Cool, but warming and rainy later. Yesterday was off and on sunny and very nice, with periods of cloudy and damp. We got a bunch of gusty wind and even a few drops from the sky in the afternoon, but no real rain. Today we’re supposed to get real rain. We’ll see.
I spent yesterday morning doing auction and paperwork stuff. Bills need to be paid, every month. In the afternoon, I did one pickup combined with a trip to the shop to drop stuff off. Then we went out to dinner and the kids did their things.
Today I have my non-prepping hobby meeting, which was bumped from last week. Before that, I have to drop D2 at a school event. She got a promotion in one of her activities and so she’ll be even busier than last year. She loves it, so I’m happy for her, but it is a pain in the schedule.
After the meeting, I think I’ll run by that estate sale and see if I can make an offer on any remaining pipe stuff. There were things I’d have bought if they were cheaper. There always are…
A guy has to have some hobbies.
Because otherwise it’s all prepping all the time. And that’s not ideal. Gotta remember what you prep FOR.
And stack. Always stack.
nick
Hey, Denis! I’m awake and here and you’re, I dunno, asleep or something. Weak and pathetic, man, weak and pathetic.
Could it be a pervasive legacy of racism?
Or … Trump?
I’m up and getting coffee ready.
Blood sugar was so weird from yesterday evening until now that I wonder if the sensor is ok. We’ll see as I get into the day.
Looks bright enough outside that I don’t think we’re starting the day with rain, but what do I know.
Enjoy the day, if you can.
n
I expected it to be cold this morning. But the front stalled somewhere. Currently 68f and no breeze. Now the forecast says 55f by 10am. 50% chance of rain. 47f tonight, 70 and sunny tomorrow.
I just went to the kitchen for another cup of coffee. The front has arrived at 8am. Light rain and the temp has dropped to 64 in ten minutes.
Yeah, I closed all of the windows. Looks like a day to wear socks.
“Looks like a day to wear socks. “
Yup. Maybe slippers.
About 32F this dawn in the California high desert, maybe 30 or 31, depending on which thermometer you believe. About 1/8″ of ice in the birdbath, so perhaps it was chillier than that at some point.
I covered the replacement tomato seedlings before going to bed, and put some kerosene heaters under the two most previously frost stricken trees … hopefully it was enough.
Still struggling with whatever struck me down Thursday night (bad chicken?) but up and about, if somewhat shaky.
Foul fowl.
All puns are a crime against humanity!
(Except mine, of course. My puns are awesome.)
Yah, most of them are.
Though some of mine are kind of funny. If I noticed that a couple had gotten out, typically because the wind had blown the “door” open a bit, I’d go out while they were wandering around the patio and maybe scratching at some of the wild bird seed which had blown down from the deck. I’d say “Excuse me, young ladies!” and they’d look up and kind of “Eeep!” and waddle expeditiously back to the door, then mill around because they couldn’t get back in. They knew where they were supposed to be, even if they couldn’t resist the temptation to escape every time the opportunity came up.
At the BIL’s for a couple of days. His kids have arrived to clean out a storage shed in his back yard. A big shed that the BIL built. 16’x12′ by looking, with an upper deck. Full of stuff. Most of it junk that should have been tossed. The shed itself is well built as the BIL made his living as a carpenter before going into teaching.
I am guessing the hoarding gene is hereditary. His mother had it as she collected worthless junk. My wife has a smattering of the same thing much to my annoyance. His kids apparently missed getting the gene. There will be a couple tons of junk. All being stacked on the curb. I would think someone would have rented a dumpster in which to toss the stuff. It would have been a much better solution. But I am not in the loop so not my problem.
As for me, I am staying out of the way and letting them do the work.
The next task will be everyone sitting down and talking about the money that his mother put aside for his care, especially his eyes. Money that we have hid from the BIL’s wife per the MIL’s instructions. There will be some fireworks I think.
The BIL’s wife sleeps in a chair in the living room, he sleeps locked in his private work room. His paranoia thinks people would steal if he was not there. Last night he again thought someone was in the house, describe the person to his wife. Yeh, he is going downhill fast.
I’ve repeatedly complained to the City of Las Vegas that the casinos aren’t paying me enough. I am now suing the City of Las Vegas for $350,000. I’ve also complained multiple times about a pothole on Flamingo and Las Vegas Blvd. It still isn’t filled, and I had a rough ride over it, and my back hurts. Another $350,000. I’m also keeping an eye on the chipmunk population in the rock beds around my area. They are rodents that carry disease. Probably another $350,000 lawsuit coming up.
That one is a non-starter. The city leadership are also rodents who carry disease. Vermin solidarity!
Explosive Report: As Dobbs Majority Faced Death Threats, Liberal Justices Slow-Walked Release
https://thefederalist.com/2026/04/18/explosive-report-as-dobbs-majority-faced-death-threats-liberal-justices-slow-walked-release/
Roberts is a baboon’s ass. Let them get away with it, and they will try it again.
If Spicer was correct and the libs are trying this again in the VRA case, Roberts needs to give them a hard deadline. If they don’t meet it, publish the majority opinion with a footnote stating:
Followed by an announcement that no paychecks will be processed for those justices or their staffs until the minority opinion is delivered and the slackers issue written public apologies.
BC: Species Adaptation
https://www.gocomics.com/bc/2026/04/18
Yeah, tool using velociraptors would be a real bad idea.
I just got home from a celebration of life for a ham acquaintance. He has, as we hams put it, gone SK (Silent Key).
He was eulogized as a jack of all trades, master of many. As such, his shop at death contained parts and pieces and assemblies of every trade he worked in. Plumbing, hydraulics, electricity, electronics, carpentry, appliances. He fixed, repaired, and built everything from police and fire radios to antenna towers to dishwashers and garbage disposals.
His son is now tasked with getting rid of all that stuff.
@Nick, keep an eye on your email. I will be sending you a link to a ton of pictures when I get it. He’s a motivated seller, and wants to clear out the shop so he can stop paying rent.
Back home.
Meeting went long as we had a lot to discuss about our fall show. Then I stopped briefly at home to change trucks and pants (too hot for long pants), and hit three estate sales in the neighborhood. One was a house I’d already been thru weeks ago, and there were no new revelations (sometimes after the first layer of stuff is gone, more good stuff is revealed). One was just down the street so I had to check it out. It was a one day sale and the house was almost empty. The prices I saw in the online pictures were all crazy high so it was a bit surprising. Then I revisited the house that I bought the pipes from, hoping to round up and score all the remaining pipe stuff for a song. Someone beat me to it. The estate seller saw me walk in and told me she’d made a deal. She said “You don’t even want to know how good a deal I made him, because I thought it would rain and nobody else would come…”
I still managed to find a couple of pipe items, several pocket knives, and some garage stuff.
Then the rain started. Holy cow it p!ssed down. Several of the local flood gauges alarmed on >1″ in 15 minutes. Houston is built to clear the water, but any more than 1″ per hour and it backs up.
So I went to the shop and broke down scrap for a while. Pickup is loaded for Monday morning.
——–
I got several more low blood sugar alarms thoughout the day. Yesterday and today were very anomalous for me. Seems like I couldn’t eat enough to keep it above the low alarm. I thought the sensor might be faulty but today at least the peaks were there too.
Interesting to be ‘borged.
Time for some dinner.
n
Thought problem:
Who rendered the Iranian Navy completely impotent and unseaworthy, and how was it done?
Answer: USA and military action.
Who rendered the UK Navy completely impotent and unseaworthy, and how?
Answer: UK government and socialism.
I saw a press thingy where Macron, Starmer, and Meloni were going to take action in the Strait of Hormuz. What have they got, 6 usable ships among all of them?
I’m thinking the Ukrainian Navy could sink them all with 6 months lead time. And they have 0 ships.
Then who is preventing ships from transiting the Strait of Hormez? And firing on ships that attempt transit?
Then who is preventing ships from transiting the Strait of Hormez? And firing on ships that attempt transit?
– yeah, that was my question. Apparently it’s hidden missile batteries in caves. Their navy sleeps with the fishes.
All it takes is a single man carried anti-ship missile, vis the Falklands war to scare commercial shipping. Hole in an oil tanker is a big deal…
n
Then who is preventing ships from transiting the Strait of Hormez? And firing on ships that attempt transit?
The Iranian navy is sailing ships under false flags. It makes it difficult to sink them legally.
The USA navy is not sinking every ship they see. Be glad. They could probably justify doing so at this point.
“The data center energy threat is way overblown”
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2026/04/18/the-data-center-energy-threat-is-way-overblown/
“This quote provides the two little numbers, which are MW of data centers under construction:”
““The total amount of new capacity under construction in primary markets declined for the first time since 2020. There were 5,994.4 MW under construction at the end of 2025, down from 6,350.1 MW in 2024. Many planned projects remain delayed due to ongoing permitting, zoning, and power procurement hurdles, underscoring the complexities of scaling infrastructure.””
“So, there is only about 6,000 MW of new data centers in the construction pipeline for the entire U.S. That is a tiny number when it comes to the national grid. PJM alone peaks around 150,000 MW, Texas over 80,000, and so on. Combined American peak is over 750,000 MW.”
“Moreover, installed data center capacity is just around 17,000 MW. While adding 6,000 MW will be a big percentage increase, it will still be an extremely small amount. Note that this is not 6,000 MW a year, because it takes several years to build a data center.”
Yup, the number of data centers is increasing but not radically. These large involved projects take years to spec, order parts and machinery, buy property, and build. Plus they are incredibly expensive.
Yeah, but. He’s not comparing the ADDITIONAL required capacity to current EXCESS or AVAILABLE capacity. In Texas we already have days where we use pretty much EVERY bit of available capacity. Adding big data centers means someone won’t have enough on those days.
And according to my trade magazines, many of the projects are really just in the “talk about building it and see if anyone wants some” stage because the power isn’t there, and won’t be there. The quote only mentions it in passing, but “power procurement hurdles” are the single biggest thing holding the real projects back.
Places that use zoning and permitting and ‘environmental impact studies’ delay data center projects (Cali I’m looking at you) will find themselves like Cali with their power issues. They will have rolling blackouts and chokepoints with their data service, just like their power service.
Currently in Texas, I bet you could get a data center standing in under a year. IF the power was available. The buildings are already there, projects have already been proposed, the connectivity providers are pushing pipe and pulling fiber like crazy.
We’re adding grid capacity like crazy trying to keep up with all the new housing and development going on, and the data centers are riding on top of that.
I drive past Cyrus One a few times a week and they have added a shite tonne of visible cooling just in the last year. That tells me they’ve been building out their capacity. (91MW according to google.)
AWS has a big building a couple miles from me and my neighbors were working for them. They must have some server racks locally too…
Google AI has some numbers about facilities and power densities, search on “colo facility houston”.
They’re offering 30kW/rack. One of the smaller facilities is 26MW, and the AI says combined Houston capacity is ~858MW. Even another 1000MW would be a HUGE change for Houston so putting new 1000MW in each of the 6 biggest markets is a big deal.
EVs, data centers, and new housing developments are all competing for the same new/excess capacity. There isn’t enough to go around.
n
And with that wall-o-text I’m going to bed.
n
OH, I guess there is more out there. Just realized I only used numbers for colo facilities, and that wouldn’t capture wholly owned facilities like AI datacenters, or other private data centers.
n
Yeah, but. He’s not comparing the ADDITIONAL required capacity to current EXCESS or AVAILABLE capacity. In Texas we already have days where we use pretty much EVERY bit of available capacity. Adding big data centers means someone won’t have enough on those days.
Most of the new data centers are being colocated at an existing power plant here in Texas. That way the owner of the data center does not have to pay Centerpoint or Oncor 5 cents/kwh used. They just have to pay for the grid power cost. This is how refineries and chemical plants get around not paying Centerpoint or Oncor also.
So, in order to build a new data center and get cheap electricity, you have to buy an existing power plant. The existing power plants for sale, there are not that many at the moment, just went up in price.
There are lots of stumbling blocks in place to build a new data center in Texas now. There was not recently but people now know the true value of their existing power plants. Bring your big checkbook.