My pal of now 72-years, the Major, was having some computer problems and so we spent an hour and a half on the phone Friday going through this and that’s on his system to get it up to speed.
I won’t go through the whole litany of changes and suggestions, but for your own further research and amusement, you might want to know the following:
- First is to make sure you are getting all the Microsoft updates when they come out (or shortly after). We discovered his machine hadn’t been updated since August 1…so he’s tracking that one down.
- Then, make sure you do an occasional check of your hard drive/SSD to same sure it’s running at it’s peak. Go to the File Explorer, click on the drive you are looking for good speed on, and then right click on the Tools to get into optimizing the disk.
- A good Google search – and worth doing even on n SSD now and then is to run CHKDSK /f. You won’t be able to run in when you are a logged in user, but the next time you boot up, the hard drive will get a thorough going-over and any problems will be *(/f) ‘fixed..’
He doesn’t use the Edge browser a lot, but we ran through some of the settings there – and many people don’t know Microsoft generously has 5 GB of VPN as an option in Edge so you can turn that on when doing banking and whatnot.
Another Edge thing I’ve run into is that if you enable Co-Pilot, it can send your browser session to Mars if (on the Elon Starlink) you happen to drop signal right at the wrong moment, as it were. White screen of death there – not as politically correct as Blue, but we’ll have to talk with the South Software Law Center about that one…
When you go down to the bottom of the Edge screen, then to Settings and then down to the very bottom for About Microsoft Edge, you can click there and get to the screen where you can check for updates.
The new speed up and keep current was the Office 365 suite. To get it current simply open one of the 365 Apps (like Word) but when it opens, don’t flip right into a document. Instead, go down the left-hand menu until you come to Account. Clicking that will get you to where you can update all the Office products in a fell swoop (whatever those are…).
This all sounds like a lot of work, but it’s not too bad. Usually only takes a few minutes in the morning and I do it daily, starting with the (Start Menu > Settings) page where I manually check for updates before even getting on the web for weather, email, and news scans before writing every morning. Seems like a lot of work, but not bad. And I have had no problems with Defender as my sole AV product.
Advanced User Notes
A number of readers have suggested a product (freeware, which we like and respect) called “Shut-Up 10/11”. You can download it from O&O Software GmbH – Creating Solutions for Windows™ (oo-software.com). They are a legit MSFT development house and their other (also freeware) gem is an App cleaner. When you get to their site, you’re looking for the O&O AppBuster.
NOW THE BIG CAUTION. The reason at my old age that I can still mess about with PCs (and recover from deleted registries and such) is that Ive been doing PCs since 1978, or so. Yeah, long time. almost half a century. Back when Microsoft had just the 6th floor “heating plant” compiling down by the Medina exit off 520. Oh, the days…
The caution is simple: Before you tell the AppBuster to remove something, take the time to read the details, and so forth. Ditto if you use the ShutUp 10 product. You can get disconnected from vital services real easily if you don’t know what you’re doing. Do multiple Restore Points, take your time, and be patient.
I love some of the features (like quick computer swaps) that come with having OneDrive on all the time. But, there are issues on “in and out” internet connections. Weather faults on the Starlink drive me nuts. The only way sometimes to remain fast is to skinny-down to your essentials. And no, none of the X-Box stuff is on my computer anymore, and the live mirror to One Drive is off because I am an efficiency nut. I turn it on overnight once a week and that gives me, essentially, and off-site backup in addition to the images locally.
At the end of Ure doing tech support I got a marvelous compliment, since the Major has been a Microsoft product tester for years and years. “You’re about as good as the second level support tier, better than some, but not yet third tier support…”
I smiled inwardly at this: We’ve been chums for more than 70-years and we both go to that Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer gaming each-other place, all the time. Though he did sound sincere this time. Hmm..pqint brush?
The Water Works Project
Thought this was something reserved for late winter Monopoly sessions? Nope, we are determined to get the 300 gallon tote up and working as the back-up water source for this winter.
Vevor – excellent purveyors of Chinesium Hardware – came out recently with a set of four RV screw-type jacks and between the four of them, they’re rated at 6,000 pounds. $26-bucks for all four. A little quick math and the tote seems to weigh about 2,600 so should work out.
Putting down from concrete footies this will go on top:
And then on top of the four of these will go the slightly overgrown this:
By the way, when I turn off HDR on my computer here, the web pictures look much better – like this:
Exact same picture off the camera, but with the first one, I snipped when HDR was turned on while the bottom was with HDR turned off. Looks like the video was being over driven in the HDR mode. (Now, go out Monday and hire on as an art director with such arcane knowledgeum. )
The plastic connector to slap on the pipe at the bottom of the tote is $12 bucks at Amazon.
The Big Design Ponder (BDP) now is figuring out whether to leave the water stored outside, or move it into the shop where it might be a degree or two warmer, but also a lot closer to power so I could keep the water from freezing in the winter. Put a couple of moving blankets on it and are 100-watt aquarium heaters food grade?
Say, about here, I ask my air conditioning and chemical engineer readers to run out how much power (BTUs) are going to be needed to keep the water liquid down to 7-F which we have come within a degree or two of on several occasions.
Around the Ranch: Kefir Belly?
Been several years (OK decades then) since I had a lot ( or any) any kefir. So when I made kefir pancakes (and then ate five of them with honey and butter Saturday more than half the day was spend in gastrointestinal hell. Visiting royalty. (Throne room)
Lesson here: When you go trying any new food over age 70, or so, take a little big (one pancake, for example) and see how that settles. Moderation (as you may have guessed) has never been my strong suit.
Time to go set up a ladder and put more plastic up around the screen porch. Damn cats just will not be deterred from railing jumping and tearing up Divel’s excellent screen work. I haven’t seen a cat yet, though, that can hook through 1 mm PET-G plastic while airborne. I need to take pictures of ’em trying, though. the Stainless spikes didn’t phase ’em in the least.
Or, without HDR on when snipping:
And then into putting in the winter crops in the lean-to greenhouse which is barren not bearing…
Don’t tell me it’s going to be time for the annual servicing your diesel truck heater that keeps your greenhouse warm issue? My heavens, where does the summer go when your country is beset by crazies?
The ham radio crew on 3806 will sort me out I’m sure. I’ll check with them.
Reminder: Get lots of rest next weekend – Amazon and Walmart deal days a week from Monday. Broke yet?
Go read Clif High’s Antipatent! Anti Patent : 20240928.001 – by clif high (substack.com) -want to build one? I might be able to help with 3D prints and wiring…
Write when you get rich,
George@Ure.net
DF is going on with that porch screen and railing ? Should be a real treat grabbing for that railing, when someone goes slip sliding on the down the feral cat porch, in rain or snow.
Not what I would consider clean kitties by any stretch, but Ure results surely differ.
No – I suggest something way moar fun and challenging for feral cat suppression, that will also triple as a training aid -https://hatsanairgunsusa.com/product/refurbished-jet/
About a $150 initial outlay with a bag of .25cal pellet Slugs. Keep the furry little bastards honest at least. Hell times get tough enough – airguns are fairly quite, comparable to silenced, sub-sonic projectiles, for small game hunting.
Squirrel Stew anyone ? Rabbit, Greasy Gooses, Greasy Whistle Pigs..yummmmmm! oky maybe not the woodchucks..https://youtu.be/P6GG4ghkfQ0?si=y0p3ZccQDAxiaKTh
Talking gooses,
“how to hook up a gooseneck trailer”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvQfeVU_tl4
I have a new small radio, which I bought primarily for FM. It has an automotive tuner chip and a Li ion battery. Car radios always get better reception than portables, right ? Well, not better than this one:
https://www.amazon.com/QODOSEN-DX-286-Automotive-Shortwave-Attenuator/dp/B0D3V3H356
I have mostly worked the FM tuner. It pulls in stations without an external antenna better than any portable I have ever used. Reviewers claim the MW & SW are even better, with a built-in preamp. I tried the MW, and concluded it needs an external coil antenna. I have a cord on order to get use of the external antenna jack.
Battery life is not particularly good, even with the LI ion battery. Buy the version with the extra battery, or an extra from other sources.
Todderbert did multiple reviews of the radio, this is the introductory session:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1Ex-WzwY68
The configuration of the radio is less than obvious, so the manual will need to be consulted heavily. There are a lot of, perhaps excessive, settings to dink with. Once you get some preselect stations programmed, and learn how to put the radio in “Memo” mode to access the stored stations, it becomes easy enough to tune FM.
Good radio, with a nice hard case.
7.285 last night, 8pm, Texas Traffic Net 5/8 ! Heard them only, listening in bed, getting check ins from all over.
I have 6 of those totes for rainwater! I drain them for Winter. Had one freeze solid once full. Messed it up a bit but came out working, no leaks.
Sunlight is the tote killer.
https://www.amazon.com/IBC-Tote-Cover-Outdoor-Protective/dp/B0B6ML8BHS/ref=sr_1_2_sspa?
I also, pre-cover, spray painted them with water based house paint.
Happy Dude day
I was sitting is service between Sunday School and the start of Worship and saw your request. Big Art is probably not back from his services as they tend to run a little later.
1) I love the chart pak changes and this one is the beat so far.
2) Don’t be shooting cats with an air rifle, they are very much tougher than a squirrel or rabbit and will run off to an inaccessible place to succumb. They will stink like any other critter when they do. Plus they keep all kinds of vermine like snake mice rats chipmunks etc at bay and their numbers in control. A biologist once told me the Bio Dept did a mass balance of all proteins and minerals required for a healthy cat and it came up as on nice fat field mouse a day. imagine that!
If you just MUST be mean to cats use an airsaft pistol that shoot plastic BBs at target airgun speeds, avout 240f/s. They will sting but will not break a whole cats tough skin. I had a tom cat I let get to two years old before neutering, and ever after giving him hs shots at the Vet were like trying to stick a needle into a basketball, and not through the air port.
3) on to the heating balance.
Using the accurate mass of 2600 lbs for the water plus tare weight (the tot, which will have to be kept warm too.) You use the equation E=m(Cp)?T.
E=BTUs
M=mass
?T = Temp change
Cp = Heat capacity of Water which is rounded to
1 BTU/Lb-°F.
so to raise one lb water one degree F will take 1 BTU. so to raise your 2600 lbs from -7 to 32 will take 101,400 BTUs. But thats just for starters.
The real heat transfer in water is the Latent Heat of evaporation (water to steam) or Freezing (ice to water) Water (or ice) will rise in temp a degree per pound per BTU up to 32 at which point the temp stops going up and the ice and water are in equilibrium at 32 degrees while the ice transitions between phases. This Latent Heat is (rounded off) 1000BTU/Lb. 2.6MM BTUs!! So the Exercise is don’t let it freeze to start with. Keep that Temp above 33 °F if you can. This can be done with an insulation blanket and a heating pad up against the tote (in a tank farm a tank of many thousands of gallons will have a steam heating pad of only a few square feet applied under the insulation.) Remember you only need apply about 100K BTUs to the uninsulated tank to raise it’s temp one degree.
You may need a couple of heating pads. Check with the pharmacy where you buy them or go online to the manufacturer and check out its heat rate. I use them in deep freeze weather for cars parked outside to keep the battery warm so they crank up in the morning. The Antifreeze should be at the proper concentration, and the oil nowadays is usually 5-30 down to 0-20 so they are all thin enough to pour like water in a freeze, not like Kayro syrup. Main thing is keep the battery warm.
Even so, as you noted inside is where the electricity is, so if you have room, that’s where the tote should be. For one, it will be out of the breeze, which drastically increases likelihood of freezing(increases heat transfer), and another is it will be closer to 32 indoors.
Also the energy can be injected by electric bayonet tank heaters like the fish tank or even a water tank( you don’t want it getting to 120F though) or by a bubbler to pump air and keep the surface from freezing (ice floats, remember. Say, if icebergs float, and are buoyant, they are less dense that water, right? So if all the sea ice melts it will take LESS space than the ice. So how will the sea level rise? Hmmm….)
Oh and lastly check the material of the tote, most are made of HDXL PVC (High Density, Cross Linked PVC, and stabilized for UV, so can be left out in the Sun. A Flat Black insulation blanket will help a lot in warning if it is outdoors, but it should last longer than you or I if left in the sun.
Hope this all helps!
Yes – it does help., a lot. Thanks !
What it tells me is that at 10 below zero I am screwed if a tote is outside. I couldn’t afford that many BTU’s for water.
I’ll just melt the snow., in a bucket., near the wood stove for ‘winter water’.
No, it’s not nearly so bad as it might seem. Remember that you get 3412.14 BTU per kilowatt hour. (And you have some of the lowest rates in the country where you live nd where my son’s building a server farm, right?
And he used -7 I only (probably) need to go down to +10F
So (spitballing here) if 106,000 (and change BTU) will get me 39 degrees of delta and I only need 22 degrees, then I ought to ony need 56 percent, but let’s say I need only 60 percent.
Which we further spitwad into 60,000 BTU which then becomes 17.68 kilowatt hours.
Down here, we would out of pocket on the rat card pay about $2.12 but that’s before solar kicks in. Even at the higher path loss on a winter solstice path, I would likely take 50-cents off that for my own panels so oop (out of pocket) would be a buck and a half…
Of course, with even some minimal insulation hot glued inside that cover Mike Random spied – an inch or two of styro, and given the slowed rate of heat loss, assuming the glaciers don’t land $10 bucks worth of power for a cople of cold snaps might pencil…
Sound right Mr. Engineer?
Miller Floating 1500 Watt Livestock Drinking Water, 100 to 300 Gallon Stock Tank Heater Deicer with 6 Foot Anti Rub Heating Element Protector Cable
Reviewed in the United States on December 7, 2022
Verified Purchase
Been outside in the trough for a couple weeks now in single digit weather. Water hasn’t froze over as of yet so I’d say it works great!
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0044UOZLM
It takes very little heat to keep a tank from freezing.
It takes a huge amount of heat to thaw one, once it has.
If the tank is buried so its top is below your frost line, it will never freeze — then the question becomes: Is it okay to pump the water, or must it be gravity-fed. Will its usefulness be best if the tank is buried, but the pump feeds an aerial tank to gravity-feed your delivery?
Decisions, decisions…
E=m(Cp)dT so
2600 (1)22=57,200 BTUs
I would take those black covers put the insulation inside and add a heating pad, and place it where sunlight can hit that black. you will be golden then and the sunlight will go direct to heat not through the solar panels.
Oh and one other thing.
The water will be at daytime temp when the sun goes down, you only need the black cover and the heat pad to keep it above 32, so only will need the power for the 12 hours in the dark, so more like 28-29KBTUs.
Big issue when you are in a location where the air temp doesn’t go and STAY below freezing for an extended period of time is merely to INSULATE THE TANK so as to minimize heat loss.
In your location that should work unless you have an entire week of temps under 10 degrees at night since most of the time in the winter your temp is cycling above freezing during daylight hours.
For the size tank you are talking about there is a LOT of mass that has to be cooled down for it to freeze. If you can minimize the heat transfer OUT of the tank … that is much cheaper than paying to heat the tank. Insulation Insulation Insulation is your simple and cheapest solution for your climate location. Shoot around here farmers don’t even bother to heat their stock tanks, too expensive. They minimize the heat loss and then if the water is getting close to freezing just start a continuous cycle of water through the stock tank. We get down below freezing and say below freezing for extended periods of time around here. (well water is in the 50’s around here during the dead of winter)
Good luck!
Ure not including the insulation value of the dead cats in Ure calculations..isnt it something like R-9 ?
Dig hole, line with dead cats and compost, place tote on top, cover with dirt and more dead cats. Install a recirc pump – be golden
Cats = NEGATIVE impact of on local wildlife/birdlife. Why game commission unofficially encourages their removal. Fish commission on other hand encourages elimination of Water Snakes – for similar same reasons.
I was a travelling relief engineer for the educational FM network in the state of Wisconsin, in my youth. The remote FM transmitters had living facilities and a typical shift was 3-1/2 days at a site. So I was assigned a site on a hilltop bluff above the Mississippi river valley in Feb. when the temp stayed -20F for the day’s HIGH, and lower at night. Then the wind chill… I had to wrap the exposed 3ft of heating oil line into the house with electric heat tape to keep the fuel oil running for the heater.
So I arrived in my ’67 Mustang and wisely took the battery out and kept it inside & warm. But I worried about the engine block. Even with thin winter oil, it was tough to turn over when the oil is like syrup. Dad had a block heater in his oil plug on his car, but I had nothing. Didn’t want to be stranded out here so I improvised an engine block heater with what I could find at the radio station. I found two 500-watt tower beacon bulbs. Soldered leads on to them and an extension cord. I laid one giant bulb on each side of the engine block, and laid a movers blanket on top of the hood to keep as much heat in as I could. Plugged it in and saw a nice bright glow coming from under the car. Two days of this treatment, with nighttime lows down to -40F. and wind, and my car turned over and started a few hours before I had to leave. I left it idling. I hid the tower lamp evidence before my relief engineer arrived. His main concern was that the oil line heater to the building was working. He had experience with freeze ups. So from experience, a kilowatt of infra-red radiation onto an engine block will keep it liquid enough to turn over at -20F.
Memories like that make me grateful to live in Hawaii now in my old age.
BTW I has Delta symbols in the message and the submission changed them all to question marks,
So Delta=?
John Kerry says that., “..the First Amendment is getting in the way of on-line censorship.”
– Ahhh., isn’t it supposed too ? What a maroon.
– ., and why would anyone believe that censorship., of any kind., would remain in just one “designated” arena? Legally censor “on-line” then the cavalcade begins.
– Last year, during the school year, over 100,000 different books where banned from high school shelves., across the nation. – Of the top twenty books that were universally banned from high school ‘availability’ – five of them were required reading when I was high school.
The demoscraps keep putting in total flakes as SecStates – Blinker is no better…all slease and like Clif noted today, all going off-script. https://clifhigh.substack.com/p/improvisation-not-a-good-sign?utm_source=podcast-email&publication_id=681568&post_id=149570847&utm_campaign=email-play-on-substack&utm_content=watch_now_button&r=rw9ss&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email
Some folks just can’t ad lib and don’t have the brains to STFU – the KerBlinks are two such making the global blooper reel even worse.
1:00:20 “And they have to design the psyops so that the cops will believe it. Because, or the military or whoever, all the minions. Because if those people do not believe it, then that sheer, because if they’ve been told the truth, then that sheer disbelief on their part will spread throughout the public because the The controllers, I don’t know that this class of minion understands that, but the controllers up here, the space aliens or whoever the fuck it was, used to understand the psychic nature of humanity and they would take this kind of shit into account. The midwits that are running things now do not apparently grasp this. And so they’re going to start…”
Dell Technologies has rejoined the S&P500 – as AI investing has given rise to their down-line and bottom line outlook.
Over the past two weeks Michael Dell, founder, CEO and Chief Bottle Washer has sold over $2 billion dollars in Dell stock. It would appear that he sees something else going on that is much better – or he is dumping because of the world situation and economic outlook for the world as a whole. What ever the reason – it’s a huge chunk-of-change. And raises a few interesting questions.
You’re a billionaire – where do you stash another couple extra billion dollars, until you’re ready to use ’em ? Government bonds?
“… where do you stash another couple extra billion dollars, until you’re ready to use ’em ? Government bonds?”
38:50 – 10 year U.S. Treasury to go to 0% in the midst of the bust.
https://youtu.be/yqQ2weCkKi4?si=ENWCEm-BWc8TIS7I
Yep. George’s Treasury Direct account comes to mind. And it’s ‘Government Insured’ too… as long as we have a ‘government’. Which could be questionable, too.
Well.., it doesn’t look as though there are any more thoughts of the Nikkei rising to fast.., it just dropped over 1,600 points, 4.7% at the open. Ouch !
Seems ‘no one’ likes the newly announced Prime Minster., who was the Defense Minister.
George,
The final lower high and higher high valuation peak days for the Nikkei, the BSE, and the western equities were 26/27 September 2024. The 10-11 day crash from 27 Sept has began.
This 5 Aug to 10-11 Oct 2024 2/4/4/3 week or 10 week fractal will be the base decay fractal for a decay series ending about the first or second week of October 2025.
TEF- Port shutdowns on the other left coasts will make things interesting:
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/09/30/ports-strike-truckers-rails-billions-in-cargo-shutdown.html
Looks highly deflationary, at first glance. Unsure if it will impact crude oil tanker loading and unloading. Local gasoline prices were in freefall this weekend. Not sure if this affects cargo airplane distribution.
Just doubled the LiFePO4 batteries on my UPS this weekend. Large lithium batteries may become more difficult to get if the strike drags on for long. I now have 6+ days of power for the freezer and a few light loads, without temporarily hooking up photovoltaics.
I rotate about 16 – 20 gallons of diesel. I haven’t bothered treating it, because that is roughly a year’s worth for me, based on current consumption, and my tractor will generally digest about anything. I’m thinking bio-contaminates plug leaks in old tractors, anyway.
I am thinking about starting to rotate 9 – 10 gallons of ethanol free gasoline. Not sure that treating it will be of any value, because I need to rotate every 30 – 60 days if I start this. 10 gallons of gas won’t run the car very far, but it will cut a lot of firewood.
Hers a link to some ideas to keep stray cats away. A lot better options than shooting at stray animals.
https://www.orangecountync.gov/2144/Humane-Deterrents-for-Free-Roaming-Cats
Some of these ideas deter other things as well like skeeters.
I suspect that in SE Texas the bigger problem than freezing tote will be algae in the tote. Any dense insulation on the outside of the tank should block light sufficiently to keep algae in check.