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Paper_jam

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Posts posted by Paper_jam

  1. Argh, I just found out that one of my outdoor spigots is leaking...maybe 1 drop every two-three seconds. I had wrapped it in a towel and put a foam cover on it, but the leak just soaked the towel and the foam cover forced the leaking water back against the brick, where it trickles down and freezes on the brick exterior below. I'm not sure if I should just take the cover off to keep the leaking water from backing up into the brick, or if its tolerable as it is.  I guess it won't hurt the brick to get wet/icy, to a point...

     

     

     

  2. Sometime in the '95-97 timeframe I was driving to work on I35, at about 8 AM when the roads changed over from wet to icy pretty suddenly. Everything seemed fine until I got to the overpass over Highway 290 and saw cars in front of me sliding around. It was more luck than skill that got me through that. I tried gently braking but the tires would just instantly lock. this was in a Camaro Z28 with no traction control and summer performance tires.  After I got to work, they told us to go back home, now on roads that were completely fucking iced.

     

     

  3. 4 hours ago, Bevo&Pevo said:

    Gas up the boat, find your long johns and dip nets boys.  It's fixin' to be fishing time in the bays.  It'll be like shooting fish in a barrel. 

    Heading down to the bay house Friday to drain all the water lines.

    Back in the '80s my dad took me to the "Army hole" off Port O'Connor a couple times, during cold snaps. I wonder if that's still a thing.

     

  4. While I'm at it I'd also like to bitch about how, especially in Texas, lots of back roads and secondary roads are "finished" with a shitty, rough chipseal surface that might as well be fucking gravel. The constant roaring noise and vibration on these roads is miserable on a long drive. If a road is worth paving, it's worth putting down some smooth asphalt or concrete.

     

     

  5. I haven't been driving much so I haven't been keeping close track of gas prices, but today I stopped at a Valero to fill up and their 93 octane grade was $3.05/gallon. (My car actually does need premium.) Their 87 octane was $1.95.  So the premium was $1.10 more a gallon than regular. That's insane. I needed gas so I put a few gallons in, but I didn't fill up like I planned.

    I've noticed this disturbing trend over time, of the premium grades everywhere being priced higher (relative to regular) but I've never seen a difference anywhere near a dollar a gallon. When I was a young man, it was a consistent rule of thumb that there would be a $0.10 difference between each grade--so if 87 was $1.29, 89 would be $1.39 and 93 would be $1.49. Why is there such a monster price difference between grades now?

     

  6. This video from an aviation expert has some interesting discussion:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vt_nUdQQqxI

    Based on this video, the flight begins turning left, away from it's assigned heading, just before the dive. You can see this on the flight track, as it curves to the north and northwest (was supposed to be on a steady ENE course). 

    Everyone says not to speculate about aviation accidents (but I love to speculate!)

     

     

  7. 15 hours ago, Braff Zacklin said:

    Based on a chart of basic flight data, looks like it stalled and then plummeted into the sea.

    2560px-Sriwijaya_Air_Flight_182_Speed_an

    What's the normal climb rate after takeoff for a 737-500? This one seems like it was doing ~3000 ft/min ... until it wasn't.

    If that's from Flightaware, I'm not sure what the source of the data they have is. Does it come from the aircraft transponder or are those readings from a ground station?

    And, I don't know the precision or resolution of that data, but it seems to show that the altitude starts to plummet ever so slightly *before* the change in speed. Which would seem to not suggest a traditional "pitch up" kind of stall. Also, I think that the speed data shown is probably groundspeed instead of airspeed. In a steep dive or spin, the groundspeed would drop just because most of the speed is now in the vertical plane. The airspeed would be crazy high after a dive like that.

    I gotta think it was something rapid and catastrophic, like a bomb, structural failure, or suicidal pilot. Or a really terrible flight control malfunction (rudder reversal, thrust reverser opening, etc.)

     

     

  8. On 1/5/2021 at 2:37 AM, RPM said:

    15 year old Kenmore w/d still chugging away.

    Same here (actually, 18 years old) Kenmore washer & dryer, as basic as you could get at the time. Like $700 for the pair at Sears even with tax.

    Actually I did have to replace the lid switch on the washer about 3 years ago, but it was worth it. It kills me that most of the new washers are so automated and computerized they don't even let you control water level.

     

  9. At a 5-second glance, federal sedition laws seem somewhat narrowly dependent on the use of force, or a conspiracy to use force, against the U.S. Government. But in an honest world, the Biden administration would at least try to bring federal charges against these crooks and see if they can make them stick.

     

  10. With the playoffs on the line, Dallas puts in one of the worst halves in team history. Can't run the ball, can't pass the ball, can't stop the run, can't get effective pressure on the QB, and throw in some boneheaded and selfish penalties as the cherry on top. They look helpless, against the fucking Giants of all teams. Fucking garbage, fire everyone and cut everyone.

     

  11. What type of work does this employee perform? The overtime rules generally depend on whether a job is "FLSA exempt" or not. Making that determination can be complex. Employees who are paid hourly and are non-supervisory are usually entitled to paid overtime (time and a half). Salaried executive or professional employees are typically FLSA exempt and can be "paid" in comp time, etc.

    (This is a pretty complex area and I'm not a lawyer.)

    Edit: below is a link describing in more detail what kinds of jobs are exempt from the FLSA overtime rules:

    https://www.thebalancecareers.com/what-is-an-exempt-employee-525701

  12. Why is it so fucking hard to make simple plans for a meeting or event with some people? I'm a "meet at location X at time Y" kind of guy. I'm reasonably flexible on time and location, so if what I suggest doesn't work for the other party, I'm cool with that -- but then it's incumbent on them to propose a SPECIFIC alternative time and/or location. Some people act like divulging their schedules and itinerary, or agreeing to a simple appointment, would be a breach to fucking national security.

     

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  13. Is it just me or has pricing taken a major jump of late? It doesn't seem that long ago when you could get something like a Corvette or 335i in the $40s, but now a 340i with any options is practically $60k or more. My mental map has always been that $40k is "premium high performance car" territory. Now it's Ford Mustang/Chevy Camaro territory.

     

     

  14. Fucking glitter on/in greeting cards. Who in the government do I have to write to, to stop this shit. When I ordered Christmas cards this year I specifically tried to get a pattern that looked like it didn't have glitter. Well fuck me if they aren't covered in glitter anyway. Between the Christmas cards people send me, and the ones I'm sending out, I'll need a hazmat team to get all the glitter spooge from out of my house.

     

     

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