Texas Electricity Explained

So, people are freezing in Texas and the power is goign out. Conservatives blame windmills. Liberals blame not enough windmills. What is the truth?

You can’t handle the truth.

We cannot know what the truth is about anything any longer because out media sources are all unreliable. They all specialize in telling us their own brand of truth because that is what drives their revenues and paychecks.

Windmills and solar did not cause Texas’ energy crunch. Energy producers know with certainty that those technologies are hobby-farm levels of electricity. They know with certainty that they are unreliable and should not be counted on for anything important… like keeping the lights on. So they have massive extra capacity from Natural gas generation. Not “just enough” or “enough for 95% of normal demands. MASSIVE.

Reliance on fossil fuels did not cause the crunch or make it worse. Windmills and solar fill a niche in an otherwise natural gas/nuclear/coal dominated generation facility.

Capitalism did not cause the crisis. Power companies all pretty much run the same way whether they are not for profits, co-ops, or public utilities. They all cover the operating costs with service fees and put a buffer aside to fix things that break and improve the grid over time. Government interference like what happens in California is the only thing that destroys the ability of those companies to operate efficiently.

What did cause the crisis:

1. Massive immigration from outside the USA and from “Blue” states, increasing the population much faster than the grid expanded. (windmills included)
2. Massive cold weather of a type that is nowhere near normal for that area. Texas homes don’t have the insulation factors we have in the northern states. Texas residents have to make up for that the only way they know how, by cranking up the heaters, making demand for electricity skyrocket.
3. Covid lockdowns keeping people in their homes causes their normal daily demands for energy to increase to keep their homes comfortable beyond their normal non-working hours while at the same time, businesses are still carrying a full heating bill for the 5% of people who still show up.

It’s no one’s fault. All the people in Texas simply demanded more electricity than was possible to produce.

Rush Limbaugh dies at 70

I suppose it was expected after his long battle with cancer, but it still comes as a shock to see it in print. The articles in the legacy media are predictable. They HATED the guy only slightly less than they hated Trump. It is obvious by reading their press announcements that not a single one of them could be troubled to find even one writer who actually listened to Rush’s program. They simply reprinted their own lies, character assassination and inuendoes about him.

Something no one mentioned: Rush was at the top of a media empire that stretched out over decades and single handedly saved AM radio as a commercially viable entity. They were quickly becoming nothing but a playground for religious, foreign language and hobby radio stations.

I am very sorry to see Rush go. Even though there are hundreds of people following in his footsteps as conservative radio hosts, there are none even close to his ability or his impact on society. He was irreplaceable.

Rush was the first person to open my eyes about how global warming was just a scam. From there, I learned a healthy skepticism about everything. I learned from Rush that reporters and Journalists are, as a group, stupid, biased, lazy, arrogant and almost always wrong.

Mr. Limbaugh, go into your well-deserved rest.

My Car is no longer covered by Warrantee

This is evidently a pretty big deal since various companies have been calling me several times a day to warn me of this calamity. How will I ever survive? Is there really a high enough profit margin in this that makes it worth calling every cell phone in America several times a day? Free Clue: If you ever robo-call me, I will not stay on the line long enough to listen to what you are selling, even if you are giving away free money, delivered by an attractive bikini model with “daddy issues”.

Are there people out there who actually buy anything from a robo-caller? Do those people still get robo-called for the car warrantees even after they bought one?

My car is 18 years old and has 310,000 miles on it. I seriously doubt anyone is interested in selling me a repair “warrantee”.

This reminds me of a commercial I heard on Glen Beck, back when the local radio station bothered to carry him. Glen was hawking a car repair plan that “he personally uses”. Seriously? A guy with Beck’s wealth is afraid of an unplanned car repair bill when he can obviously afford to simply push his car over a cliff and buy a new one? Of course, he claims to use and trust all of the products that advertise on his show. Marketers must have told him that people don’t listen to commercials any more because they are all lies, so now the commercial needs to be product placed inside the content. I have seen lots of the on air “talent” doing this. In my view, it simply tells me that the host is willing to lie to me with his own voice one minute and expect me to believe what he says the next.

Is home title theft really a thing? Advertisers on talk radio claim it is. I have never heard of it outside the radio commercials intended to get me to buy their protection plan. Something I didn’t know I needed. Last time I bought a house, transferring the title was hard, required lawyers, signatures, witnesses, bankers, AND TITLE companies. It didn’t look like something that could be easily done by a 14 year old Nigerian with a Russian mob girlfriend.

With modern technology the way it is, why can’t my phone company screen all of these out? It should be trivial.

For that matter, if Facebook, Google, Twitter can spot and deny service to Republicans and the FBI can geolocate everyone who was on the capital grounds on 6 Jan, why can’t they eliminate child porn from the internet? Why can’t the FBI use all that power to crush MS-13 and human traffickers? It’s almost as if they don’t want to.

Arts and crafts: four door

The last of 4 doors is now in. We can call this the window room.

Current events: elections aftermath

Nothing says peaceful transition of power like rounding up your political opponents for show trials, prosecuting their freinds, families and businesses, and using everything in your power to harass and silence their supporters.

Current events: Covid airports

Visited Dulles airport recently. There are so few people flying that you can easily pull up curbside and wait as long as you like and the traffic harassment enforcers dont bother.

Arts and Crafts: tools

I bought into the porter cable series of 20v battery powered devices.

The reciprocating saw gave up the ghost today. I thought it was the battery, but the motor just gave out. Too many mettal chips accumulating inside the motor causing high heat buildup and motor stoppage.

After 30min rest, the interior motor housing was still over 100 degrees.

Time to head to China Freight and get a simple one that plugs into the wall. Sometimes chordless things just don’t have the power to heep going. I got a lot of use out of that one and can’t imagine being without a sawsall now.

The End is near

I may be dead tomorrow.

If I suddenly stop blogging, that’s why. I think it’s a pretty good reason, all things considered.

I have been scheduled to get the COVID vaccination. We will see how that goes.

Why am I getting it? There are certain financial incentives. Required for work. I’m on the “me first” list, near the top. Not because I am important. more likely because the higher ups want to see if it’s safe by testing it on someone (or a few hundred someones) who are “not them”.

Odd thing about this particular vaccination. This is the only Vaccination I have every seen or heard of where they announce ahead of time that taking pictures or video of your experience is strictly forbidden. I can’t imagine why an untested “vaccine” that was rushed to market and is still not officially approved for use in humans would not want their users to film their experiences.

I’ll spend the rest of the day putting my emergency plan into effect.

• Update emergency contact card and wear it on a chain around my neck instead of hidden in my wallet between the Panera and COSTCO member cards.
• Put my will next to the front door where it can be found instead of buried in a pile of useless old bills and telephone records in the basement.
• Let heirs know they should keep in touch on a daily basis for the next few weeks, that is, if they expect to get a share of the loot.

Ten things about the superbowl

1. Didn’t watch it. I never cared about football so i cant even be sanctimonious about it.

2. … that’s all I got.

Wild Kingdom

Word is out that I’m a soft touch for a free meal.

Now I don’t have to find another use for that bacon grease.

He has an injured front leg and is limping.