Thur. Dec. 22, 2022 – yup 12222022 – work fascinates me, I could watch it all day…

By on December 22nd, 2022 in amateur radio, decline and fall, personal

Cold.  Wet.   More cold later.   40F when I went to bed.    Wed. wasn’t too bad.  I wore a jacket and just a sweatshirt while I was working at my storage unit.

I did manage to rearrange, sort, and stack stuff.   Made room to get some stuff out of the house.   We will have room for a Christmas tree now…  which we will have to get today.  And my mom, we’ll have to get her too. And an antenna tower.   Gotta get that.

Oh, child 1 will be getting her braces off.   If they get up after staying up to all hours watching the Addams family movies again.  Missed the appointment Wednesday morning due to sleeping in.  I guess we’ll see how important it really is.

Once D1 is not a brace face anymore, and W1 has dropped her car at the repair place for some brake work, I’ll  be free to pick up my big antenna tower.   It’s a Wade DMX 52.   Free standing, no guys, good for 3 sq ft of antenna wind load.   Some how the anchors and hardware kit seem to have gone missing so I’ll have to order those, but it looks like it was never installed.   I might try to sell it at the hamfest in March, as it is really pretty dang big (52 ft tall!)  Setting it up at the BOL would give me better reach and reception for ham radio… but it’s a $4000 antenna tower, and if I could get half that, I’d make good money on it.   On the other hand, I’d never get an antenna tower like it for the money I paid.  On the gripping hand, I’ll have to order the parts kit and anchors from the factory, and dig a big hole and fill it with concrete in order to set up the tower.  That probably won’t be cheap, but it would be common expense to any tower.

Choices.

Meanwhile, my wife will be taking my expedition to pick up my mom from the airport.   So I better make sure it’s clean and fueled before I head out.   Probably should get some groceries in, since it’s my normal time to do that.  Hope the panic buying hasn’t stripped the store.  Oh, and I should at least test the gennie… and the heaters.

Work.  Got plenty, thanks.

Stack stuff.   Learn stuff.   Build your network.

nick

88 Comments and discussion on "Thur. Dec. 22, 2022 – yup 12222022 – work fascinates me, I could watch it all day…"

  1. Greg Norton says:

    Providing weapons is a cold-blooded calculation to let someone else do the bleeding.

    And increase the profits of the defense contractors, always generous campaign donors.

    And, of course, 10% for the Big Guy.

    Plus six figure jobs in a lot of Congressional districts where the party in charge of Congress has “safe” seats.

    Zelensky flew into DC yesterday on a military variant 737-700. So, help me out here. Where are those made, again?

    On a related note, recruiter emails for me picked up this week regarding something Raytheon has popping in … Arizona. 

    Well, sooprise!

    Paid relo *and* security clearance processing.

  2. Greg Norton says:

    Another billion dollars … if he doesn’t die.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lsFs2615gw

  3. ITGuy1998 says:

    Another billion dollars … if he doesn’t die.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lsFs2615gw

    The last great movie star. Might actually go to the theater to see that one. 

  4. Greg Norton says:

    Time for The Turtle to go:

    The alternative was Rick Scott, who has his own RINO agenda.

    Scott put an end to Bill Nelson’s Senate career, but that’s about it as far as meaningful accomplishments in the chamber.

  5. Nick Flandrey says:

    Currently 51F and 99%RH in the swamp.   No actual moisture from the sky.

    Headed out to do car swapping, etc.

    n

  6. Ray Thompson says:

    Seems my credit card that I rarely used was used in Florida. Some diagnostic center named Citrus. Card has been cancelled, CU will reverse the transaction when it posts. I hate thieves.

  7. CowboyStu says:

    Yesterday, NaN and Ed came back as Tick and Tock.  Today, they may return as Flip and Flop.

    28
    1
  8. MrAtoz says:

    Activate The Hammer.

  9. MrAtoz says:

    A small sample of the pork in the omnibus boondoggle:

    Rep. Chip Roy DRAGS any Republican supporting Omnibus Bill in damning thread of woke earmarks

    Anybody who’s worked in goobermint knows this money will be spent and nothing will come of it.

  10. lynn says:

    “Bankman-Fried Associates Flip as FTX Founder Arrives in NYC”

      https://www.yahoo.com/now/bankman-fried-associates-flip-ftx-050651305.html

    SBF’s fellow thieves have pled guilty to several counts of fraud and are testifying against him.

    Where is the $8 billion ?

  11. Lynn says:

    Currently 51F and 99%RH in the swamp.   No actual moisture from the sky.

    Headed out to do car swapping, etc.

    It got up to 63 F here.  It was nice and sunny when I walked out to get the trash cans which the trash dudes left on the country road again so people had to swerve to miss them.  Then the leading edge of the front came in and the temperature dropped 5 F in a second as I was walking the cans back to the house.

  12. Lynn says:

    A small sample of the pork in the omnibus boondoggle:

    Rep. Chip Roy DRAGS any Republican supporting Omnibus Bill in damning thread of woke earmarks

    Anybody who’s worked in goobermint knows this money will be spent and nothing will come of it.

    They are just the two sides of The War Party.  OFD said it first and said it well.

    The financial apocalypse of the USA is nigh.

  13. Lynn says:

    “Here comes the snowpocalypse: US braces for ‘once-in-a-generation’ weather front, with the worst crippling storms hitting TODAY – battering nearly EVERY state as snow bomb ‘cyclone’ shuts down travel”

        https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11565053/US-braces-generation-weather-worst-crippling-storms-hitting-TODAY.html

    What was Feb 2021, chopped liver ?

    The wife’s sister just called and said that it is snowing in Dallas. They are driving down here tomorrow.

    Our HEB was out of bread and water last night. Plenty of eggs and milk though.

  14. Lynn says:

    Wow, ERCOT has put a fire in ALL of the old steam boilers.  They have 13,199 MW of of spinning reserve at the moment with 57,812 MW of demand.  Smart.  There is nothing worse than trying to start a cold cold cold steam boiler when it is freezing.

        https://www.ercot.com/gridmktinfo/dashboards

    There is 2,769 MW of solar and 20,225 MW of wind turbines running right now. I guess that all of the wind turbines have turned by now from the south to the north. I do not know if they can keep them running during the change in direction.

  15. Lynn says:

    Our forecast for Friday morning is still 18 F and then warming to 34 F.  We shall see.

        https://www.wunderground.com/forecast/us/tx/sugar%20land/77469

  16. Lynn says:

    The wife is watching White Christmas for the umpteenth time.  I passed. Heading in to work in a while.

  17. mediumwave says:

    “Dante” spewed some nonsense that I’m not gonna repeat here, to which my response is “Quick, Henry, the Flit!”

    Show of hands, all of you who recognize that ancient advertising gem. 😀

  18. Greg Norton says:

    SBF’s fellow thieves have pled guilty to several counts of fraud and are testifying against him.

    Where is the $8 billion ?

    Anytime I see a picture of the Ellison woman, I hear the words “Mouseketeer Roll Call …” in my head.

    Of course she was going to flip.

    Gotta wonder if Bluto has a groomer/pedo interest in addition to all of his other problems.

  19. Lynn says:

    “Dante” spewed some nonsense that I’m not gonna repeat here, to which my response is “Quick, Henry, the Flit!”

    Show of hands, all of you who recognize that ancient advertising gem. 

    You know, the King James Version of the Bible had its day.  And that day has passed.

    And we have a SPAM button for spammers.

  20. Lynn says:

    “FTX founder Bankman-Fried released on $250 million bond at U.S. court appearance”

        https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ftx-founder-bankman-fried-u-110505741.html

    “Nicolas Roos, a prosecutor, told U.S. Magistrate Judge Gabriel Gorenstein that the bail package would require Bankman-Fried to surrender his passport and remain in home confinement at his parents’ home in Palo Alto, California. He would also be required to undergo regular mental health treatment and evaluation.”

    Are you kidding me ?  Apparently his parents came up with the $15 million down payment (6%) on the $250 million bond.  That money is nonrefundable.

    You know, I think I know where some of that $8 billion went.

  21. Lynn says:

    You know, I am beginning to think that Tesla is in trouble.  After the three for one split, the stock has gone from $381 to $126.   I am wondering if Tesla is not able to sell all of their cars without incentives ?

        https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/TSLA?p=TSLA

  22. Greg Norton says:

    You know, the King James Version of the Bible had its day.  And that day has passed.

    Except in “The Bible as Literature” course.

  23. Lynn says:

    “Peter, Paul and Mary – If I Had A Hammer (1963 performance)”

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxWTDcP9Y5E

    For that special person in Mom’s basement.

  24. Lynn says:

    “Vince Vance & The Valiants – All I Want for Christmas Is You”

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8HWHd0EYJA

    Best Christmas song ever, Vince’s freaky hair do and all !

  25. Lynn says:

    “Train Derails After Slamming Into Semi-Truck (VIDEO)”

        https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/12/train-derails-slamming-semi-truck-video/

    “Tennessee – A train slammed into a semi-truck on Tuesday, causing a derailment.  According to reports, a truck carrying a 134 foot concrete beam stopped on the tracks at an intersection when the train demolished it Tuesday afternoon.”

    Wow !  Do not stop on the tracks !

  26. Nick Flandrey says:

    Got my tower.   Headed to the grocery store.   

    Thanks for watching over the place.

    Wind just picked up and is gusting and variable.  Temp is 50F and humidity is down to 83%RH.

    back in a bit.

    n

    (local mall did not have any traffic waiting to get in)

  27. MrAtoz says:

    The omnibus boondoggle is through the Senate without a problem thanks to the RINOs. I don’t think the Redumblicans can stop it in the House during the lame duck session. $1.7 trillion of which I won’t see a penny of. Too White, too cis, too…you get the picture.

  28. MrAtoz says:

    PS Maybe I should take a stroll down the “Moochelle Obola Hiking Trail” to get some tax dollar benefit.

  29. Greg Norton says:

    (local mall did not have any traffic waiting to get in)

    Barnes & Noble was mobbed when I went for what I thought would be a quick run to pick up a Christmas gift for my wife.

    The attached Game Stop had a sign on the door. “PS5 available. Limited quantities”

    The line at the Game Stop register was about 10 deep. Arbitrage!

    I guess Game Stop had a deal with Barnes & Noble at one point. It reminds me of the Egghead Discount Ponzi setups I worked around Tampa in 86 and 87, located in a local chain of office supply stores which Mittens eventually acquired building Staples.

  30. MrAtoz says:

    It was 64F when I went to the grocery store at 1:00pm. It is now 37F at 3:30pm The heat pump is a pumpin’. The wind is gusting and the Sun is shining. It could get down to 16F tonight according to my weather app.

    I’ve got the Winter “socks” on the hose bibs and insulation on some exposed water lines for the weird shower mod they did on the house. Those made it through the last big freeze some my fingers are crossed. Hopefully, with the lack of precipitation, the heat pump won’t freeze this time.

  31. Ray Thompson says:

    Wow !  Do not stop on the tracks !

    The truck got trapped by a red light. A load that long should have had an escort. Someone is going suffer for not getting the prope permits and escort.

  32. Lynn says:

    “Intel’s Core i9-13900K Processor Gets Overclocked to 9GHz”

        https://www.pcmag.com/news/intels-core-i9-13900k-processor-gets-overclocked-to-9ghz

    “By using liquid helium as a cooling solution, the chip was able to break the 9GHz barrier and obtain a new world record.”

    People are nuts.

  33. Lynn says:

    Wow !  Do not stop on the tracks !

    The truck got trapped by a red light. A load that long should have had an escort. Someone is going suffer for not getting the prope permits and escort.

    That is nothing compared to the derailing the train.  The railroad company is going to bankrupt the truck owner.

  34. Ray Thompson says:

    the chip was able to break the 9GHz barrier and obtain a new world record

    Yep, that spreadsheet with the family budget that hasn’t been updated in two years is going to calculate so much faster.

    The railroad company is going to bankrupt the truck owner.

    The insurance company of the truck owner will have to pay. But only to the limit of the policy. Which I doubt is enough to cover a couple of locomotives (which can run from $1 to $2 million dollars), several freight cars, damaged track, and the cost to clean up the mess. My uneducated guess is that it will cost several million dollars to make it right.

    The story is the truck got stopped by a red light. If I was the truck driver, I would have run the red light to get the load off the tracks. I have been caught being stopped on tracks before due to traffic and rather than sit on the tracks, I drove into the other lane and just dealt with the ugly stares, horns honking, and single digit salutes. No way am I leaving a vehicle on the tracks.

    12
  35. paul says:

    It was cloudy and still for the morning dog walk.  44F.  The sun came out for a while and the temp went to 51F. About 9:30 the wind started to blow.  The wind is still blowing.  Not “blow the carpet scrap doormats off the porch” strong.

    Currently, 21F at 5PM.  NWS says 12F tonight, 28 tomorrow, and 16 Friday night.  I have faucets trickling.  That’s faster than dripping and slower than a stream.

    I dragged some scrap corrugated sheet metal to the house yesterday.  I had a gap under the kitchen window about 20 inches high and 8 feet wide. Around the corner another gap a bit over 2 feet wide and about 8 feet wide.  It’s not a perfect seal.  I’ll guess I’m down to about a 16 inch square worth of gaps compared to oh… 18 feet by 2 feet.  It seems to be helping, the house isn’t chilling out like it always has.

    Unless the cats decided to shred some pipe insulation since September, I’m good there.

    I made it through 1F a couple of years ago.  I’ll get my rain coat out (it blocks the wind totally) and go on with my walking of the pesty beagle. 

    Maybe it will snow a bit. 

  36. Rick H says:

    Freezing rain forecast for home ‘opposite Mutiny Bay WA’. Temps this morning were down to 12F. High today 24F. Clear skies, but storm’s a-coming.

    Glad to be in CA visiting the grandkids (noisy fun), but hoping the outside faucets are OK. It has gotten cold in past winters, and no issues with the outside faucets.  Still some snow on the ground from the last storm, maybe a couple inches forecast from this one.

  37. Lynn says:

    The insurance company of the truck owner will have to pay. But only to the limit of the policy. Which I doubt is enough to cover a couple of locomotives (which can run from $1 to $2 million dollars), several freight cars, damaged track, and the cost to clean up the mess. My uneducated guess is that it will cost several million dollars to make it right.

    I think that you are short a digit on the cost of the diesel locomotives.  $10 to $20 million each is more like it.  Those locomotives have one to six diesels each of 1,000 to 5,000 hp. And the traction motor is not cheap nor are the controls.  Nor is the chassis.

  38. Greg Norton says:

    Yep, that spreadsheet with the family budget that hasn’t been updated in two years is going to calculate so much faster.

    I notice every now and then that Quicken creates a GPUCache folder on my desktop.

    Is it mining Bitcoin these days? Did I miss something in the user agreement?

    Am I going to wake up sewn into a human centipede as allowed per my Apple user agreement?

  39. Ray Thompson says:

    I think that you are short a digit on the cost of the diesel locomotives.

    My cost was based on what I found on the WEB. I accept your correction, sort of. I think your numbers are a little high. I was unable to find a used locomotive lot that advertised locally. But what do I know? (leave it alone SteveF. 🙂 )

  40. paul says:

    It’s 18F now and the wind has picked up.  Yaaa!

    On the old Win7 Home machine if you had anything opened, even minimized, and the machine went to sleep, everything would be re-sized to about 800×600 and cascading from the upper left corner. But if you do “show desktop” with the button to the right of the clock, you could click that and nothing was resized when the machine woke up.

    This Win11 Pro box doesn’t do that.  It goes to sleep and nothing is resized.  The weird to me thing is Firefox.  I have a window open, maybe several tabs, and I have my bookmarks open in that smaller window.  Wake the machine, T-bird is sitting right where I left it, Firefox, uh, the main window and the bookmarks window appear and then the main window minimizes.

    I guess it’s a video driver thing.   I like it better than having to resize all of my windows.  I’m not complaining. 

    It’s now 17F.   

  41. Greg Norton says:

    Glad to be in CA visiting the grandkids (noisy fun), but hoping the outside faucets are OK. It has gotten cold in past winters, and no issues with the outside faucets.  Still some snow on the ground from the last storm, maybe a couple inches forecast from this one.

    In four years in SW WA State, I never had faucet covers until the landlord brought some around in December of our last year, about six months before we left.

    In the Portland Metro, we usually saw a couple of weeks every Winter where temps never got above freezing during the daytime. OTOH, our rental was built in 2007 and really well insulated.

  42. paul says:

    I have no idea what a choo-choo train motor costs.  Because a million or a billion or a trillion, it’s all just an extra zero or three.

    Kinda like the a-holes signing a budget bill that is what?  4000 pages?  No telling what is stuffed in there.

  43. JimB says:

    I just ordered another BatteryMINDer Plus Battery Charger/Trickle Charger/Desulfator — 12 Volt, 1 Amp, Model# 12117TC:

    https://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200332201_200332201

    It is on sale for $19.99 today (only?) I think this is a continuing sale, but if you want one maybe today would be a good day to place an order. This item appears to be on sale almost always, but this is the best price I have seen.

    I bought one back in April 2020, and have used it extensively. @paul also bought one and commented on it. I have other VDC Electronics chargers, and they seem to make Good StuffTM. Two of mine are about 20 years old and still work fine after heavy use. I say this because the much more popular brand name, Battery Tender R, is noted for short life, and even starting fires. After reading reviews, I have never bought one of their products.

    Take the desulfation claims with a grain of salt. These small units don’t produce enough pulse current for this to work very well. However… keeping a battery up to 100% charge as much as possible will prevent sulfation. Once sulfation is severe enough, practically nothing will reverse it.

    This little one amp charger is quite sophisticated, and goes through several steps to charge and maintain a battery. Since it only puts out one amp, it will take a long time to charge a battery that is even slightly discharged. For that I recommend a five amp charger, another subject. However, this one is about as trouble free as any. It can be left on a battery for months at a time, and will not damage it. I have verified this by (some) reverse engineering, talking to the company, and by experience. It is ideal for a battery that is not used daily. When we go away, I put a charger of this type on the cars we leave behind. Modern cars should not be left unused for much more than a couple of weeks. Do this frequently, and the battery will live a short life.

    I used to build maintainers for friends who have seasonal vehicles, but haven’t since I found this one. The older versions were not temperature compensated, but this one is, an important plus.

    This will work on any lead acid battery, flooded or AGM. Possibly even gelled type, although these are mostly used in aircraft. I have also used this for small UPS type gelled electrolyte batteries with no problems, but the float voltage might be a bit low; YMMV. Most UPS batteries will do just fine inside the UPS – until they die. They are cheap. Because it only puts out one amp, it is safe for small motorcycle and recreational vehicle batteries. Highly recommended.

  44. SteveF says:

    But what do I know?

    Word is that you know how to rub Jill Biden with butter so she’s glistening and sexy for her bikini shoots.

  45. Greg Norton says:

    This Win11 Pro box doesn’t do that.  It goes to sleep and nothing is resized.  The weird to me thing is Firefox.  I have a window open, maybe several tabs, and I have my bookmarks open in that smaller window.  Wake the machine, T-bird is sitting right where I left it, Firefox, uh, the main window and the bookmarks window appear and then the main window minimizes.

    Windows 11 wants DirectX 12 in the video hardware among other requirements. I know that it plays with hardware acceleration of number crunching via GPU, but most of the minimums have always struck me as Microsoft trying to close the streaming service pirate’s video source of choice – the pre-Win 11 graphics stack.

    I just saw an article about Netflix buying a big Army base for a studio complex in New Jersey. Maybe the Microsoft buyout rumors aren’t so far fetched.

  46. JimM says:

    “… names don’t matter anymore.”

    I can usually identify any of our regular posters within a few sentences without seeing the name. My guess is that ?111 11?? ???? ???? et. al. is only one person. ?111 11?? ???? ???? pretty much means “failed to produce a useful result”, and that has pretty much proven true. I have gotten something useful out of two of his posts.

  47. Nick Flandrey says:

    @stevef – ouch, ouch ouch, aye my eye!

    Need to stab myself in the mind’s eye now…

    my weather station says 30F down from 50 while the sun was up.   Serious gusting, 40-50mph at a guess.   Small dead limbs falling from the sky.   

    Hope txu keeps the lights on.

    HEB looked like locusts hit it.   Milk was pretty bare, as was bottled water.   There was some, but not much.   Egg cooler was on the last few, but they positioned a whole pallet next to it.  Bread had a few of each brand left.   This was around 430.   I’m sure the ‘grab something on the way home from work’ crowd found less than I did.

    Big score was meat on sale.   Ribeye roasts, $3.74 a pound limit two.   I got 11 pounders.  Pork shoulder (I’ve a mind to make the family recipe sausage) $10 for 10 pounds.   The American wagyu beef shoulder chuck roast was $9/pound.  That is the best pot roast you’ll eat.   Oh, and store brand spiral sliced ham was on sale, $1/pound.   My receipt showed $137 in ‘on sale’ savings.  We’ll be having beef ribeye roast for Christmas.

    We’re having pork loin roast, bone on, for dinner tonight.   I noticed a bag had a hole and there was some freezer burn.    Cut the damage off, and popped it in the oven.   Smells good.  We’ll see.   Frozen in ’18…

    n

  48. Nick Flandrey says:

    @paul, it’s funny what you get used to.  That sort of resizing and moving stuff would drive me nuts.

    n

  49. Nick Flandrey says:

    One of our local auctions has the bidden “I did that” stickers for sale.    If I didn’t have to drive across the whole city to pick them up, I’d be a bidder.

    n

  50. Lynn says:

    I just put a fire in my Generac 38 kw generator and ran it for 25 minutes.  Even though the battery has a trickle charger, it still groaned and chugged for over ten seconds getting it started at 28 F.  Not the 600 rpm spin it has at 80 F.   I figure that if ERCOT goes down at 5 am or 6 am, a fresh start will be good for it.

    I noticed that the controller says Service Schedule A is due on it so I sent a nasty gram to Generator Supercenter to get their butts out here and get me some new plugs and oil.  After all, I pay them $58 a month or something like that for service and monitoring.

  51. Lynn says:

    The new locomotives do not come with a 16 cylinder dual turbocharged 5,000 hp diesel anymore.   That old two stroke diesel engine does not meet emissions specs so they put five Cummins diesels in the locomotives now.

    We had two of the two stroke submarine diesels at the Morgan Creek Steam Electric Station that I worked at from 1982 to 1984.  They would spit raw diesel out their one foot diameter stacks for an hour as they got warmed up.  So on Wednesdays, you parked a long way away from the diesels or else got your vehicle coated in diesel spit.

  52. Alan says:

    >> PS Maybe I should take a stroll down the “Moochelle Obola Hiking Trail” to get some tax dollar benefit.

    For those who haven’t seen the details, this “trail” is gonna cost us taxpayers $3.6 MILLION.

  53. Alan says:

    >> On a related note, recruiter emails for me picked up this week regarding something Raytheon has popping in … Arizona. 

    Well, sooprise!

    Paid relo *and* security clearance processing.

    Not bad out there in the desert. Supposed to be 70 and partly sunny tomorrow.

  54. Alan says:

    >> You know, I am beginning to think that Tesla is in trouble.  After the three for one split, the stock has gone from $381 to $126.   I am wondering if Tesla is not able to sell all of their cars without incentives ?

    Umm…incentives? Looks that way…

    Tesla Offers $7,500 Discount in Rare Move to Lift Deliveries

  55. Tony Russo says:

    It was -16F this morning when I got up. The high reached -3. The wind chill made it feel even colder. 

  56. Alan says:

    >> The attached Game Stop had a sign on the door. “PS5 available. Limited quantities”

    The line at the Game Stop register was about 10 deep. Arbitrage!

    Recent sales on eBay have been in the $600 – $650 range.

  57. Lynn says:

    Hope txu keeps the lights on.

    TXU is only a electricity reseller nowadays.  All their power plants and transmission lines belong to Vistra Energy now after the bankruptcy.  There is some connection between the two though.  It may be that TXU is owned by Vistra.  And all the distribution lines and four million electric meters went to Oncor which is apparently owned by the Gecko.

        https://vistracorp.com/

    About half of the power plants that I worked are gone now.   About thirty of the natural gas and oil steam units (Morgan Creek 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, North Lake 1, 2, 3, etc) and ten of the coal steam units (Big Brown 1, 2, Monticello 1, 2, 3, and Sandow 1, 2, 3, 4, 5).  All in the name of the renewables.

    My pension is still labeled TXU though even though it is being handled by Fidelity.  Only 2.5 more years to get my monthly pension check of $288 !  I can hardly wait.

  58. drwilliams says:

    I think she was pushed and I’m looking at the Pikachu:

    https://twitter.com/TheFigen_/status/1605260549939290112

  59. drwilliams says:

    If anyone is needful [after SteveF] of more wholesome food images, try some classic recipes:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvRpTocNP5I

  60. MrAtoz says:

    It’s down to 23ºF. Looks like we’ll hit the 16ºF. Hang in there, heat pump.

  61. Lynn says:

    “Arctic air now moving into the Houston area, expect very low temperatures tonight”

        https://spacecityweather.com/arctic-air-now-moving-into-the-houston-area-expect-very-low-temperatures-tonight/

    “Power – One of the major problems during the February 2021 freeze was the lack of power, when “rolling” blackouts became permanent due to poor management of the Texas electricity grid and a lack of oversight for proper winterization of power plants. It does appear this problem has been solved. ERCOT is reporting excess power generating capacity, and expects to have electricity to meet demands overnight as temperatures plummet across the state. You can track supply and demand in real time here.”

    Yeah, if ERCOT does not turn off the power to the natural gas pipeline electric motors (20 MW to 50 MW each) this time, the state should run a lot better. And not turn off the power to all of the wellhead antifreeze circulation systems too.

  62. Greg Norton says:

    Yeah, if ERCOT does not turn off the power to the natural gas pipeline electric motors (20 MW to 50 MW each) this time, the state should run a lot better. And not turn off the power to all of the wellhead antifreeze circulation systems too.

    The regulators are not going to be “working” from home tomorrow.

  63. Greg Norton says:

    TXU is only a electricity reseller nowadays.  All their power plants and transmission lines belong to Vistra Energy now after the bankruptcy.  There is some connection between the two though.  It may be that TXU is owned by Vistra.  And all the distribution lines and four million electric meters went to Oncor which is apparently owned by the Gecko.

    No, I fact checked the Oncor ownership after the last Gecko shareholder letter didn’t mention it among his energy holdings as he crowed about the amount of capital spending they did. My bad – Berkshire Hathaway lost the bidding at the last minute.

  64. Nick Flandrey says:

    @tony- you win the ‘omg it’s freakin’ cold today’ award!

    Temp in Houston, now 25F and still blowing.   Gusting around 10 mph and variable.

    Toasty in the house.

    Rib roast was delicious.   Garlic and bacon for seasoning.  Texas toast, baked cauliflower, and roasted sweet potato fries rounded out the meal.

    Wife’s vehicle service is done.   Busy small shop, one guy, his dad, and one other mechanic.  Very reasonable and very transparent on cost and work done.

    Time to decorate the tree.   (a very ‘Charlie Brown’ tree as the lot was pretty well worked over today.)

    n

  65. Nick Flandrey says:

     From an email alert.

    Increase in Pediatric Invasive Group A Streptococcal Infections

    The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is issuing this Health Alert Network (HAN) Health Advisory to notify clinicians and public health authorities of a recent increase in pediatric invasive group A streptococcal (iGAS) infections. In November 2022, CDC was notified of a possible increase in iGAS infections among children at a hospital in Colorado. Potential increases in pediatric iGAS cases in other states were subsequently noted by contributors to the Infectious Diseases Society of America’s provider-based Emerging Infections Network and by certain jurisdictions participating in CDC’s Active Bacterial Core Surveillance System (ABCs). This increased number of pediatric iGAS cases in some jurisdictions has occurred in the setting of increased circulation of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), influenza viruses, SARS-CoV-2, and other respiratory viruses. While the overall number of cases has remained relatively low and iGAS infections remain rare in children, CDC is investigating these reports.  

  66. Lynn says:

    Wow, the ERCOT demand is still climbing,   73,581 MW at 9 pm.  They claim a supply of 92,387 MW with a spinning reserve of 8,372 MW.  So there are quite a few gas turbines offline, ready to be started.  The frame 5 and 7 gas turbines require 22 minutes to come online, the LM 9000s can be online in 6 minutes.

         https://www.ercot.com/gridmktinfo/dashboards

    There is zero solar and 23,387 MW of wind turbines.   Natural gas and oil are providing 35,631 MW, coal is providing 9,943 MW, nuclear is 5,119 MW, and hydro is zero.  Batteries are 17 MW which I find interesting.  It is 23 F outside and the wind is blowing a constant 30 mph.  I was just checking the water to the warehouse, I forgot to check it earlier.  Looks like one of my tenants turned the water off and drained the warehouse as much as it can be drained (lots of horizontal pipes).

    The peak demand for ERCOT is 80,000 MW, set last August 2022. We will be testing that peak in the morning.

  67. ITGuy1998 says:

    It was -16F this morning when I got up. The high reached -3. The wind chill made it feel even colder. 
     

    Way too cold for me. Wow.

  68. Nick Flandrey says:

    23F and we just had a gust to 16mph.  Still seeing a lot of 9-11 mph gusting.  Very quiet on the street.  I think everyone is just staying in tonight.

    n

    Tree is decorated.   Some presents are accumulating underneath.

    n

  69. Lynn says:

    Yeah, if ERCOT does not turn off the power to the natural gas pipeline electric motors (20 MW to 50 MW each) this time, the state should run a lot better. And not turn off the power to all of the wellhead antifreeze circulation systems too.

    The regulators are not going to be “working” from home tomorrow.

    It was much, much, much worse than that.  The ERCOT personnel had no clue about the pipeline compressor motors nor the wellhead antifreeze systems.  They never reached out to the companies that run the natural gas infrastructure in The Great State of Texas where 50% of our electric power comes from natural gas.  They never got a list of electrical lines to never, never, never turn off to keep the natural gas grid flowing.

    ERCOT reached out to the hospitals, fire stations, etc and got that list.  Which, they kinda followed as they went into total panic mode in Feb 2021.  But, that total panic mode saved the grid in Texas by blacking out half of the state for four+ days so I cannot be too rough on them.  If the grid had gone down, no telling how long it would have taken to re-establish.  Weeks at least, synchronizing subgrids to each other is not easy as all of the thousands of subgrids in Texas are connected using AC lines, not DC lines.

  70. Lynn says:

    23F and we just had a gust to 16mph.  Still seeing a lot of 9-11 mph gusting.  Very quiet on the street.  I think everyone is just staying in tonight.

    When the wife and I went for our daily walk at 530pm, the 30 mph 28 F wind was in our face for a half mile.  It was a struggle.  Even the dog was having trouble.  I put a tshirt on the dog and the wife put a scarf on her.  She liked neither.  There were no other walkers today.  We should walked at noon but neither of us thought about it.  I had to go pickup my new glasses and was worried about the traffic.

  71. Lynn says:

    “Gold at $4,000? Analysts share their 2023 outlook as inflation, recession fears linger”

       https://www.cnbc.com/2022/12/22/gold-at-4000-analysts-share-their-2023-outlook-for-prices.html

    Ah yes, the goldbugs are getting excited.

    Hat tip to:
    https://www.drudgereport.com/

  72. Nick Flandrey says:

    Has there ever not been a good time to buy gold?

    n

  73. Alan says:

    >> Kinda like the a-holes signing a budget bill that is what?  4000 pages?  No telling what is stuffed in there.

    It’s like what they say about sausages, while they taste good, sometimes you don’t want to know what’s in them. 

  74. Lynn says:

    >> Kinda like the a-holes signing a budget bill that is what?  4000 pages?  No telling what is stuffed in there.

    It’s like what they say about sausages, while they taste good, sometimes you don’t want to know what’s in them. 

    From Gun Owners of America:

    1. Massive 14.1% ATF Budget Increase to Facilitate Biden’s Pistol Ban
    2. 50% Increase for ATF’s NTC Budget to Maintain the Illegal Near-Billion Record Gun Registry
    3. $700+ Million in Funding Available to Bribe States to Pass “Red Flag” Gun Confiscation Laws
    4. Directing VA Medical Centers to Utilize Confiscation Orders on Vulnerable Veterans
    5. Department of Education to Push “Safe Storage” of Parents’ Firearms
    6. Funding for VA to Maintain “Gun Storage Maps” to Keep Tabs on Where Veterans Keep Guns
    7. New Annual Compensation for Families of Deceased ATF Agents Could be an Indication of Upcoming Gun Confiscation
    8. Gun Control Earmarks for “Orchid Healing Circles” and More!
    9. Dickey Violations Galore While CDC Suppresses Self-Defense Statistics
    10. Programs Discouraging Women from Exercising their Second Amendment Rights
    11. Anti-Gun “Community Violence Intervention” Initiatives
    12. “Violent Anti-Government Ideology” and “Domestic Radicalization Research”

    Explained at:
    https://www.votervoice.net/BroadcastLinks/EK9NKU5KmUHNS48AxaqcaQ

    Our senior RINO senator John Cornyn from Texas voted for it.  I won’t be voting for him again.

  75. Lynn says:

    Has there ever not been a good time to buy gold?

    Where are you going to hide it ?  Scratch that.  Where could you hide it that a door to door search would not casually find your gold coins and bars ?

    One of the many things that really bothered me in “The Mandibles” is the seizure of all gold: bars, coins, rings, etc during the financial apocalypse of the USA starting in 2029.

        https://www.amazon.com/Mandibles-Family-2029-2047-Lionel-Shriver/dp/006232828X?tag=ttgnet-20/

    As far as I can tell, we are running right down that path.  In fact, we may be early.

    Wow, I still have the top review for the book which I gave five out of five stars.

  76. drwilliams says:

    It was much, much, much worse than that.  The ERCOT personnel had no clue about the pipeline compressor motors nor the wellhead antifreeze systems.  They never reached out to the companies that run the natural gas infrastructure in The Great State of Texas where 50% of our electric power comes from natural gas.  They never got a list of electrical lines to never, never, never turn off to keep the natural gas grid flowing.

    ERCOT reached out to the hospitals, fire stations, etc and got that list.  Which, they kinda followed as they went into total panic mode in Feb 2021.  But, that total panic mode saved the grid in Texas by blacking out half of the state for four+ days so I cannot be too rough on them.  If the grid had gone down, no telling how long it would have taken to re-establish.  Weeks at least, synchronizing subgrids to each other is not easy as all of the thousands of subgrids in Texas are connected using AC lines, not DC lines.

    Clueless regulators came within a hair of collapsing the electrical grid in Texas. 

    Did the AAR estimate the number of deaths that would have caused?

  77. Lynn says:

    What is AAR ?

  78. JimB says:

    I feel for those who have stormy and threatening weather. Looks like the Midwest is getting hit hard. Last night my wife’s sister in Des Moines said they are having a blizzard, with 50+mph winds and several inches of snow, with lows to hit -25F. Never liked that.

    We had a storm about ten days ago: colder, a little rain, and some wind. Not a big storm, but unpleasant anyway. We had about 0.1” of rain, and the moisture is still evident in patches on the normally dry ground, especially after a clear night. Also some condensation on the roof. The past week has been calm winds, slightly below normal temperatures, and lots of precious sun. Today was a change with high thin clouds, which reduced our solar heat collection. Had a fire tonight, and will probably have to use backup heat tomorrow. Still not bad. We are in a warming trend through Christmas day, when it is forecast to reach a high of 68F. Lows are in the 30s and 40s. Looks like clouds next week with possible rain on Tuesday, so probably only a little solar heat. We are about normal temps, with below normal precipitation. Our turn will come in a year or two. I can remember 14” or snow with 20F lows, and staying below freezing for about four days. We really don’t like that. Happens about every ten years.

  79. Rolf Grunsky says:

    Curious…

    Houston is colder than Toronto. Currently it’s 37°F here. I doubt if it will last.

  80. JimB says:

    Hey Rick H, I know you are visiting your grandkids, so this is not a call for action. Just wanted you to know that yesterday I was typing on my Android phone, and the editor deleted my post four different times. Each time I was typing something around the ‘a’ key, and everything just went poof. Tried everything I knew to get it back, but gone. This, after a few months of near perfect behavior.

    I should note that I usually post from my computer, using Word to compose, especially anything of length. Never any trouble that way. On the phone, I usually just post a sentence or two, but this time I was lazy and tried to post something more lengthy. Somewhere in the second paragraph was where it happened, and every time it was after about 150 words (a guess.) This was two different posts, so it was different content.

    Wonder if it is more Android trouble? My phone is fully up to date, and seems to work fine in everything else. My solution is to just wait until I am near my computer. Please don’t spend any time on this.

  81. Ken Mitchell says:

    Nick Flandrey says

    Has there ever not been a good time to buy gold?

    Why would you want to do that?  I’ll confess, I do have a stock of precious metals; tiny lead ingots wrapped in copper, with a brass base. Instead of metals, I do have trade goods like food, rice, flour, oatmeal, and various canned meats and soup, plus bottles of flavored antiseptic. Rum-flavored, whiskey-flavored, ….  You get the idea. 

  82. Ken Mitchell says:

    Lynn says:

    What is AAR ?

    After-Action Report. The debrief.  What went right, what went wrong, lessons learned….

  83. nick flandrey says:

    @ken, there is some discussion over at aesop’s where all the same old same old is coming up.   I’m not Smaug, but gold is another tool in the box for preppers.  Like freeze dried food, it’s expensive, but it does a job that when you need it you really need it.

    n

  84. JimB says:

    Some people buy gold, others trade in gold related instruments. Some people buy bonds, and others trade them. I invested in gold mining stocks from the mid 1960s through the late 1970s. I made some handsome profits, and then got out before one of gold’s price tops. I lost interest. Just lucky, I guess.

    I like to say that most of my big percentage gains were on small investments, and most of my larger investments had modest gains. I guess that means I am somewhat risk averse.

  85. JimB says:

    Don’t forget the number one rule of investing: dump losers and take profits on winners. That is a loose paraphrase of one of Bill O’Neil’s principles. Even better is this wisecrack from Louis Rukeyser: buy a stock and sell it when it goes up. If it doesn’t go up, don’t buy it. My favorite: Jesse Livermore, when asked what the market would do tomorrow: Fluctuate!

  86. Alan says:

    >> Where are you going to hide it ?  Scratch that.  Where could you hide it that a door to door search would not casually find your gold coins and bars ?

    In air ducts, below a removable section of sub-flooring, in electrical boxes, duct-taped to the back of your hot water heater, in a floor safe in the garage covered by boxes of junk, behind a section shoe molding with some of the bottom plate trimmed off. I’m sure Google will suggest many more.

    Not that I use any of these…don’t want to make it easy when “they” show up in my neighborhood.

  87. Jenny says:

    Had our annual solstice chili feed a day late. Rough count, I think we had over 40 friends through the house tonight, about a third were youngsters. We made five kinds of chili (vegetarian, beef, pork, rabbit, venison), all the trimmings, cornbread, and desserts. We made most of it, a friend brought their cheesy jalapeño cornbread, another brought a mild chili for the kids, plus noodles and cheese for the truly picky.

    The conversations were delightfully wide ranging and intelligent, and the kids took advantage of the sledding hill in our backyard for part of the night. It warmed up to the teens so comfortable to be outside for a bit. 
     

    Clean up went pretty quick. I won’t have much to do in the morning. We sent leftovers home with folks, with more leftovers in the fridge.

    I really didn’t want the party this year. It’s a lot of work cooking for 40+ and we try really hard to make it a fun, low key, night for all. I’m glad we did it, though I confess I’m pretty wrecked. The sheer volume of 40+ people all talking at once in a small space is exhausting. 
     

    It was fun. Had a truly good time and enjoyed some very interesting conversations. 

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