Cold in the morning, warming gradually through the day. Like yesterday. And hopefully without any rain. It was 43F when I went to bed. And only 38F when I got up yesterday. That’s pretty cold for Houston.
Did some stuff in the morning, then went to my client’s house. Got some things done over there, see last night’s comments if you are interested.
One weird thing that happened, on my way home from my client’s google had me exit the freeway, then re-enter, without any traffic backup to avoid. The rest of the route was utter carp too. This seems to be happening more frequently to me. Anyone else see a dropoff in the quality of google maps routing? I did switch my preference from “fuel savings” to “fastest route”). IDK if that gets me the Waze algo for routing, or if it’s all a coincidence. I don’t like it when it happens to me in a part of town I am not familiar with.
I don’t think I’ll be headed up tonight. I’ve got too much to do, and some home stuff that needs to be addressed now. I will think about Sat, or next week. Gotta get up there and do plumbing…
—
Don’t forget about birthdays, holidays, etc when you are making your preps. It will be heart warming when you pull out the present that you set aside all that time ago. Stack some nice things.
nick
Ich bin der Erste, der postet.
Batten down the hatches, everyone: Friday the Thirteenth falls on the Sixteenth this month.
We have snow coming, predicted to be a large amount over the next 24 hours. Many schools in the area are closed, including my daughter’s. We’ll see; the predictions usually grossly overstate the event but sometimes we do actually get clobbered.
Back to the grind for me. The thing I’m working on for work is fighting me (in large part because other people didn’t do their part or did them poorly, a common occurrence) but needs to be done. Today, if possible.
Kids have a half day today, and some sort of party that involves my wife picking up donuts on the way in… so everyone is still in bed.
42F and 99%RH. Don’t see any actual rain though.
Coffee robot is making some. I need to make the bacon. Mmmm, bacon……
n
– no one should be believing anything they say at this point.
n
Happened here just three or four days ago. About a mile from my location. The husband shot his wife. Domestic violence situation that had been brewing for years. Both were good people, but something set the husband off his rocker. The best I have been able to locate was the wife cheating on the husband.
Amazing what a little bit of separation and an air layer can make. The “trick” really pays dividends when the clothes get wet. Without that wet surface sucking heat from the skin the body will stay much warmer. I wore a raincoat on the farm that was effective for the torso, the most critical part of the body. I tried rain pants, but they just never worked out very well. Clumsy and got in the way.
I don’t know how and cannot remember a specific reason as to why I started using panty hose. I think somewhere my girlfriend said that pantyhose was sometimes hot in the summer. Or maybe it was because she claimed that pantyhose was uncomfortable. I think without any level of certainty I lost a bet with my girlfriend and got conned into trying pantyhose for the day. After a cold rainy day of use I was hooked.
The biggest issue was taking a leak. Mostly done outdoors as the trip from the field to the bathroom was too long. I was only doing what the cows do. I developed an understanding of female issues when using the facilities themselves when the user is covered with such garments. The need to expose most of the backside and frontside in 36f weather and rain was not pleasant.
That has happened to me with my Garmin unit. I have no idea why the routing does that.
Another example of stupid routing is when the wife and I were leaving Callaway Gardens to head back home. The GPS unit had me turn right when I thought I should turn left upon exiting the venue. Being in a strange area I tend to follow the GPS. The GPS had me travel one mile, then make a U-turn, going back the direction I initially expected.
In areas in which I am familiar the GPS will sometimes route in a strange direction. I know a better route. Mostly it has to do with turns onto smaller roads when I could just keep going and wind up on the road the smaller roads would connect. I do know my GPS will never route me backwards to connect to a faster highway. Going the opposite direction for a mile, to be put on a much faster road, has never been done by my GPS.
I also do not know if the GPS routes from the destination back to the user’s location, or from the user’s location to the destination. I actually suspect it is from the destination to the user’s location but that is just a guess on my part.
@Jenny: I’ll be ready.
So much for my secret language…
Tired today, and out of sorts. Fortunately, class ended early (we were reviewing for the final) so I’m on my way home. Definitely looking forward to the holidays 🙂
I used to be fluent in German but it’s all withered away from disuse. I can still puzzle my way through a technical post or newspaper article but it’s slow going.
Sometimes I’ve seen a traffic backup on the freeway caused by merging traffic from the interchange. I suspect that the GPS is calculating that it will be quicker to exit the freeway before the backup and rejoin it after the backup. I’m sure it doesn’t save MUCH time, but it’s a computer and if it can save 20 seconds, that’s “faster”.
Bummer on Highlander.
Plugs were supposed to be replaced at 120K. Apparently missed. Will chat with service department about that oversight.
Brake fluid needs changed. Absorbs moisture over time and wears out.
Coolant needs replaced. Wears out, well actually the additives to block corrosion and lubes water pump.
Speed sensor is failing, needs replaced. CEL extinguished on its own. I suspect the rain on the drive from Atlanta brought forth the the impending failure.
$1.4K including the regular service. Not what I expected. Needs to be done to avoid more costly repairs. Maintenance is key to longevity on a vehicle.
There’s a Pappadeaux in Stafford, but I guess you knew that.
I have been there many times. A bowl of seafood gumbo and some fried shrimp is awesome. Just roll me out of there.
There is also a Pappasitas Cantina in Sugar Land that you have to fight your way into. We took our friend there two years ago right before he had surgery for esophageal cancer and died in recovery. We had a good time even knowing he was high risk.
Oil change and coolant flush/replace on Toyota is very easy as long as you don’t have the plastic mess to disassemble underneath.
Just make sure to get a real Toyota oil filter and buy the OEM coolant appropriate for your model year, “red” or “pink”
Coolant at the dealer is $30 for the jug vs. $350 for them to do the job.
We went to Pappadeaux in San Antonio once as a splurge. Nice place, but pricey. Good food. Iffy service.
As usual at chain seafood restaurants, I noted one customer demographic dominating the servers’ time demanding the free bread refills while ordering skimpy meals. If I had to guess why Darden unloaded Red Lobster, their founding chain, it was the labor costs for the friggin’ biscuits, which can’t be automated like the breadsticks at Olive Garden.
The Pappadeaux in Austin near our house became a Pappas Group banquet facility for a while, but my wife said it reopened as a regular restaurant.
I did not know this but bone doctors rate arthritis just like cancer, stage 1 through 4. The wife went back to the bone doctor for her left knee as the pain has been getting rather severe as of late. The bone doctor took another x-ray and said that her knee is now stage 4 and she will be getting a knee replacement in 2023. In just six months, her knee jumped from stage 2 to stage 4, she is bone on bone and ligaments are crossing over now.
She does not want to be like her upper New York state grandmother who had to lock her knees to walk. Her grandmother lived on the family 100+ acre farm in a four story house built in the side of the hill. Everything was rather steep, we had no idea how she got around and she lived to be 94. Her grandmother was half Cherokee or Iroquois (we are not sure), a really tough old lady, but it was painful to watch her walk.
Really bad arthritis runs in the Chinese relations, and my mother-in-law refuses to do anything about her knees.
One uncle had both knees replaced and his recovery was very quick. I saw the incisions three days after surgery when my wife went to take a courtesy look, and everything was extremely clean. The only way you could see that he had surgery were the visible lines for the incisions — no bruising or obvious swelling.
The key to a fast recovery is getting out of the hospital to avoid infection as soon as possible. Even the in-laws’ no-tell motel in Seattle was many orders of magnitude cleaner than any hospital in the region. Heck, any region.
“Video: F-35 fighter pilot ejects during Dallas-area crash landing”
https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/f35-dallas-crash-landing-video-17656918.php
Ouch ! And that is the Marine Corps F-35B version. Something went really wrong there.
Today’s lunch special – Fish!
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/picture-devastation-worlds-largest-cylindrical-aquarium-bursts-1500-tropical-fish-inside
Back from a quick trip to see my parents. Since all our cars only seat 2 people comfortably (have back seats but if you are above 4 ft forget about it), I rented a car. I tried Turo instead of a traditional agency. Signed up, got the app, chose the car and made the reservation. Renter had good communication before, and pickup was a local WalMart parking lot. A few lessons learned though.
First, he only disclosed when we were going over the vehicle that someone had smoked in the car. BS. It had the reek of a smoker’s car, albeit one that hasn’t been smoked in for a while. It wasn’t pungent enough to abandon, though I would have if I had another option. Second, the car had 94K miles. It’s a 2016 Hyundai Genesis (the big sedan, and last year before spinning of genesis to its own brand). Next time I will make sure to ask questions in advance.
The car drove fine, but there was a major issue. We drove up to Nashville for a stop before going east in I40 to the Tri-Cities. It rained the entire trip. I had noticed the wipers making a noise somewhere around Nashville. It acted like old blades that need to be replaced, but different. The chattering only happened at the very end of the sweep up, and the beginning of the direction change back down. And then it sometimes stopped and went away.
We stopped ad Buc-ee’s in Crossville. It was dark and pouring rain. After gassing up and getting food, we4 pulled out. I got on the onramp and was accelerating, when the wipers froze in the sweep up position. Zero visibility happened in about 2 seconds. I somehow managed to pull off the side. After much, and I mean, much swearing, I got them to work again. I had to keep the setting on high. That gave the blades enough inertia to overcome whatever was causing them to stick. After sitting there for a couple minutes, I pulled out and went on down the road.
I stopped at the next exit and there were two gas stations. The first station didn’t have any Rain-X, but the second one had one bottle. I got that and a handful of napkins and dried the windshield as best I could and kind of got it applied. The goal was to be able to give me just enough visibility to pull over if the wipers failed again. I kept it slow all the way until the I40/I75 merger, and stopped at the big gas station there where I could do a better job of applying the rain-x. Once we got past Knoxville, the rain stopped. The wipers never stopped again. The next morning, no more noise, and they were operating properly.
I’m guessing it’s either a motor or a relay issue, and is induced by heat. Whatever the cause, it gives me pause to consider a Hyundai product in the future. You just don’t get stupid crap like this with a Honda or Toyota.
Will I do another Turo rental? Probably not. Rental cars are abused, but I’ve never had one almost kill me and my family, and they are low miles. That cuts the odds of problems down significantly. An extra $100 or so is absolutely worth it.
“Twitter suspends journalists who wrote about owner Elon Musk”
https://apnews.com/article/elon-musk-technology-business-dac21de7abb6167bb604f5317aeda10a
Musk is having a bad week. I am beginning to think that he will need to roll Twitter through Chapter 7 bankruptcy. It is obvious that he bought a disaster.
Regardless, people should not be using any social service to dox other people. Doxing is the process of identifying people on the internet, giving their names, addresses, emails, property, etc. I got doxxed a couple of weeks ago and am still torqued about it.
Hat tip to:
https://www.drudgereport.com/
Power restored here. Had an outage yesterday afternoon of about 5-6 hours, due to a tree down in a major line which killed a transformer at the substation near me.
Some switching around got us power about 730pm, but they were still working on replacing the transformer overnight and into this morning. They turned off our power at 8am to finish the transformer replacement; back on at noon as they predicted.
They are pretty good at informing via the FB and Twitter pages. Had cell service this time, so was able to set up my phone as a wireless hot spot and use that to connect to the interwebs.
Of course, had the generator running during the outage, so it wasn’t totally dark inside. Wife is on permanent oxygen (big blue box, if you have seen them). The alarm on the box is a good alert to when the power fails – it’s just outside the “owner’s suite” (you can’t call it a ‘master bedroom’ now). A good alert as i am on a CPAP at night so I can pull off the mask to keep breathing.
I still need to determine why the circuit for the refrigerator is not on the generator bypass switch. But an extension cord fixes that during outages, so not a high priority.
Used up about 3-4 gallons of gas, I think. Have 15 gallons total available, so good for any outages that happen each winter.
First, he only disclosed when we were going over the vehicle that someone had smoked in the car. BS. It had the reek of a smoker’s car, albeit one that hasn’t been smoked in for a while. It wasn’t pungent enough to abandon, though I would have if I had another option. Second, the car had 94K miles. It’s a 2016 Hyundai Genesis (the big sedan, and last year before spinning of genesis to its own brand). Next time I will make sure to ask questions in advance.
For some reason, many rental vehicles have been smoked in. And sitting in the hot sun tends to release the smoke from the upholstery.
I would get a Toyota Highlander as a rental vehicle. Large but not too large. Make sure it has the V6, the four cylinder model is a dog. Easy to get in and out of for older people. My 6’2″ 81 year old uncle with early stage dementia sat behind me driving for 700 miles back in September over a long weekend. The only problem was he could not buckle his seatbelt so one of us had to do it for him. He had plenty of room and we had plenty of room on the rear deck (the third seat flat) for luggage.
“That Was Now, This Is Then” by Michael Z. Williamson
https://www.amazon.com/That-Was-Now-This-Then/dp/1982192313?tag=ttgnet-20/
Book number two of a two book time travel science fiction series. I read the well printed and well bound MMPB published by Baen in 2022. I am hoping for a third book in the series as is hinted in the epilogue. BTW, I gave the first book in the series five stars.
https://www.amazon.com/Long-Time-Until-Temporal-Displacement/dp/1476781729?tag=ttgnet-20/
Some 250 to 500 years in the future, somebody invented a time machine. And published the design so it is easily repeatable. But, every time the time machine is activated, the time wave goes across all time. At least 15,000 years back. And random people are picked up by the time wave and thrown to a new time, sometimes thousands of years back. In the first book, a mixed gender patrol of ten USA Army soldiers in Afghanistan is thrown back 15,000 years to 13,000 BC for two years in their two MRAPs before being rescued by a pair of soldiers from the future.
Now the future scientists have located another USA Army platoon stranded in the past. This platoon has been stranded for five years and gone native, partially since they were on foot and did not have many supplies. So the future scientists have requested that the first USA help them relocate the new stranded platoon.
My rating: 4.4 out of 5 stars
Amazon rating: 4.4 out of 5 stars (385 reviews)
Yes, you can. Do you have all of your fingers? You know which ones to erect.
“Windows 12: The top things the next version of Windows needs to succeed”
https://www.windowscentral.com/software-apps/windows-11/windows-12-the-top-things-the-next-version-of-windows-needs-to-succeed
“It’s already known that Microsoft is hard at work on the next version of Windows. It’s currently in the early planning and engineering stages under the “Next Valley” codename and is targeting a late 2024 shipping window. So, with over two years to go before “Windows 12” is expected to ship, we wanted to share what we’re hoping to see Microsoft focus on for the next release.”
I sleep in my house’s master bedroom every night. If someone gets all riled up about that, well, I’ll still sleep like a baby.
“WPI Researchers Create Method for Making Net-Zero Aviation Fuel”
https://www.wpi.edu/news/wpi-researchers-create-method-making-net-zero-aviation-fuel
“New Sustainable Aviation Fuel Would Significantly Reduce Long-haul Flight Emissions”
They are pulling our legs. Adding a combustible metal to the combustion process of jet engines ? What could go wrong ? At minimum, the metal will probably plate out on the power turbine blades.
That road is littered with the remains of additives that did a whole lot more than planned. Tetraethyl Lead, MTBE, etc, etc, etc.
“Senate votes down Manchin’s permitting reform package”
https://www.ogj.com/general-interest/government/article/14287213/senate-votes-down-manchins-permitting-reform-package
“A Senate vote Dec. 15 ended for this year the efforts of Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) to promote moderate reform of federal permitting for energy infrastructure.”
“On a procedural vote that required 60 votes to succeed, Manchin’s package of changes to expedite permitting received a 47-47 vote, with six Republicans not voting. The opposition came from 37 Republicans and 10 Democrats. Republicans had criticized the proposals for not going far enough, while liberal Democrats have said they go too far.”
Manchin has been hosed by his own people.
“Shark Tank star Kevin O’Leary DEFENDS partnership with FTX despite calling crypto ‘garbage’ as he’s grilled over $15M payday – and says he doesn’t want his money back until smaller investors recoup their losses”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11546825/Shark-Tank-star-Kevin-OLeary-defends-partnership-FTX.html
Anyone that had anything to do with FTX is going to be sued into oblivion. Mr. Wonderful is an easy target since he has lots and lots of assets as he is almost a billionaire.
I snagged three pouches of clearance Vienna Sausage-like food a few years ago. Not something I would pay $2.75 a package but for 90¢ in the clearance bin, yeah, I’m in. Seemed like a handy thing for sudden company when you want a quick plate of snacks. This, cubed cheeses, and some saltines and Ritz. Make it fancy by adding some sliced pepperoni. Chunks of summer sausage go well. Stab a few items with toothpicks and you’re good to go.
I opened one today. Smells good. The color was as expected.
Ten ounce packages of what is pretty much Vienna Sausage cut into 5/8th inch long chunks in chicken broth. I thought the stuff was from Mexico. No, Puerto Rico.
I dumped the package into a Tupperware. Spooned out about half a can of Vienna Sausage worth into a small bowl and took a taste. Not bad. I like the texture of Vienna Sausage better, finer grind. But that’s what I’m used to. Sprinkled on some Louisiana hot sauce, grabbed a toothpick and a few Ritz.
Doing fine so far, an hour later. The Best By date is October 31, 2015.
“ExxonMobil starts operations at large-scale advanced recycling facility”
https://www.hydrocarbonprocessing.com/news/2022/12/exxonmobil-starts-operations-at-large-scale-advanced-recycling-facility
“ExxonMobil announced successful startup of one of the largest advanced recycling facilities in North America. The facility at the company’s integrated manufacturing complex in Baytown, Texas, uses proprietary technology to break down hard-to-recycle plastics and transform them into raw materials for new products. It is capable of processing more than 80 MM pounds of plastic waste per year, supporting a circular economy for post-use plastics and helping divert plastic waste currently sent to landfills.”
That is a lot of plastic. I am guessing that 80 million lbs is a drop in the bucket for now. And of course, how well the automation works is key to this.
With a BSChemEng degree and a 45 year career in aerospace (Douglas>McDonnell Douglas>Boeing) I did work on Jet Airplanes and see this as a total goobermint lie.
Back from my pickup. Chased north by thunderstorms the whole way, but didn’t get wet until home.
Have 2 extra 6th graders and they are staying for dinner, and maybe a sleepover. So far they are quietly watching movies.
Decided to put off my trip to the BOL til at least tomorrow afternoon. SO tired, and did 3 hours of driving already.
n
The last time we picked up a rental in Florida, we were given a choice between a Highlander and a Mazda5. Initially, we went with the Toyota, but the cargo area wasn’t sufficient for all of our bags without hassle. Everything fit in the Mazda easily so that was what we rolled out of the rental car facility driving.
Toyota has seriously skimped on cargo room as of late. As bad a vehicle as the Nissan Rogue is, it still sells fairly well against the RAV4 because the Nissan has a lot more cargo capacity.
The big downside to the Mazda was an “infotainment” system we never managed to get to tune the 970 AM blowtorch station out of Tampa properly, and a mysterious battery leak issue which resulted in us getting stranded in … I’m not kidding … the Gatorland parking lot after closing one night.
Stop trying to make Hollywood happy with the insane security requirements of the TPM, EFI-only drives, and DirectX graphics cards. Warner-Discovery just wrote off “Westworld” of all things so they don’t seem to care about protecting their own material anymore. Why should Redmond?
Linux is starting to follow Microsoft, with the latest version of RHEL from IBM being compiled for X86_64 v2.0 — whatever the heck that means — and all of the clones following suit. Linux contemplated going EFI only but that idea was quickly squished.
Linux contemplated going EFI only but that idea was quickly squished.
EFI = Electronic Fuel Injection ?
Linux is starting to follow Microsoft, with the latest version of RHEL from IBM being compiled for X86_64 v2.0 — whatever the heck that means — and all of the clones following suit.
Um, are there multiple instruction sets for X86_64 ?
When I had my knee done there was a little bruising on the knee. Long incision line with 23 staples. Image is located here:
https://www.raymondthompsonphotography.com/Knee.jpg
Now all I have left is a slight vertical line where the incision was located.
You could have stopped at my house and used my bottle of Rain-X and done a good application. I am not that far off the interstate if you take the Harriman exit after coming down from Roane Mountain. A short detour. Although mentioning the rain I was probably on the road from Atlanta. I jump off I-75 in Chattanooga and take highway 27. Four lanes all the way until highway 61. Five small towns to contend with and the associated speed trap in Spring City. Adds about 15 minutes to our travel time but is a much more relaxed route.
And in other news.
Highlander is back from the hospital. $1.7K bill. Replaced the brake fluid, replaced the coolant, replaced the oil and filter, replaced the transmission fluid and filter, replaced the spark plugs ($16.00 each) and it was the most expensive part of the bill as a lot of the top parts of the engine need to be removed such as intake manifolds. Cleaned the throttle body while all the upper stuff was removed. Basically, all the fluids in the vehicle were replaced.
The original issue was the check engine light. Replaced the right-side cam position sensor. Initial diagnosis was a speed sensor by the service advisor, computer indicated otherwise. The sensor was working when the vehicle went in the shop, no lights, but the indications are it was failing so replacement was recommended.
Coolant service was $100.00 for labor plus $27.00 for coolant. Some long-lasting stuff. With shop consumables and tax worked out to $143.00 for that process. Seems worth it to me to pay someone $100.00 to mess with the stuff, disposal of the old and installation of the new.
When I was in College we’d sit around in our dorm rooms smoking weed and talking shirt(-r). We called it Mental Masturbation. I say ditto for the two links.
Hey, let me put the taskbar on the top edge of the screen. Menus should drop down, not pop up.
Resurrect Control Panel, it can be called something super clever like “System Settings” that won’t offend the dorks that get upset with “Master Bedroom”. But put all the settings in one place. They can still be scattered all over like now.
Un-bundle the System Tray and the Clock/Date functions. I’d like to turn on or off the date or the clock, put them side by side, and increase the font size. I have a 32″ monitor running 2560×1440 and why is the text for time and date all of 3mm high? Perhaps a system wide setting for font size. Somewhere. Nope, found it, has no effect.
I like the Start and other buttons centered on the Taskbar. I don’t know if I did something with WinAreo or with the Power Toys but I can right-click the Start button and oh, hey, it’s almost like Control Panel.
To the folks that whine they can’t r-click on the taskbar to open Task Manager, how about doing the three finger salute and then tapping the down arrow three times? Yeah, or just r-click the Start button.
I don’t care about integrating with my Android phone. Tethering or Bluetooth seems to work fine for transferring pictures from the phone. I don’t want Windows digging into my phone.
I’ve yet to get Sharing to work correctly. I can connect to the other two PCs and drop files and read files from the Desktop folder. This machine? Nope. From the other two PCs I can see this Desktop share in Explorer but I don’t have permission. Dunno if it’s me being dense or a difference between W7 Home and Win11 Pro. I can work around but it’s a bother.
Time for dog cookies.
Turo’s name often comes up behind closed doors of F&I rooms when households making $75k a year are trying to make financing $60k vehicles work, particularly big trucks or Tonymobiles.
Honestly, I’m surprised they are still around, but VCs somewhere must be giving them money hoping they have the advantage of “first mover” status and can make it to the IPO, which was supposed to have happened already.
EFI is the new thing to use instead of BIOS. How that works exactly is a mystery to me and why it needs a 100Mb drive partition is another mystery.
I stumbled into the BIOS of this PC and it all looks like regular BIOS. What does 3/4 of it means? Not much of a clue here.
EFI allows larger drives and offers more security in the boot process. Plus, you don’t have to mess with primary vs. extended partitions.
The 100 MB drive partition stores the boot configurations for the various operating systems stored on the drive. Some Linux installs require much larger capacity partitions such as Pop! OS, which uses Systemd boot to manage the entire process.
Windows and most Linux systems can share 100 MB easily.
why it needs a 100Mb drive partition is another mystery.
—for the alternative os and backdoor for FedGov…
n
This thing looks pretty darn cool. And <$1000.
https://www.einstar.com/products/einstar-3d-scanner?variant=43551575507118
n
My machines won’t update to Win11. Boo Hoo. I liked Win7 until forced to Win10. I have vastly fewer lockups with 10 than any other previous version, but I’m not fiddling around with new software like I used to. No games either. Typically i5’s with 16GB RAM. Reboot once a month or whenever things get particularly wonky.
As a curmudgeonly reprobate I use the Classic Start Menu, but access it seldom.
I minimize the Task Bar “Search” and “Task View”. I have a “Desktop” menu over by the “System Tray”. The actual “Desktop” is bare of icons. File Manager, Browser and Mail Client are pinned.
I keep “System Explorer”, a “Process Explorer” clone running in the “Tray” as an idiot light version of CPU load and “Core Temp” shows CPU temperature. Used to use a HDD monitor app but got out of the habit. “Everything” indexes straight from the HDD’s file table, I believe, so I can be a Digital Hoarder and still find stuff.
The main setup is the unSmart big screen TV across from the couch with a dozen-ish external HDDs. The traveling PC is a refurb “ToughBook” and a HDMI cable to interface with a hotel’s TV. Android phone and tablet when not seated. 😀 A Chromebook didn’t make the cut, being particular about video file compression formats.
Can’t access BIOS since the USB keyboard isn’t recognized until the moment has passed. Hasn’t been an issue.
Seems worth it to me to pay someone $100.00 to mess with the stuff, disposal of the old and installation of the new.
Yup. The good old days of parking in the ditch and draining your fluids into the ditch are long gone.
Turo’s name often comes up behind closed doors of F&I rooms when households making $75k a year are trying to make financing $60k vehicles work, particularly big trucks or Tonymobiles.
I had a guy ask me yesterday at the dry cleaners if my truck was for sale. He wants to get a job doing hot shots but he must have his own truck. He thought my truck was pretty nice looking. I told him that I bought just before the crazy started and paid $39K with a $54K MSRP. He said that the truck he was looking at was $60K for $60K. I told him good luck.
so turo is a peer to peer auto renting service. Hmm.
the can of legal and tax worms that that opens ….
This page and the links on it have been very helpful with cell repeater at my client’s house, and at my BOL.
https://www.wilsonamplifiers.com/blog/finding-cell-tower-locations-the-complete-guide/
I use NetMonster on my android phone to see what sites had what bands and what dB levels.
n
>> I would get a Toyota Highlander as a rental vehicle.
Our most recent rentals have been from off-airport locations. Usually a much smaller inventory and less chance of a specific make/model being available. Last time there was excess inventory that was waiting to go back to the airport so the agent said “pick anything you like” at your reserved (‘compact car’) rate. Wound up with a RAV-4 with about 5K miles on it. Quite different from the V-6 model I had about 10 years ago.
>> Turo
Was considering that option to try out a Tesla but the few at reasonable prices were on the other side of town. My sense with Turo is similar to Air B&B, start off by skipping anyone with out a good number of positive reviews and carefully read any that are less than five stars.
This thing looks pretty darn cool. And <$1000.
https://www.einstar.com/products/einstar-3d-scanner?variant=43551575507118
n
Looks straight out of Star Trek.
Not sure if it’s been mentioned but looks like Scott Adams and Dilbert are back from the Twilight Zone.
Tina, Alice and Dilbert have spent all week (four hours in comic time) trying to decide where to go for lunch.
Meh. Pappasito’s is consistently, well, good, I guess, but so overpriced for what you get. Nowhere near the neighborhood mom-n-pop tex-mex restaurant. I liked their BBQ place fine, but there are lots of good BBQ places in Texas. I will say it’s better than Rudy’s, for what that’s worth.
Rudy’s BBQ has great meat. Especially if you like a lot of pepper which my wife hates. Even their baked potatoes are covered in pepper (I like !).
The real downside to Rudy’s is the sides. All of the cold sides are premeasured in a big cooler as you are waiting to order your meat(s). Not much ambiance there, I just get a bad vibe. They do have navy beans with jalapenos served very hot though, they will dip that out for you. Their peach cobbler (also served hot) is awesome.
>> Seems worth it to me to pay someone $100.00 to mess with the stuff, disposal of the old and installation of the new.
Yup. The good old days of parking in the ditch and draining your fluids into the ditch are long gone.
Last time I changed any fluids was on the lawnmower when we were still in Tampa. IIRC Florida law required any retailer that sold auto fluids/batteries to accept waste fluids from any consumer, customer or not. Used to walk our dogs down an alley that ran behind the local Advance Auto Parts store. By the back door there was always an assortment of used oil in various containers, some suspect. Traded the mower to the guy that mowed our grass for our outstanding balance. No mowing here and the gas leaf blower has a two-stroke engine.
The alternative OS and backdoor for the Feds is built into the CPU/chipset.
The Intel Management Engine. AMD has something similar but not quite as extensive.
IME has its own Ethernet port bridged to the connection on the motherboard, and anything with a WiFi transceiver these days can talk 5G to “phone home”.
Ever notice how many motherboards have WiFi built in these days?
There is also a Pappasitas Cantina in Sugar Land that you have to fight your way into. We took our friend there two years ago right before he had surgery for esophageal cancer and died in recovery. We had a good time even knowing he was high risk.
I forgot to mention that they let us sit at the table in Pappasitas Cantina for three hours without hassling us. Every 10 or 15 minutes our waiter would show up and ask if we wanted anything. The wife and I got plenty of cold water and our friend and his wife got more margaritas after we had our supper. We just sat around and talked.
He and I spent at least an hour discussing his upcoming surgery. He was weighing having the surgery or going out to California and killing their youngest daughter’s boyfriend. At the time, their youngest daughter was living in tent behind the Jack In A Box on Sunset next to the dumpster with her boyfriend. The boyfriend that had introduced her to heroin. My friend was seriously considering killing the guy since he had a three month time to live from the docs at MDACC. My friend elected to have the surgery at MDACC and died a week later after having a massive heart attack in recovery.
Almost three years later, their youngest daughter is back living with her Mom now. She is on methadone and apparently will be the rest of her life. She told her Mom the other day that she wants the heroin real bad but the methadone allows her to say no. Mom does not understand.
Oh, and if your motherboard has WiFi and DisplayPort over USB-C, well, let me put it this way – don’t make any assumptions that what is on your desktop is something only you can see.
Wanna buy a piece of Twitter ? “Elon Musk’s team is seeking new investors for Twitter”
https://www.semafor.com/article/12/16/2022/elon-musks-team-is-seeking-new-investors-for-twitter
“Musk’s money manager, Jared Birchall, reached out to potential investors this week, offering shares of Twitter at the same price, $54.20, that Musk paid to take the company private in October, the people said.”
“Illegal immigrants seen climbing out of sewer manholes and sneaking into Texas”
https://nypost.com/2022/12/16/illegal-immigrants-climbing-out-of-sewer-manholes-into-texas/
This is getting crazier by the day. El Paso is claiming that they are getting 2,500 new illegals per day ! And El Paso is now sending busloads of illegals to Houston.
I didn’t even know such a thing existed. This is pretty cool, although the page doesn’t show good applications.
https://web2.norsonic.com/product_single/acoustic-camera/
It shows you on video where the sound is coming from and it characterizes the sound too. Processing can focus on one sound source, shift your apparent viewpoint, and do a bunch of other stuff too. I see SO MANY covert, spy, and industrial uses for such a thing….
n
Loved this one:
https://twitchy.com/fuzzychimp-313137/2022/12/16/elon-musk-trolls-the-press-on-freedom-of-speech/
Saw earlier today where the EuroTrash PLT’s were making threats.
I’d take a swag and guess that it would take well less than $10MM to twit the locations of the top 1,000 EU apparatchiks, and not much more to do their kids, too.
If you think that is over the top, tell me how likely you think that these would-be obersturmführers are not planning on handing off the weigns of power to the rotten fruit of their own loins.
40.000 tons
Per Year
A large coal-fired electric plant uses 12-15,000 of coal per day.
The energy value is about the same.
So. let’s just take a swag and see: 100X the capital investment to recycle a feedstock with 3 days worth of coal-equivalent energy for a large plant.
Every engineer that signs off on shit like this should be pithed like a frog and hung on the fence right next to the managers.
Give the replacements a box of used envelopes and some used crayons and see if they can do any better.
Yeah, because it will kill off so many pilots.
Implement this after making it mandatory that each member of the development team put is 100k flight miles a year for the first three years.
Hey, that does suggest:
Roll out the new ammonia refrigerators in Washington DC, Portland, and LA.
Tetraethyl Lead
Zylon B
Daily Double: Name the two engineers burning in hell with those compounds branded where their gonads used to be.
One of my military focused trade mags had the air force ‘request for proposals’ for autonomous fighter jets as a featured article this month.
Everyone wants proposals for AI decision makers to filter the firehose of incoming data, and pick targets.
I guess they don’t see Terminator as a cautionary tale.
n
@Lynn
I would have looked at a larger picture: Do I have the skills to persuade the boyfriend to give up his source, and persuade that person to be chatty with me in turn?
The girls are a lot quieter than I expected…
but I’m going to sleep. I’m wiped out and have a lot to do tomorrow.
n
I would have looked at a larger picture: Do I have the skills to persuade the boyfriend to give up his source, and persuade that person to be chatty with me in turn?
It was not just the heroin. My friend had spent two weeks searching Los Angeles for his daughter about six months before our dinner. He found her, with said boyfriend, and was driving them to the airport to fly back to Texas where he was going to put his daughter into rehab. Unfortunately, his daughter would not come to the airport without her boyfriend. She was 20 ??? at the time.
On the way to the airport, the boyfriend managed to persuade his daughter to stay in LA on the streets with him. My friend wanted to kill the boyfriend at that point. He returned to Texas without his daughter. He went back to LA a month later, found them again, got his daughter into rehab in LA since she was in the process of going to jail for a year along with the boyfriend. The boyfriend managed to get himself into the same rehab as diversion for himself too.
I will not put the entire story up here but it is unbelievable. My friend knew that he was dying of cancer and was trying to save his youngest daughter. He died with her in rehab in LA.
>> (you can’t call it a ‘master bedroom’ now)
First time I’ve heard “owner’s bedroom.” Doesn’t really address the reason ‘masser bedroom’ fell out of favor. Most often I hear “primary bedroom.”
>> EINSTAR, an affordable handheld 3D scanner, makes high-quality 3D data available to everyone.
Ohh man, I think I saw one of those in a bin at the Goodwill Outlet the other day…or maybe it was just an old TV remote…
>> A Senate vote Dec. 15 ended for this year the efforts of Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) to promote moderate reform of federal permitting for energy infrastructure.
And boy was President Manchin p!ssed off.
>> EFI = Electronic Fuel Injection ?
@lynn:
https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/architecture-and-technology/unified-extensible-firmware-interface/efi-homepage-general-technology.html
>> SO tired, and did 3 hours of driving already.
@nick, apologies for the nag, had your yearly physical yet?
>> I guess they don’t see Terminator as a cautionary tale.
No, they see it as a road map…
Seriously? I know I’m out of touch with current English usage (except on the Internet), but…seriously? Snowflakes abound.
As with the “choose your pronouns” dimwits, other people do not get to dictate my use of language.