As the first commenter notes here, this is a sign of recognition that the warm mongers are recognizing that the unscientific “the science is settled” argument has failed, and they’re starting to slowly capitulate, though they continue to do so irrationally. As Judith notes, they continue to rely on the flawed precautionary principle, when the uncertainty remains far too high.
Category Archives: Technology and Society
Chromebooks
…are about to get awesome.
This seems like what I probably need. My Gateway laptop is impossible to use on a plane unless I’m in first class (which I rarely am), and it’s getting a little long in the tooth, with some keys starting to fail. It also tends to hang after a while in Fedora 23. So if I can replace it with something with a touchscreen and separate keyboard, compatible with my Android phone, that’s probably the way to go now.
No, Hoplophobic Professors
Culture Of Corruption
An email that requests that the State Department “take care” of a Clinton Foundation donor. And surprise, surprise! Hillary didn’t turn over all of the emails discussing interactions between State and foundation donors.
More from Mark Tapscott. Can there be any doubt, at this point, why she set up the personal server?
[Update a few minutes later]
Hillary’s pay-for-play scheme at the State Department. No one who paid any attention in the 90s would be surprised by any of this, when they peddled the White House for donations. Just ask Johnny Chung.
The Real Racists
…are those who think that “people of color” can’t make it on their own. Because that’s, you know, “progressive” thinking, and always has been.
House Renovation Blues (Part 2)
Here’s a weird one. After the fridge thing, I decided to put in a shut-off valve for the fridge line only, so if it ever happened again, to either me (I hope not) or the new owner, I could shut just that off and still have cold faucet and filtered water in the kitchen sink. Shortly thereafter, the garbage disposal (which I’d installed about a decade ago, when we remodeled the kitchen, along with all the appliances) quit working. There is no action when the switch is flipped. I checked the breaker, and it’s not tripped. I can turn it freely with an allen wrench from below, so it’s not jammed, and there’s no hum. However, the armored cable to it from the switch is broken at the interface to the machine, and I can see a black wire-nutted wire sticking out the side, though it seems to be connected, at least from visual inspection.
OK, here’s the weird part. I went to Home Depot to pick up a non-contact voltage detector and a multi-meter to trouble shoot. When I bring the detector near the cable at the interface, I get a voltage signal. But only when the switch is off. When the switch is on, it disappears. When I kill the breaker, I get nothing either way. WTF?
Anyway, I was hoping to avoid pulling (and even worse purchasing a replacement). But it looks like I won’t figure it out without doing so. On the upside, if I do pull the device, it will make it easier to get at the new shutoff valve behind it, which is dripping…
[Tuesday-morning update]
On further inspection, the neutral wire is clearly broken going into the disposal, so off it comes to repair it. I must have done it when I was installing the shut-off valve. That’s why it was sensing voltage on the hot line.
House Renovation Blues
The bad news: We discovered a water leak behind the refrigerator in the last couple days.
The worse news: We pulled the fridge out, and it’s not leaking from there.
The even-worse news. It’s leaking from the copper supply line inside the wall.
The even-worse news than that. The supply line runs down the wall to the fridge, through the attic, from up another wall from the cold-water supply below the kitchen sink. So I get to go up into the attic to cut and pull copper and new attached PVC line through two walls. In south Florida. In August.
[Friday-morning update]
Huzzah! It’s not inside the wall. We just saw the water leaking from the back of the fridge when the icemaker valve opened. I just changed the inlet valves a couple months ago; the joint must have come loose. It just went from a major PITA to a minor repair.
[Update a while later]
OK, as noted in comments, I disconnected the leaking tube from the icemaker line, cut it off square, and reinserted. No joy. It appears to be leaking from the side of the fitting itself, which is integral to the valve, which costs fifty bucks (and I just replaced it less than three months ago). Sigh…
Frank Sietzen
Rest in peace among the stars.
I hadn’t talked to him in years, and am a little surprised that he was still alive; he had life-threatening health problems for a long time (liver, if I recall correctly). I’m glad he got as long as he did. He was a great historian and advocate for space and human spaceflight.
[Update a few minutes later]
Sigh. Doug O’Handley, too.
MUOS Failure
So we have a perfectly good military communications satellite stranded in the wrong orbit. If we were a truly space-faring nation, we’d send something up to give it a tow. In a few years, with things like ACES, we’ll be able to.
Stop The Presses
An asteroid strike could cause immense suffering.
You don’t say.
Anyway, I’m starting to become a @SMOD2016 guy.