada, Australia) have been pushing wind and solar for a couple of decades, with tens of billions of dollars of various subsidies and tax breaks. There are now wind turbines and solar panels all over the place. Simultaneously the same countries have shuttered coal plants, reduced nuclear, banned fracking in many places (Europe, the UK, and much of the U.S.), and discouraged fossil fuels of every sort in a hundred different ways. Now there is a surge in demand for manufactured goods of every sort. That will take some energy. Let’s see what the wind and the sun can do!"
"The answer is that when they are needed they are useless."
Wind and Solar can be part of the solution. But they are not the only solution. Oil and natural gas are the main part of the solution and will always be that way. Nuclear too.
My appeal decision indicates that the employer's account is no longer protected from a claim, but the claim year closed.
I didn’t establish direct deposit. Maybe that is the difference.
The payments come from TWC.
They also withhold for taxes.
I assume my former employer gets billed and has to pay TWC. And I smile.
By my reckoning, I can collect until sometime in December, when the benefits run out. Assuming I don't find someone who'll make me a good job offer.
The checks come out of your employer's account with TWC. Each successful claim increases the employer's UI rates, but a decision reversal is really bad news for an employer.
Not showing up for a tribunal hearing is really irresponsible on the employer's part because the decision for the employee resulting from that move cannot be appealed. At least, not in Texas.
I strongly suspect TWC gave my previous employer a chance to respond since the decision took two weeks, and the company is frequently held up as a poster child for foreign investment in the state creating jobs … yadda, yadda …
@Lynn
"Wind and Solar can be part of the solution
The baseline proof of concept is using on-site solar to run the a/c. No storage. No subsidies. Can you can get a 3-5 year payback on such a system? If not, then nothing with added complexity–backfeeding the grid, storage, etc.–will come close.
Otherwise it's niche applications only.
Of course they have a choice. President FJB Brandon can spout all the shit he wants but (a) no rules have been passed down from Olympus, it's nothing but mainstream media noise (last I looked, they don't make laws) and (b) a mandate is NOT A LAW.
And (c) Congress makes the laws. Not the Executive branch.
Hey, if some random gov dude says "this is mandated" and it's all cool, how about if I say "everyone who reads anything I post on any web site owes me $100". ???
Anyway. Grumpy.
A daughter of a friend's niece felt crappy enough last week to go to the doctor.
She was flown from Carlsbad to Ft. Worth a few days ago. And total colon cancer. Might live through tomorrow.
She's not old, I remember first meeting her when she was 16 or 17 back in 1987 or so.
Yeah, I know. "Be a turtle" but sometimes…..
My experience with the unemployment folks was back in the mid 80's. Dude just quit showing up for work. I don't know why. He never answered his phone.
After three weeks of everyone else working extra hours, I left a message on his machine that he was fired.
And then he filed for unemployment. Dude!! Really?
He didn't get anything out of it.
Quick reminder that tomorrow is a federal holiday, don't know what states will do. (Might affect TWC offices?) Columbus/Indigenous People day.
On hold with United for the last hour. Somehow D2's flight got separated from mine in the system. No way to check her in or even be sure she is on the flight… super heavy call volume. Don't think I've ever waited this long.
N
Try reaching then thru Twitter. Complain nicely but forcefully, mention minor involved and you should get a DM response from someone.
Sad but typical. When we lived near the Zürich airport, there were numerous cases of people complaining (and even suing) over the aircraft noise. The fact that they chose to move next to an existing, busy airport? Apparently that didn't matter in their heads.
No, but nuclear can and should. There is absolutely no reason to be digging up and burning coal. Oil is valuable for many things, but burning it to produce heat is way down the list.
@brad:
I agree, but the Great Unwashed (i.e. uneducated) are afraid that a nuclear plant "might blow up and let atoms out". And to an extent, they're right. After all, the two biggest nuclear disasters, at Chernobyl and Fukushima, created exclusion zones due to release of contaminated materials.
Of course, no-one takes account of the actual facts – for Chernobyl, the reactor design is not stable against thermal runaway under fault conditions (I have seen reports of this but cannot link. Google "positive void coefficient" or similar) and at Fukushima, the reactors are built on the coast (in an earthquake zone. Seriously?). Of course, Japan is a small, crowded country, but even so…
And then there was Three Mile Island. Not as severe, but…
G.