Even a niche subculture built around magical cartoon horses is reckoning with racism.
American Deaths Squads
People attacked by right wing maniacs in America sure have bad luck with their other health problems. This week we learned that George Floyd died of heart disesase, coincidentally, while police officers were kneeling on his neck and back for almost ten minutes. And. And. The police officer defending the US Capitol during the Jan 6 riot dies several hours after the riot of “natural causes”. Two other officers committed suicide just days after the riots. Unrelated, I am sure. Would like to hear more about those two.
Police officer died of ‘natural’ causes day after Capitol riot: Medical examiner
Defense expert testifies George Floyd died of heart disease, car exhaust fumes
Cat Scratch Fever
Probably just a bad case of Cat Scratch Fever.
Ted Nugent Catches Coronavirus After Year of Telling Us the Pandemic Is All Fake
One Last Piece
The electric riding mower is almost ready for its first test. I am happy with the drive train and have even added a switch to the brake that that turns off the motor when braking. I was going to turn off the motor manually when braking, but too easy to burn up another fuse that way, or worse.
Still playing around with how to attach the lift mechanism to the blades. My biggest concern right now is what happens when you bump into something. The old gas mower was heavy duty, and I still managed to bend and break stuff. This won’t be as strong and will break more easily. I just don’t have a good feel for how much movement to allow. The old deck was mounted at four points which was more stable. This will be just two points. Maybe I should have kept more of the old lift mechanism, but it was a bit complicated. Right now I’m thinking of ways to limit movement. Things will break if you hit them hard enough, but I’m going to try to keep it to a minimum. Actually I suppose I will be easier on this machine than I was on the old gas mower.
One other bit. Sometimes my progress depends on Amazon deliveries. There are two parts to the old lift mechanism. I want to reuse them and each has an advantage and disadvantage. I’m also learned that although they seem interchangeable, one is maybe a quarter of an inch offset. Nothing some big washers wouldn’t fix. Except I didn’t have any big washers. So two days to mull it over while Amazon ships my washers.
Texas Energy Blame Game
The state government in Texas is trying to blame renewables for their failures in the Big Freeze. I won’t even say it was gas that was the problem. Just failure to winterize the system, which was heavily gas based. Not widely discussed, but lack of gas from Texas also left millions in Mexico without power. Hard to blame that on renewables.
A good read on the subject that quotes a former ERCOT member:
“They would have to be complete idiots if they think what they’re doing is solving the problem,” he said. He doesn’t actually think elected officials are idiots, he added, but he does think they are acting out of political convenience.
Texas Politicians Aim to Penalize Wind and Solar in Response to Outages. Are Renewables Now Strong Enough to Defend Themselves?
Self Driving Cars
I’m have long been critical of “self driving cars”, at least the way people like Elon Musk describe it. This article explains quickly and simply the problem.
This Billboard That Confuses Tesla Autopilot Is A Good Reminder Of Why Self-Driving Is Still A Long Way Off
Texas to Penalize Renewables
It keeps getting dumber. In an attempt to shift blame and chisel and advantage, the oil and gas dinosaurs here in Texas are trying to penalize renewables such as solar and wind power. How about letting Texas buy (and sell!) electricity to other states, like the rest of America?
Big Utilities Pan Texas Push to Curb Renewables Following Freeze
Texas vs Austin
Austin has always been a liberal oasis in the vast conservative state of Texas. I have always liked it here, but the state government’s ongoing vendetta (if that is the word) against the city has always bothered me. It seems to be getting worse. Too many things to cover here (like why was half of Austin blacked out for days during the Big Freeze, even as Austin Energy had enough capacity to power the city). Seems other people have noticed. From the local media.
Steven A. Guccione 