I have been watching the news on the Myanmar coup. I was trying to figure out what the point was. I was tempted to make a cynical comment about how it is always about the money. I suppose that isn’t strictly true. But follow the money first if you want to save yourself some time.
One Year of COVID-19
I still remember tracking the news from China and then Italy about the emerging virus. I was hoping the US would be able to isolate and control it, but I didn’t see any movement in that direction. By late February 2020 we started to stock up on food. My last meal at a restaurant was February 28. I realized things would get bad when I went to visit a colleague at a tech company up the road and saw this notice on the door. This was a little over one year ago.
Printer Problems
A couple of weeks ago our printer started complaining about lost WiFi connections. Then it stopped working completely. We went to buy a new printer but they seem to be in short supply. We ordered one and it finally arrived, but it did not work. It kept giving a cartridge error and wouldn’t print (but it would scan). Packed it up for return and realized we don’t have a printer to print out the return label.
The Big Chill
I’m not a fan of Politico, but this is a good read. What is amazing is that there was lots of warning for this weather and power event. The outages started early and went on for about a week. I’m sure there are lots of people frozen to death out there for some reason aren’t being counted. The tepid response of the governor and other state leaders is almost bizarre, especially when compared to similar disasters like hurricanes. And then there was the parade of lies from the get-go. Again, people here are pissed. Looking like the only accountability will be at election time. One can hope …..
‘Look What You Did to Us’: The Big Chill of Texas Politics
Texas Is a Rich State in a Rich Country, and Look What Happened
I like Ezra Klein, but I seldom read his stuff or watch him on TV. He seems to be a fairly doctrinaire lefty, which I don’t necessarily disagree with, I just don’t expect to learn anything new from him. This NYT article caught my attention, though. He does dismiss the incompetence of Texas leaders a bit too much IMO. Worth a read.
500,000 COVID-19 Deaths in the US
From the BBC. I believe this is an undercount, but we may never know. While the US data is terrible, the UK and Italy have done worse on a per-capita basis.
Covid US death toll: Imagining what 500,000 lost lives look like
The Last of the Beats
One of those people I think I would have enjoyed knowing. The end of a era.
Messing with Texas
Pretty much the whole situation summed up in one (brilliant) cartoon. From Tom Tomorrow via the Nib.
Direct Drive
Haven’t spent much time with the mower project lately. Being below freezing for the last week put a crimp in lots of plans. Fortunately we had power for the duration, but many in Texas did not.
Today I decided to start work on direct drive, even though I’m in the middle of the blade implementation. The reason is the chain drive is slower and less reliable than I expected. I also found this adapter, a 10mm DD bore hub to be exact, that fits on my motor that ought to allow me to couple the motor directly to the old drive belt pulley. I don’t really know what I’m doing here and don’t even know what the issues are with connecting a motor shaft directly to drive shaft. I’m worried about alignment and vibration, and all I have is my usual power drill and various hand tools to do the job. Had to do a little filing to make the adapter fit. Getting everything bolted together in that tight space and finding a way to mount the motor is going to be a challenge. But hey, this is all a learning experience.
Corporate Love
If you live in Central Texas you probably know about the H.E.B. grocery chain. I can’t think of a better run business. I know people who have had dealings with them at every level (customers, vendors, employees) and I have never heard anything bad. Heck, I’ve never heard anything but compliments. Sure, they are heavily consumer oriented in a high volume, low margin business, but why aren’t all businesses like this? From WaPo, but a story covered by all the local news outlets.
