Sadly a new off topic thread

[skjl47]

MSN

Hello; The above may be click bait but in todays world maybe not. The gist is a man driving a truck hit and killed a jogger. He did stop and try to give aid but the jogger died.
That was over a year ago. Now the truck driver is suing the estate of the jogger he ran over and killed. Click bait or not that got to me. I lost some focus while trying to read more. Something about PTSD & being hospitalized is mentioned. I do get it would be traumatic to kill someone, but to sue the estate of the man you killed?????.
As a kicker the jogger's wife was jogging alongside of him when he was killed. I have thoughts.

 

[Ulu]

From science.org:

“Climate models show considerable discrepancies in their future projections around the Atlantic, mainly due to uncertainties in the fate of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). Climate models . . . “

It couldn’t possibly be that the climate models are all a bunch of uncertain junk, created by people that got govt grants to do “work” that they could convince people would amount something, without actually producing anything that you could use or measure.

These predictions are coming from a government who has failed IMHO to predict anything correctly in a long long time, except that members of the other party would be crooks, in which they are all correct.

 

[jjohnwm]

Does anyone remember the praises that were being trumpeted about the weather supercomputer a few decades ago?

Previously, weather forecasters used all the data they had at their disposal to formulate their ideas of what the upcoming weather would be like. We were told to expect these temperatures and those winds and this much precipitation during the following few days. Sometimes they were right...sometimes they were wrong. Occasionally, one would be forced to wonder if the weather guys ever actually looked out a window or stepped outdoors.

The supercomputer changed all that. Forecasts now are often broken down hour-by-hour, with very specific probabilities assigned to each individual hour. It's not "a chance of snow today" anymore. Now it's "clear and sunny @ 10am; increasing cloud @11am; 37% chance of light snow @ noon; 46% chance of snow continuing through 1pm..." and so on. Forecasts extend a week or more into the future now.

Sadly...they're still wrong as often as not...but now they're wrong considerably further into the future. There's still nobody looking out the window. My wife mentioned to me just a moment ago that the giant fluffy snowflakes pelting down upon us now weren't supposed to start for another hour. I'm shocked.

 

[Ulu]

Patching my ceiling.

 

[Ulu]

We had two days of rain and I spent it crawling around in my attic looking for leaks.

Now I’m back on the plaster here. I’ve got all the tape up and I’m ready to start floating it out.



This is still very wet.

 

[Ulu]

Delays, delays…. We’ve had more rain and I spent time in the attic cleaning up and re-insulating.

I taped, mudded and sanded, and it was getting pretty good. I put some texture up to seal and level things, but it’s going to need more skimming and texture.



Meanwhile, my Kirby vacuum died, and I ordered a new switch for it. It takes at least 3 hours to strip it, clean it up, replace the switch, seal the “snail” and reassemble. I just did this two years ago.

I’ve had Kirbys almost 40 years. The Kirby switch used to last ten years and more.

Probably Chinese made now. Kirby was always US made.

 

[jjohnwm]

Nice job; if there's one thing that I have no patience for, it's drywall work.

The vacuum problem is just a sign of the times. I like buying a quality product and don't mind paying the price if the thing will last. But today, everything is built to a price...and it's always the lowest price possible. We are constantly being conditioned to expect very short lifespans from products. Appliances are sold with the expectation that they will last 5 years or so...whereas ones built 30 years ago are often still running today. I have an old refrigerator, now serving as a beer fridge, which has operated trouble-free for over three decades. I also have a new fridge in my kitchen; it's our third new one since moving into this house in 2011. That's just not right.

I just noticed that there's a new WiFi network quietly operating in my house; apparently the washing machine I purchased last year is communicating with the world via the internet. This washing machine...a washing machine, for crying out loud!...will confer with me to discuss any problems it might have with me, or me with it. Great, just what I need...another AI spying on me; I don't like even walking past the laundry room anymore.

We're being pushed to buy new energy-efficient appliances to "save money". Huh...we'd save way more if the old ones didn't die so quickly and require replacement. I still have some of the "new" CFL lamps that I bought back when the gummint offered a rebate on them because they were going to save the planet. They were expensive but would last so long and use so little energy that only an idiot would fail to switch. So we switched...and the lamps did last, but before they ever burnt out the gummint told us they were unsafe and toxic and dangerous and had to go! So now the cool kids all use LED's...which are indeed better, but they're even more expensive than the CFL's. I'm waiting to be told that LED's are dangerous if eaten or slept on or inserted anally or whatever...and that I have to switch to The Next Big (Temporary) Thing.

Ah, the hell with it. I'm going to go grab a beer out of my 30+ year old fridge, secure in the knowledge that the fridge won't know or care about it. It won't email me when I am low on beer....it won't let me change the temperature setting from a beach in Mexico by phone...but the beer will be cold. Good enough!

 

[skjl47]

MSN

Hello; my nearest neighbor failed to check the oil in a car often enough. The engine failed. Neighbor need transportation so bought a used SUV. Still owes about $5K on the broken SUV + whatever the replacement cost. Not what the link is about exactly.

I have wondered when the excess of the Covid debacle would catch up with many. Did not wonder if it would catch up. Had to figure the side effects of gobs of easy money would eventually settle on us. A story I was shopping for a new base Mustang GT before the pandemic money printing & easy distribution happened. Was dickering with dealers in the $30 K range OTD. Had two such deals fail for very odd reasons. Now the number is closer to $48K when dickering.

We all likely recall the time when CARVANA and such places were offering to buy used mustangs for more that the owner had paid when new. An upside market and the only time in my life such a thing happened on such a scale. I had seen some specialty cars such as the Ford GT go up in value. Anyway the die were cast as the old saying goes.
Not that being underwater on a trade is new stuff. Such has happened for many decades. The scale is the issue.

I have thoughts.