We’re on the edge of the thunderstorm area on the national forecast map, so today I’m going with cool, clear, still quite damp, but occasional sun. It would be nice if the rain only lasted one day.
I spent the day doing some small tasks. Pack and ship one item. Pickup from a household auction. Then I realized I was far from home and running low on gas so I paid $3.09 / gallon for 87 octane. I only bought 5 gallons. It was up by the airport at a station just off the freeway but DANG. I think Costco still has it for $2.69/gallon. That’s a big enough difference to make the effort. I was in the Ranger, not the Expy, but still, not filling the tank if I can save 40c/gallon.
Picked two ripe tomatoes off the leftover bushes. Both had been nibbled by something, but there are other tomatoes ripening. That is just crazy, considering that most years the bushes don’t last through the summer, and they certainly don’t fruit in the Fall. Collards look good too, other than the leaves being a little smaller than normal. I’ve got 4 grapefruits on the potted tree that survived the freeze that just started turning yellow from green. They’re a good size, and I’m hoping they are nice and tasty. Herb garden is mostly dead, although the rosemary bush looks like it might have survived the freeze after all. Only about half the plant is dead. I don’t know why but I can’t keep a rosemary bush alive more than a couple of years. I use it a lot in cooking, so I like having it in the garden. Heck, I can and do kill MINT, and it’s invasive, so I’m far from a successful gardener. All the more reason to stack cans.
Plan your garden now, and get what you need for seeds, fertilizer, and pest control early.
Stack some extra in case you’re like me and can’t seem to grow anything. Consider that it might continue to get colder for a decade, look at ways to extend your growing season. Some plastic sheeting and plastic pipe for a greenhouse tunnel won’t cost much or take up much storage space.
Today should be a repeat of yesterday but without having to do a parent teacher conference at dinner time. I do get to pick up D2 early and spend an extra couple of hours with her. Maybe we’ll get some sewing projects done. That was the plan for Monday, before it got changed. I’ve got a number of projects backed up that involve sewing, maybe, just maybe, I can get one or two off the list. They’ve been on the list a long time and aren’t high priority, but my wife got the machine out, and I can jump in before putting it away again. Sometimes I get – squirrel! What was I saying? Targets of opportunity, that must have been it. Tasks or tree rats.
Anyway, think about expanding your garden, and stack what you need.
nick
51F and 97%RH, with some light drizzle falling. I'm as good in the garden as I am with the weather forecast.
n
"Don't start nuthin, won't be nuthin" works both ways.
87 octane with 10% ethanol is $3.499 around here at the most stations, $3.559 or $3.599 if they're more isolated. $3.459 for a few. That's up 59% from the $2.199 baseline I noted on Jan 20.
But no mean tweets!
@nick: (from yesterday)
Why do you have to declare party affiliation to register to vote? Here in UK, the question is not asked – ever. There is no space on the registration form to do it.
And you are only (as a head of household) required to update that registration once a year, for everyone living in that household on the registration date. This registration is valid for all elections in the following year.
In fact, I do not know how my wife votes (I don't ask) although I believe she switches depending on which election it is.
G.
Because of the primaries where a political party chooses the candidate. Democrats don't want republicans choosing the democratic candidate, and the other way around.
In the general election a person can vote anyway they desire.
@stevef:
We should be so lucky in UK. Admittedly, 87 octane is like hen's teeth, our regular is 95 octane, currently E5, but E10 is coming – soon, and we pay probably twice that, by volume (taking into account that your gallons are smaller, and we buy by the litre anyway.
G.
@ray:
Thanks for that. I was puzzled.
G.
I don't know, I've never Kippled.
I'm assuming that if fart jokes are on the table, so are dad jokes.
Road trip! Ferried my snow bird friend from the upper Midwest to Tucson in early to mid October. Gas has been stuck at $3.09 here for quite awhile. Just under $3 in IA, KS, MO. A bit over $3 in NM, AZ. Rumored to be over $5 from CA driver in a U-haul box truck. Truck traffic seemed as normal as any other time, in fact, quite heavy along I-80 even at 3AM. Most hotels seemed to be at high occupancy but all had "Help Wanted" signs and differing amenities in a recovery mode.
NM still enforcing a mask mandate, although compliance was spotty at truck stops along the interstate. Passed a very loose convoy over 30 miles of US Government licensed trucks in the vicinity of Alamorgodo. Short boxed 18 wheelers and 4 pickups sporting quite the antenna array and body matched paint enclosed box for a bed. Hmmm.
Southwest check-in at Tucson gave me some grief for my small Pelican cased gub. He wanted 2 locks whereas, on several previous trips, I've only used 1. Gift shop helped me out. The Pelican occupies one end of a soft side duffle, invisible except to X-ray. My DTOM hat and Guy Fawkes mouth mask passed unnoticed.
Airports from Tucson to Houston Hobby to home seemed to be the now normal mask Kabuki shuffle. My first over flight for Houston. You boys seem to have truly oversize lots to the west, but denser 1-200 homes developments closer to town.
We have several neighborhoods surrounding us that have 1 acre lots. They are being bought out, and 8 to 20 units are being built on that 1 acre. No zoning in city of Houston.
With that sort of development, there is no way to afford the single home on that sized lot when you are competing with developers that will sell 12 homes on that lot. On the other hand, it's great if you want to SELL your home on a one acre lot.
My development is over 50 years old. Our lots are 7000 and 9000 sqft, and houses are 1800- 2400 sqft average.
I suspect the house across the street, with the gut remodel, will ask somewhere in the low to mid $500Ks, my guess being $520K. IDK if he'll get it. He told me yesterday that he'll be staging the house this week and listing next. He's pretty sure they will list, and not try for a sale ahead of listing.
He's had to put more money into it than he expected, so he needs to max out his sale price.
n
In Texas, your declared party affiliation on your voter registration is irrelevant as far as voting in primaries.
If you vote in a given party's primaries in an election year, you are considered to be a member of that party for the rest of the year.
Primaries aren't "open", but the affiliation declaration for the year at the polls is an opportunity for mischief.
I saw another story this morning about "All right, all right all right" running for Governor. I believe he will do so as a Republican as part of a scheme to blow out Abbott in the primaries, supported by crossover Dems and Republicans who are closeted weed heads.
The danger for the Dems is that “All right, all right, all right” could possibly win and leave Dan Patrick in office as Lt. Governor, who arguably holds the real executive power in the state.
In Texas, your declared party affiliation on your voter registration is irrelevant as far as voting in primaries.
— wasn't always so, otherwise I wouldn't have changed from independent.
n
Subcontinent always prioritizes new before most other factors. Size is important, but new is key.
How close will HPE be when they relocate?
In the last election things worked that way.
The Dems had to hold a runoff for their US Senate nomination last year, and since my wife didn't vote in the primary in March, she gave serious thought to going to vote against MJ Hegar.
This morning's Tyler Durden cowardice.
Those of you who openly talked here last year about holding people down for jabs, here's your chance to do just that in a figurative sense with your co-workers.
Way too many people in this country secretly dream of being the little bastard with the whistle in "The Sound of Music". Big Smile!
"While corporations might be able to absorb some of these costs, small businesses will likely be left with some difficult decisions to make. However, there's one important catch: OSHA will mostly rely on "complaints" to enforce the rule, meaning it will be up to American workers whether or not they want to hold their fellow workers accountable for defying the policy. "
https://www.zerohedge.com/covid-19/white-house-expands-vaccine-mandate-cover-80-million-workers
Masks? Why not skip the interim steps and go straight to yellow stars.
"Companies have until Jan. 4 to ensure their employees are fully vaccinated or tested regularly for COVID-19. This applies to federal contractors as well. However, all unvaccinated workers must begin wearing masks by Dec. 5."
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/osha-announces-new-federal-vaccine-mandate-for-businesses-and-gives-employers-until-jan-4-to-comply/ar-AAQjFJy
At least the waiting is over. The states can start filing their lawsuits.
I’m amazed that this isn’t a headline at Drudge.
This is not good.
in a week or two, two soccer players, one ice hockey, all in good health.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/11/24-year-old-hockey-star-boris-sadecky-dies-collapsing-ice-cardiac-arrest-last-friday-80-league-vaccinated/
n
In Texas, one does not declare a party when registering to vote. And, we have what are called "Open Primaries", meaning as long as you only vote in ONE primary, you can choose each year which party's primary to vote in.
There is a section on the registration card they send us in the mail that says "Party Affiliation _____________________" with that blank.
The party affiliation comes only if and when you vote in one party's primary.
At the polling stating, the election clerk can rubber stamp that blank on your registration card with "Republican" or "Democrat" or "Green" or whatever. This prevents you from then voting in the opposite party's primary that same year only.
Independents do not have a party primary, so there is no party affiliation in Texas for Independent.
You get a new card every year, with a new blank space. The voting records will show that you voted last year in a party primary, but it is meaningless for the following year's elections. You don't go down to the courthouse and change your party affiliation, you just choose a different party at the time of voting.
Been 19 years since I registered. Guess I remembered incorrectly.
Not the first time….
n
I declared affiliation when I registered after moving to Texas, but that was seven years ago.
I immediately got a summons for jury duty. Doh!
Jury trial divorce means the county has to call in ~ 1000 for jury pool screening twice a week.
Here's an oddity… in with a bunch of vinyl LPs, karayoke LASER DISCs… and not in english.
I'll probably keep one for my collection of obsolete media.
They leveraged the display and distribution network, by making the LD the same size as an LP record, but with a center hole that looks the same size as the hole in a 45rpm record. The LD packaging looks exactly like a 33 1/3 LP.
Too bad they aren't worth much.
n
I changed from Redumblican to Agnostic when they ran Bishop Mittens. As soon as I changed, the deluge of mail, spam, etc., for donations from everybody started to arrive. I still get beggars from both parties. F 'em.
The Democrats frequently work such mischief by having their people vote in Republican primaries to push weak candidates and thus improve Democrat odds of beating them in the general election, or to assure election of their allies/RINOs. This tends to happen when there is a strong Dem candidate so the votes are not needed in their own primary.
Heh. It is easy to forget. Ya'll need to pull out the Voter's Registration Card you received in the mail last year, and take a look. It is an Orange card. The little blank for a Party Affiliation stamp is the vertical dividing line between the two halves on the front of the card.
This shouldn't be much of a hinderance for OSHA. Considering the pieces of shit that were calling the police last Spring because they saw that their hair stylist neighbor was doing the occasional haircut in their apartment.
Around here you select a party or choose independent when you register. Everyone can vote in the primary since there are usually ballot measures getting voted on in addition to primary candidates. You get the primary ballot for your party (I'm honestly not sure if you're allowed to ask for a ballot for a party other than the one with which you're registered) to pick which of your party's candidates will be on the ballot in the general election. Independents get a ballot that just has non-partisan offices and ballot measures on it.
Not as uncommon as you would think.
Chinese or Vietnamese?
Good luck finding a player, but you might get lucky with a collector posting on EBay.
IIRC, Commodore made a interactive laser disc player right before they went bankrupt, and I've seen running examples of the hardware within the last decade.
My guess is that Ramsey Solutions will get raided and then OSHA will selectively enforce, mostly with threat letters.
At the last job, our test facility in Taylor was a running OSHA violation until one of the girls got sent out there for an extended length of time. Then, suddenly, someone lit a fire under our Health & Safety guy.
Freaking cold out here on the 1+ acre lots in Fort Bend County. 53 F this morning, 63 F in my bedroom. The wife threw a Snoopy and Woodstock velour blanket (made by Mr. Buffet) on the bed and I was warm all night.
https://www.amazon.com/Berkshire-Snoopy-Peanuts-Blanket-Velvet/dp/B07THCLNJW//p?tag=ttgnet-20
I note that the Christmas window is closing for Berkshire blankets. They make great Christmas gifts.
BREAKING:Feds Arrest Steele Dossier Figure
https://hotair.com/ed-morrissey/2021/11/04/breaking-feds-arrest-steele-dossier-figure-n426995
Too little, too late. But I have a suspicion.
This comes close on the heels of the blockbuster revelation yesterday that FBI drone footage captured the events in Kenosha, WI, and pretty much make the case for Rittenhouse self-defense.
The FBI was forced to cough up that video. Video of Jan 6 from the Capitol Police (aka Pelosi’s Gestapo) and probably the FBI as well is going to come out and shred those cases as well.
This is just the Feebs trying to get some good press to counter the rising tide of “Defund, Defang, and Defenestrate” the FBI, as it has become nothing but an instrument of political oppression.
I swear I remember reading in one of the shareholder letters that BRK is out of the legacy textile business which was the foundation of the company.
There are semi-quantitative tests generally available that use titers to establish the range of anti-bodies present. That's not uncommon for serology tests to use titers and is "good enough" to establish antibodies levels. The NFL uses this test for unvaccinated players.
There is even a qualitative test that will find if you have antibodies from an infection – it doesn't react to vaccine antibodies. (It checks for antibodies to the body protein of SARS-CoV-2, not the spike.)
Texas seems to lose about one high school football player per year to sudden cardiac arrest. It's generally from an unknown congenital condition.
I never understood (other than cronyism) why this is a thing. It's open for abuse. Surely the state should have no interest in what party you are affiliated to. If you want to vote in the primary, join the party and vote in their private primary election.
IIRC (it's been a long time) that's what happens in the UK. Geoff?
Texas seems to lose about one high school football player per year to sudden cardiac arrest. It's generally from an unknown congenital condition.
My 2010 -2014 cardiologist told me in 2010 that if I had been serious about high school football then I probably would have died walking off the field someday in the 1970s. Turns out having a right coronary artery is necessary for great physical effort. And very hard to diagnose that it is missing. Of course, as slow as I was, they did not want me anyway.
@markw:
Yes. AFAIK (I'm not a party member – any party. Call me apathetic) You have to be a member of a party, and recorded as such by the party, before you get a chance to vote for that party's candidate. We do not call this process a “primary”.
If, indeed, you get a choice. It's not unknown for Central Office candidates to be "parachuted in". Government (local or national) do not get a look-in to this selection process.
See my previous comments about trust.
G.
My son was born with a problem where part of one of his coronary arteries was embedded in the aorta wall from birth. If doctors hadn't already been monitoring his heart for an ASD which didn't close on time, they never would have caught the problem with the artery until it was possibly too late.
Over The Hedge: Stolen Bling
https://www.gocomics.com/overthehedge/2021/11/04
I just don't see a tire around the neck as bling.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/how-tyson-foods-got-60-500-workers-to-get-the-coronavirus-vaccine-quickly/ar-AAQjgh8?ocid=msedgntp
Are people, in general, really that stupid? I know it's true, but it's still hard to fathom…
Wherein Lynn discloses that he will never be cool.
"The Airlines Just Took a Bite Out of 5G"
https://www.pcmag.com/opinions/the-airlines-just-took-a-bite-out-of-5g
"C-Band just took a body blow. According to an oddly skimpy story from The Wall Street Journal, AT&T and Verizon are delaying the rollout of their new mid-band 5G networks by a month (from Dec. 5 to Jan. 5) because of ongoing complaints about potential interference with radio altimeters."
"If this schedule holds, it's not a big deal; Verizon wasn't publicly promising any consumer C-Band 5G coverage until March. But what concerns me is that this may be the first foot on the Slip 'n Slide, and we may now end up in an FCC/FAA battle that holds C-Band up indefinitely (and probably results in lawsuits from carriers who don't feel like they're getting what they paid a stunning $81 billion for)."
That is a lot of bucks. Starlink may end up being way cheaper than that.
>> The Democrats frequently work such mischief by having their people vote in Republican primaries to push weak candidates and thus improve Democrat odds of beating them in the general election, or to assure election of their allies/RINOs. This tends to happen when there is a strong Dem candidate so the votes are not needed in their own primary.
Mischief, attributed to politicians? Come on now, obviously you're not serious…
A lot of people want to be fed and diapered in a figurative sense.
Sometimes literal, but you will pay big money to indulge that kind of kink.
Things will get ineresting since the HR droids don't want to do confrontations. That might mean failing to get the kid to soccer practice on time.
All about the different types of US state primaries:
https://www.ncsl.org/research/elections-and-campaigns/primary-types.aspx
You are spot on with this. One of my guys was granted an exemption to the company Covid vaccination mandate. HR instructed me yesterday to convey to an employee who was granted an exemption the details/requirements of what was discussed in a meeting between the HR manager, HR drone, and myself. I punted back to them saying I needed, in writing, what needs to be conveyed to the employee so I don't forget or misstate anything. Surprisingly, I didn't receive any pushback. I simply copied and pasted their text into a new message and sent it. And, yes, I do have archived copies of my e-mail.
Best order the XL popcorn, looks like it's gonna be a Three Stooges double feature, but first the Looney Tunes cartoons…
https://hotair.com/ed-morrissey/2021/11/04/what-the-heck-is-all-this-other-stuff-dems-revolting-on-reconciliation-n426920
You know you're getting old when the sight of a Datsun B210 in a parking lot brings a smile to your face.
My dad had one – a 75 coupe, 4 speed, and about 10 hp (I kid, but not too much). That was the car I learned to drive on.
I have four. The fancy head rotating Pioneer, the nice player that I have to get up to flip the disc, and two "educational" units that should have wired remotes. They work but you have to sit by the player for freeze frame, etc.
True. When I lived in Edinburg they would stamp your card. As best as I remember, you voted Dem at one location and R at a different location. Seemed pretty stupid to me.
Burnet County doesn't bother. They just check the list to see if you have voted.
Computers are great! If you vote early, you are marked off the list. If you vote on election day, which can be only at your precinct, you are on the list.
My dad had one – a 75 coupe, 4 speed, and about 10 hp (I kid, but not too much). That was the car I learned to drive on.
I am fairly sure that my 1972 ? 1973 ? Subaru coupe with the 1,100 cc boxer motor with the single barrel carb had at least 40 hp. I would wind the engine up to 5,000 rpm (80 mph in 4th/top gear) on the west Texas interstate following an 18 wheeler in 1982. No A/C, no power brakes, no power steering, etc. The steering wheel shook above 70 mph about an inch/second.
I'll be going to the dealership next week to see the complaint department. I was talked into buying about eight grand of extended warranty and oil changes and whatever else. It made sense, just saying.
After I stopped shaking from dropping 32 grand, and giving a10 grand down, I read everything. Including the Nissan warranties. Other than the wiper blades having only a six month warranty, the rest of the truck is covered for a few more years.
Bought the truck on Monday, went in to cancel the extended stuff and was told it would be canceled effective September 1. A couple of days away.
And here I sit. Two statements from Wells Fargo later and no credit showing.
Yep, 10 down on a 32 grand truck and yes, taxes and plates sucked up almost $2500.
Pain the you know where.
I have a stupid question.
Why does the state collect sales tax every time a vehicle is sold?
Brand new, sure, sales tax. Why does the Bubba you sell your car to have to pay sales tax again?
It's a tax on 'sales'. Not a tax on 'vehicle'. I guess.
Yes, we always voted at different places in other towns we lived in. When we first moved to this tiny town, both parties voted in the same location, but had separate election clerks. The first time Paul went to vote, he came home laughing. He said "There are two tables, on opposite sides of the hall. The Republican table is busy, with a long line waiting to sign and get their ballot. The Democrats are just sitting there doing their knitting!" LOL!
Now, it's all one table, and they just ask which ballot you want. They didn't stamp our cards last time, so I guess they have stopped that since they get the little code from the computer to activate our ballot machine.
Yep. In theory every sale in NYS should result in tax being sent to the tax department, even sales of used items between individuals. In practice, that can't be enforced and so it's ignored. Vehicles, because they have to be registered in order to be put on the road, the state is able to enforce the sale tax provision.
That's Burnet County.
Understand. But the state taxed the vehicle at full value when first registered. Why does the state get to tax the vehicle again? And at every re-sell?
Isn't this like being at a party? With a bowl of chips and a bowl of dip? You don't dip your chip and eat that corner and double dip the same chip.
The sales tax on cars is nuts. When I bought the blue Dodge, I paid $1000. Pulled the money from the credit union on the way to Hutto. Filled out all of the paperwork where everyone says "this is the price" and when I went to buy the plates, none of that mattered.
Because the system said the truck was worth $2200. And since I paid cash, duh, no canceled check. When's the last time your bank sent canceled checks?
So I got to pay tax as if I had paid $2200.
The tax folks didn't seem too amused when I said that every car I sell, forever, will have all the paperwork you want with the car selling for $1000 and with a canceled check.
Hey, I can play your game.
"Navy fires top 3 leaders of submarine that struck uncharted sea mountain"
https://dnyuz.com/2021/11/04/navy-fires-top-3-leaders-of-submarine-that-struck-uncharted-sea-mountain/
"The Navy has fired the top three leaders who were aboard the attack submarine USS Connecticut when it struck an uncharted sea mountain in the Pacific Ocean in early October."
Seems a little harsh to me for driving fast on an unfamiliar road.
Hat tip to:
https://drudgereport.com/
FYI: the "Search" page, which allowed you to search content including comments, has been removed from the site.
The plugin that performed that function had an update today that crashed the system. I disabled the plugin for now.
For those that are keeping track, there are now 1016 comments that mention the word "flashlight" (including those terms that are plural or capitalized). And 58 posts mentioning that word.
Funny story. When MrsAtoz and I entered the Army, years before we knew each other, we each purchased a used Datsun B210 hatch back. She occasionally tells that story during a keynote.
I sold mine two years after entering the Army and bought a brand new Toyota Supra (circa 81-82). It had the new sleek front end, Recaro seats, etc. I loved that car. After that, a Buick Riviera with the first touch screen, then my dream car: Nissan 300ZX. I eventually traded it in when I married MrsAtoz. On a mini van. The end of an era.
yeah, the Navy seems intent on driving out anything but “play it safe and by the book”. It didn’t work for them when WW2 broke out and it won’t work when the great Chi-Am-War breaks out.
No idea why they would trash the COB, he has nothing to do with course or speed AFAIK.
Search tool….
Hope they get it straightened out. Searching the comments here is the only way to find the stuff I haven't found and tagged yet… I use it all the time. Sure, it has some quirks about partial words and needing spaces but it worked pretty well.
n
Seawolf. Only three were built.
The USS Jimmy Carter (I'm not kidding) has the special operations capability, but the Virginia and the Seawolf can deploy mines.
I'll bet they were testing the capability to sneak in/out of Chinese waters using a new navigation toy.
@Nick
"I like kipling very much. Read the Jungle Books with my little one over the last couple of weeks, then started re-reading Pippi Longstocking, but we'll get some more Kipling in soon."
Dr. Doolittle
The Mushroom Planet Books
Freddy the Pig
What could possibly go wrong? The science is settled: the ship is unsinkable.
Quite a few of these cardiac conditions can be found if expensive tests are done. It's just not worth doing on a mass basis.
That's how the US Navy operates and has for years. If there is an accident of that type, whether due to negligence or not, the captain is responsible and pays the price. The buck stops with them.
https://legalinsurrection.com/2021/11/virginias-new-attorney-general-says-he-will-investigate-the-loudoun-county-public-schools-over-sexual-assaults/
Freddy the Pig rings a vague bell, but the Mushroom Planet books are beyond my ken. Pray tell, lest I resort to Google. (As I recall, there were a number of Doctor Dolittle books…damned if I can remember the author)
EDIT: Lol, what I would give to have all of those Oz books back again!
Over? Maybe not so fast…
https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20211104-grave-concern-over-covid-in-europe-as-german-cases-soar
Just waiting for the first deep freeze…
https://news.yahoo.com/matthew-mcconaughey-weighs-outlaw-bid-053111254.html
Seawolf. Only three were built.
The USS Jimmy Carter (I'm not kidding) has the special operations capability, but the Virginia and the Seawolf can deploy mines.
I'll bet they were testing the capability to sneak in/out of Chinese waters using a new navigation toy.
My thought exactly. But I'll bet they were going too fast anyway so the captain deservedly got cashiered. But to get the XO and COB also seems overreaching.
https://www.zdnet.com/article/businesses-think-gen-z-can-solve-the-digital-skills-shortage-young-people-arent-so-sure/
Maybe we need to bring back the draft.
Finding out that a rice paddy in SE Asia doesn't give a shit about their "pastoral needs" might toughen the soy-folk up a bit. And yeah, draft all twelve sexes and amend the UCMJ to the death penalty for having sex with anything except your hand, and exempt that only if you switch off and don't favor one over the other.
Meanwhile, in Ivermectin-soaked India…
https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/coronavirus-india-live-updates-12-514-fresh-covid-19-cases-in-india-251-deaths-2596401
@drwilliams:
Good idea. But imagine the screams from the LGBTQ+XYZ brigade – it'd be like hearing the trumpetings of castrated elephants, done without anaesthesia.
On second thought, it'd be an act of grace – providing you have good earplugs.
G.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10165015/Bank-America-predicts-crude-oil-skyrocket-43-120-barrel-summer.html
Joy
n
"Joy"
A summer of gas pump misery and fuel-surcharged airfare followed by an off-year election.
They quoted some a-hole on the morning news that “gas prices have stabilized if the price of crude doesn’t go up”.
Coffee is much too precious to spit out.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10165015/Bank-America-predicts-crude-oil-skyrocket-43-120-barrel-summer.html
Joy
n
Oil is heading to $150/bbl. There is very little investment in new wells at the moment.
Would you invest in an oil well after the President of the USA said that we going to stop oil and natural gas usage by 2030 ? Fracking is super expensive and one company just bought most of the fracking companies out of bankruptcy.
Plus the giant oil fields are going dry (there are eight ??? still going). The one super giant, Ghawar, is a big mystery outside Saudi Arabia. The Twilight in the Desert book will happen some day, Simmons was just early in his prediction.
https://www.amazon.com/Twilight-Desert-Coming-Saudi-Economy/dp/0471790184//p?tag=ttgnet-20
Somewhere between 8 and 10 refineries have been closed in the USA and converted to tank farms over the last 18 months. So we are down to 88 ??? refineries now. Most of the gasoline / diesel / jet fuel is made on the gulf coast and shipped to the heartlands plus the east coast. The left coast still has about ten refineries.
I've seen a couple of other instances where the Navy blamed the whole
command team for whatever happens. Skipper, XO, and COB. The reason given was that even if they had no fault in the specific incident, having the incident was a sure sign of a lack of diligence and training, and all 3 bear responsibility for that.
Not sure if they would do that if one of them were female, of course.
Henry Ford, Charles Kettering and the fuel of the future
Bill Kovarik
Automotive History Review, Spring 1998, No. 32, p. 7 – 27.
Debunking an oft-repeated error:
https://environmentalhistory.org/people/henry-ford-charles-kettering-and-the-fuel-of-the-future/
Highly recommended, as is the author's PhD dissertation "The Ethyl Controversy" which is linked at the top along with several other works.
Of particular interest is the documentation of government and industry suppression of "unfortunate" information nearly one hundred years ago. Note that the U.S. government as well as G.M.'s Kettering and Midgley were well aware that there was no need to introduce toxic lead compounds into the gasoline supply and hence the environment. And by virtue of their previous statements to professional societies, there had to be literally hundreds of people who knew full-well that Kettering and Midgley were lying their backsides off.
Oz books; They're all out of copyright, and you can get Kindle versions for free. And paperback versions are inexpensive.
But they're still excellent stories, and still ring true today. Especially the Flibertigibets.
Read all the Oz books with D1 a while ago. They get a lot more improbable after the one everybody knows…
Weird uncle too.
n
Marcelo, thanks for the suggestions. I had never heard of a launcher. The Microsoft one looks like it actually has some features I might use. I might give it a try after I get settled with the new phone, which will take a while. I like to run anything new in its default configuration for a while to make sure everything is as it should be, and to learn it. I would also bet this would confuse my wife.
As for Your Phone, I had seen that in Windows 10, but haven’t yet looked at what it is. If it is only SMS, not for me. I have never used SMS. I actually had this service blocked on my phone account for years, because our plan charged us something like $0.35 for MMS messages or whatever they are called. My wife’s friends kept sending her texts with attached or embedded pictures, and it ran her bill up a few dollars. She didn’t even know how to look at texts. I contacted our provider (AT&T,) and back then, we could have had “unlimited texts” for just several dollars a month. I declined, and asked them to disable SMS. I noticed that now that we have a new account, I get annoying SMS spam from, of all sources, AT&T, but it doesn’t cost me anything. I just ignore it. Obviously, they enabled SMS.
I still don’t understand the fascination with SMS. To me, it is still an old format that was far superseded by email. I might consider something like Signal, which a friend uses. He considers it to be reasonably secure. Although I really want security and privacy, that will never be allowed to us proles. Anyone who is deluded into thinking there is any such thing is a fool. That ship sailed about 30 years ago.
I still don’t understand the fascination with SMS. To me, it is still an old format that was far superseded by email. I might consider something like Signal, which a friend uses. He considers it to be reasonably secure. Although I really want security and privacy, that will never be allowed to us proles. Anyone who is deluded into thinking there is any such thing is a fool. That ship sailed about 30 years ago.
The neat thing about SMS is that you don't have to know a person's email address. All you have to know is their phone number.
I know far more email addresses than phone numbers.
I like the asynchronous nature of SMS and that if you use it properly, it doesn't have to intrude on your life like a call does.
n
"I like the asynchronous nature of SMS and that if you use it properly, it doesn't have to intrude on your life like a call does."
Certainly, but same for email.
I have a friend who hates interruptions. Come to think of it, so do I. We grudgingly answer phone calls, most of which are spam. Emails sit there silently until we query them. Reminds me of writing letters.
To me, email is the killer app. That and spreadsheets. These made computers useful to a huge sector of our population.
>> I like the asynchronous nature of SMS and that if you use it properly, it doesn't have to intrude on your life like a call does.
>> I have a friend who hates interruptions. Come to think of it, so do I. We grudgingly answer phone calls, most of which are spam. Emails sit there silently until we query them. Reminds me of writing letters.
Different in the corporate world if you get pointed in the right direction. Most people tend towards email or IM and never pick up the phone. Easy but not the way to build relationships, especially with those above you, a phone call will do that much better. I encouraged everyone that worked for me to add this to their Outlook sig:
If you need to reach me, please try in the following order:
1. Phone (office 123-456-7890, cell 111-222-3333)
2. SMS (111-222-3333)
3. IM
4. Email
Note that I do the same and email responses may be delayed.
Alan, I used to have a signature like that. In the Corp setting, I wanted people to reach me. If they didn't, I would visit them.
Of course, meetings would follow. Had to be careful to not be a nuisance.
My dad had one – a 75 coupe
My first car was the B210's predecessor, the B110 Sunny (or in Canada, the 1200). I got that when my Mum upgraded to a B210. The B210 was also a '75 but a 4 door. The 1200 I was gifted was the 2 door fastback, and my first efforts as a shade tree mechanic was to swap the 3 speed auto for a 4 speed manual. Learned about 3 days later about putting gear oil in… it wasn't a fun lesson.
JimB: My pleasure.
With YourPhone you get SMS, and now, -apparently- calls as well using your computer. You get all the notifications that are coming up in your phone and have access to the photos.
Given that I am deafer than a stone, my priority list would be:
– SMS for urgent stuff. Short communication with specific ring tones that will get immediate attn.
– Mail for normal stuff. I get a ton of mail from work and other places in 3 accounts all viewed with Outlook on my phone (and a couple of laptops).
– Phone, if you must. Teams is preferred.
Given that list and that I do not like typing on the phone it is not a bad app. 🙂
My primary use for the Your Phone app is to move pictures from my phone to my PC. Easier than emailing them to myself.