Guard Dog

Explosion captured in Jupiter’s upper atmosphere. if it wasn’t for Jupiter I think there’s a pretty good chance there would be no life on earth. It is the solar systems catchers mitt!

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/30945519/new-york-rangers-artemi-panarin-taking-leave-assault-allegations-surface%3fplatform=amp well this is the kind of PR thing you don’t want. On another note I believe this is the first hockey story ESPN has run all season. It’s like this sport does not exist to ESPN.

My provider is a Co-Op, meaning a not for profit public utility. The price per kWh is fixed at like $0.11 and to raise they have get approval from the state. That is how most public utilities work including Texas. In THIS case, if I’m understanding this correctly, the entity is a reseller. In other words not a public utility rather a private entity that is offering a better rate without protection from what just happened. In THIS case it’s customers left the public utility to buy power from the same infrastructure at a reduced price. Or am I misunderstanding this situation? Like I said we don’t have anything like this here.

I got the impression from the paper these were not public utilities in the sense of most power providers. They were being described as "wholesalers" which made me think this was some kind of competitive enterprise to public utility. After all the crazy electric bills were not happening to everyone. There is no such a thing where I live but this is Texas we're talking about. Much like Florida things exist in Texas that could only exist in Texas. But, that was just my impression. I don't know exactly what a power "wholesaler" is.

Don't know. But speaking for myself I have nine real estate lease contracts including one that is a limited partnership between three land owners and another in a small business and you better believe I have a real estate lawyer going over every clause before I agree to any of it. Even the ones I control. I figure I'd rather pay her a few hundred bucks now to keep me out of trouble than a few thousand later to get me out a jam because I didn't have an expert read the contract. At the end of the day it's all about contracts. You only get what you agreed to buy and pay for what you agreed to pay for. When you buy a car you sign a contract with the lien holder. You agree on the payment, interest and term as well as extras and default provisions, insurance responsibility, etc. It's all in there and they can't decide to jack up the interest later unless that is in the contract. This deal is nuts. They are agreeing to a variable price per kWh that can actually go up AFTER you have use it. That's like Outback calling you the next day and saying the price of the steak you had last night has gone up since you left the restaurant, please remit! Maybe this kind of service should not be allowed. But it is and I wonder why anyone would take that deal. But I also wonder why people buy timeshares for much the same reason.

That small government go-it-alone attitude is hard to keep up when they start handing other people’s money out isn’t it? speaking of which I do believe I’m eligible for unemployment in two weeks!

I've been reading articles about the five figure power bills some folks are getting. I felt sorry for them until I read the circumstances. They are buying into a wholesale electric co-op where the price per kWh is tied to the energy production price. Most of the time it's a pretty good deal but when the capacity is over extended due to shortage those customers got a straight up bent over the table f-----g. Worst part is the wholesalers warrened them it was coming. Plus it's spelled out in the contract. Why on earth would anyone sign a contract to buy a widget when the costs of that widget are not fixed by the contract? It's like buying a variable rate mortgage. It's madness. You have no clue what price you are going to pay and no way to NOT pay it once it's used. I have to say that does lessen my sympathy for them because, as we said in the Marines, USMC = U Signed the Motherf-----g Contract.

We're finally back above freezing! It feels positively warm outside today. I think I'm going fishing. After 7 days below freezing I bet the fish are hungry

Ice ice everywhere except where you want it! https://nypost.com/2021/02/20/outdoor-nhl-game-turns-into-a-nightmare-for-players/

There’s a bright yellow ball of light hanging in the sky over my house today. I’m not sure what it is I think I remember seeing something like it in the distant past. Still pretty freaking cold out there though. it took an hour and a half to clean the solar panels and get everything powered back up that’s more than enough cold weather for me for the day I’m going back in to play fallout four

Newsmax picks on Biden’s dog Say what you will about Biden. He is a low watt bulb. But insulting a man’s dog is fighting words!

Screw them. If Sunny can’t come then I don’t go

Study shows Dolphins have similar personality traits to humans. I never knew that half of all dolphins were ****!

I think they are using an airbag landing. Their probe is quite a bit smaller. Perseverance can’t do that because it’s huge. The biggest payload that several landed on Mars

I doubt there’s a man or woman anywhere in central Texas that didn’t wish they were in Acapulco. But you have to wonder what the hell Ted Cruz was thinking. That does NOT look good. Especially since he has been so critical of others who have done the same kind of crap. but what do I keep telling you guys? There are no angels in hell. Just different flavors of devils

Never mind. This was nothing you want to read and I’m Done talking about this s—t anyway.

No that propane tank will not keep them warm. In fact using it indoors should be kept to a minimum for obvious reasons. Nothing will keep you warm in a situation like that. Nothing better than blankets and clothes. And if not every one waiting for food could have prepared for what happened I guarantee you some of those thousands could have and lessened the burden on the ones who could not. This IS common sense. Do you have a fire extinguisher in you kitchen right now? Yes there are a lot of people in desperate situations. One thing folks who are not can do to help them is not be in their way by being unprepared.

This isn’t a bootstraps lecture it’s a common sense lecture. People along the gulf and Atlantic coast to go through this kind of thing literally every year with hurricanes. And I don’t think a weeks worth of canned goods takes up so much space that not everybody can do it. Weather systems don’t sneak up on anyone you know it’s coming. You don’t know how bad it’s going to be. No one could forecast the kind of electrical and structural failures that came with the storm. But it’s not prescience to imagine that something like this can happen because it does all the time. I am saying it makes sense to store a weeks worth of food and supplies and I really don’t see how 99% of families can’t do it. Used 1 gallon milk jugs make great water storage vessels. Rather than tossing them into the recycle bin fill them up with water and put them in the closet. A propane single burner stove and a 5 pound tank will set you back about 10 bucks. You can cook a weeks worth of meals on it and make hot coffee on it. Buying a weeks worth of preserved food can be a burden when you’re on a tight budget but you don’t have to do it all at once. look I get it people don’t think about what if. But they should. Noah built the ark before the rain started.

I haven’t worked out firm numbers on material cost. I have made inquiries on what the bulk purchase rate for required equipment will be. I have worked out permitting, inspection, and other administrative costs as well as labor cost. I’m looking at a price point of between $1000-$1200 for a full system.

Can I interest you in a smaller more cost effective solution? You could be my first customer

Biden is uncomfortable being waited on by White House staff have to agree with him on this one. I think I would rather get my own coffee and make my own sandwiches

Sort of. The business would install two power outlets in the room of choice that will only be powered by the small perm generator. Two 15 amp services that will only have power while the generator is running. That would be adequate to run a television, a space heater, and refrigerator refrigerator for example. Or a small air conditioner like a window unit. larger backup power systems have automatic transfer switches. They sense when power is lost and they will turn on the generator and automatically transfer from utility power to generator power. But convenience is costly. In this model it would be on the homeowner to unplug the TV for example from the outlet it’s usually in and plug it into the back up outlet.

I am working on a couple of applications for small business grants. I have what I believe is a workable small business plan. so let me run this by you guys. Because I think it’s a niche that is not being filled. Companies that sell homes stand by generators are a dime a dozen. You can buy them for most hardware stores. You can also buy smaller portable generators from most hardware stores. The former are prohibitively expensive and out of the reach for the middle class homeowner and the latter don’t do that much. But I have an idea that could change that. To run a complete average sized home on backup power you’re going to need about an 18,000 W generator. That’s to cover all the appliances the air conditioning at a reasonable use level. But in an emergency situation you don’t need everything to have power. To power a midsize refrigerator, a space heater, and maybe a TV or radio you can get by with a 600 to 700 W generator. So the idea is to sell small permanent power systems connected to large fuel sources. For example a 100 gallon propane tank. That’s what my 20,000 W home generator is connected to. A 650 W generator could run on 100 gallons of propane for a year with normal use. Rather than be connected to the homes electrical system the idea would be to install a set of auxiliary outlets connected to an external plug the generator would be plugged into. The homeowner would be required to plug whatever they want powered into the auxiliary plugs. The idea would be to provide complete power to just one room for example. Say a living room. Since it is not going through the home electrical system there are no impediments with the building code and since it is an isolated system within the house there is no need for transfer switches or backfeed protections. It’s a quick, clean simple solution that would cost the average homeowner under $1000. A large permanent generator will run you around $4000.

At the risk of sounding cavalier about the troubles or harsh about the responses people really should understand that the systems you most rely on will fail the moment you most need them. It’s up to the individual to provide for their own needs when that happens. This is the same argument I use against gun control. You cannot count on the police to protect your family. In the moment of crisis the threat is there, the police are not. You cannot count on your utility provider to always have power for you. You cannot count on the grocery stores always being open. You have to prepare. Everyone should be able to survive in their homes alone for at least five days. With everything you need to make that work. And to be able to do that you need to prepare. It’s just common sense to me.