Unlocking its secrets with lasers. Sure would be nice if we could figure out how to a) manufacture in quantity and b) use it for propulsion.
The IRS
No, this isn’t about their war on conservatives. I got a shocking notice in the mail for my Subchapter S that said I owed three thousand dollars, even though there were no taxes due. It was a late-filing penalty. I had requested an extension in March, and filed in October, as I’d done for the past couple years, since I started the new company, and passed all the profit through to myself as sole owner. But they claimed that I hadn’t filed for the extension, so it was six months late (they counted the four days from when I mailed on October 15th as another month) and they charged me $195 per month times two, claiming that there were two shareholders, even though it was addressed to me as sole owner. I looked into my options, and while there are ways out for individuals, they’re a lot harder on S corps.
Fortunately, the woman I talked to on the phone was reasonable, and I managed to get her to accept that I had filed for the extension (she recognized that my actions would have made no sense if I hadn’t, and my past history was to do so), and convinced her that I was the only shareholder (which they should have known by looking at my K-1), so she knocked it down to two months from when I was supposed to file in September (yes, I did screw that up) for one shareholder, to get the bill down to $390. But it’s still annoying to be fined for a late filing in which no taxes were owed. Clearly, they want to be harsh on late filers regardless.
Obama’s Versus Trump’s Economy
I distinctly recall in the fall of 2008, as an Obama win seemed likely, if not inevitable, that there was a lot of talk about small-business people planning to end investment, pull in their horns, and wait for the coming economic storm to blow over, which greatly contributed to the contraction, and the worst recovery since the end of the war. But I’m having trouble finding anything on line about it. Do others remember that, and have any links to anything?
I ask, because I suspect that the promise of an end to many of the punishing regulations is going to pull a lot of that money back into the economy (particularly if it can be repatriated without being confiscated).
Fixing My Own Stuff
I think that this comment on my furnace problems is worth elaborating on:
If you blow yourself up trying to save a few bucks by not hiring someone to do this for you, I don’t want to hear any complaints! Good luck.
It’s not (just) about “saving a few bucks.”
I come from a line of people on my mother’s side who would never think to call someone to fix something that had an obvious solution, and the tools/knowledge to do it. In fact, during the Depression, my grandfather was the guy who got called, doing auto repairs. But he also built his own cabin in northern Michigan on the Muskegon River, and built by hand inboard-motor boats to put in the river, by steaming and bending mahogany, and adapting Chrysler drive trains to put in them, including dashboard instruments. He built them in the basement in northern Flint, and knocked out the wall to get them out when they were complete and ready to be trailered Up North.
My uncle (his son) followed in his footsteps, except that he actually got a college degree (ME from Michigan), and he always (at least until late in life), though he was a well-paid engineering manager at AC Spark Plug, rebuilt his own car engines (back in the days when this had to be done every hundred-thousand miles or so), and his own plumbing and electrical work and drywall (at least after he retired).
My first car, at sixteen, was a used MGA. That summer, I tore it apart and put it back together, to improve the performance and end the blue smoke of the burning oil coming out of the tailpipe, and get smoother gear shifting with new synchros. Before I went to college, I was a professional VW mechanic. I’m just not by nature someone who likes to pay people (and in many cases, trust them) to do things that I think I can do better and cheaper myself. When I was in Florida in May, starting to prepare the house to sell, I got a quote of $500 to replace a leaking hose bib, which involved opening up a block wall, sweating in new copper pipe, then resealing and repainting it. I did the whole job in a couple hours after fifty bucks in tools and parts at Home Depot.
A few weeks ago we had a water leak in the main supply line coming into the house that had the meter swirling like a dervish. We did call a plumber, but a thousand dollars later, while they did a good job (I watched), I regretted not doing it myself. All it would have taken was renting a jack hammer to open up the sidewalk, digging some dirt, cutting out the bad pipe and replacing it, reburying, and replacing the pavement.
Anyway, I assumed that when a furnace failed suddenly, it was likely something simple. I read the service manual, tracked down the problem to an obviously failed igniter, and changed it myself. I have pride in my own ability, and a larger bank account.
Government Nutrition Guidelines
Did they cause the obesity epidemic?
I’d say yes; he seems to miss some key issues, as many point out in comments there.
McDowell County, WV
That question is actually surprisingly easy to answer: They did. After all, 80 percent of McDowell’s population, including my grandparents, cleared out of the county to seek opportunities elsewhere during the last half-century.
But as the mines mechanized and closed down, why didn’t the rest go, too? Reed, Whitt, and Slagle all more or less agree that many folks in McDowell are being bribed by government handouts to stay put and to stay poor. Drug use is the result of the demoralization that follows.
In a Fall 2014 National Affairs article called “Moving to Work,” R Street Institute analysts Eli Lehrer and Lori Sanders asked, “What is keeping the poor from moving their families to new places to take advantage of better opportunities?” They argue that “the answer lies primarily in the structure of poverty-relief programs.” In other words, the government is paying people to be poor.
Yes.
Swiss Space Systems
They’ve gone belly up, but this is bizarre:
The news comes at the end of a difficult year for S3.
In August its founder and CEO, Pascal Jaussi, was left seriously injured after being beaten up and set on fire by two attackers in a forest.
The media reported at the time that Jaussi was forced to drive his car into a forest, where he was doused in petrol and set on fire. He managed to get himself out of the vehicle and call a friend, who alerted emergency services.
The investigation is ongoing.
The space business can be dangerous, but I’d sure like to know the back story here.
The Great Lakes
As someone who grew up an hour away from one, I’m aware of the power of the waves in late fall and winter (the Edmund Fitzgerald went down in November), but these are pretty spectacular images of Lake Erie.
Baby It’s Cold Outside
I know I shouldn’t complain in southern California, considering how brutally cold it is back east, but we woke up this morning to a 63-degree house, and listening to a struggling furnace on the morning after the coldest night of the season to date. The blower seems to be on the fritz.
On a Sunday.
I had other plans today, but I’m going to have to take it apart, and see if I can fix it. It’s twelve years old. Hoping it’s just a bad capacitor. I doubt I’d be able to find a replacement motor today.
[Update a few minutes later]
Not really complaining, and have no right to. If we were back east right now, this would be life threatening, and we’d either have to get an emergency HVAC guy in, or find somewhere else to stay, but for us, it’s just an inconvenience. Worst case is extra blankets tonight, and I’ll find a replacement motor (or limit switch, or whatever the problem is) tomorrow.
But it’s also a reminder of how thin the veneer of modern technology can be, and that nature is not our friend. Whatever the climate is doing (and anyone who claims they can confidently predict it out decades is either fooling themselves, or attempting to fool us), we have to maintain enough societal wealth to deal with it. The policies promulgated by those who insist we can control the climate would have the opposite effect.
[Monday-morning update]
When we woke up this morning, temp in the house was 61 F. A couple hours later, it’s down to 60. It will probably warm up when the sun gets higher, but high temp today is only predicted to be 67.
In troubleshooting, I’ve learned two things: 1) Modern gas furnaces are complicated as copulation and 2) the burner isn’t lighting, which is why the blower motor isn’t bothering to. The status light isn’t flashing any of the error codes in the manual, just steady on, the way it’s supposed to if everything is copacetic, so it’s not useful for diagnostics. I’m suspecting the gas valve (a problem with which the control board would be unaware), but not sure how to tell if it’s working. Could also be the igniter, except I’d think I’d at least momentarily smell gas if that were the problem. Anyway, I’ve got to go start poking at things with a VOM.
[Update a few minutes later]
OK, I am briefly smelling gas when it tries to start up, so the valve seems to be working. Now suspecting igniter:
1. Remove burner compartment door to gain access to the ignitor.
2. Disconnect the ignitor from the Ignition Control.
3. Using an ohmmeter measure the resistance of the ignitor.
4. Ignitor cool should read between 40 to 75 ohms.
5. Reconnect ignitor.
6. Place unit in heating cycle, measure current draw of ignitor during preheat cycle. Should read approximately 4 to 4.5 amps.
7. If ignitor is receiving 115 Volts and will not light, replace.
8. After check and/or replacement of hot surface ignitor, reinstall burner compartment door and verify proper unit operation.
Supposed to be 40-75 ohmns, showing infinite. That seems like the problem. Looks like they’re about $20. Now to go out and find one.
[Update a while later]
OK, a replacement (and improved version) was $42 bucks. The old one had clearly failed; you could see the burn through in the element that had opened it up. It probably got hit by a piece of dust or something when it was hot. House is now warming up.
[Update a while later]
Temp is up to 64 degrees and rising. In retrospect, I would have saved time if I’d relied on Occam: If something isn’t igniting, first check to see if there’s ignition.
Further thoughts: Pilotless ignition saves fuel, and is probably more reliable, but if a pilot blows out, it doesn’t cost $40+ to relight it.
Anyway, I understand my furnace much better now. It was the first time since we had it installed a dozen years ago that I’d opened it up to see how it works.
Densifying Hydrogen
The irony I find here is that this technology will be more useful in space than for a first stage, which wants higher-density fuel. And with low-boiloff propellant depots in orbit, the case for SLS looks even weaker.