msisk6

Same here with a Subaru Forester. Even though I have a giant diesel RAM pickup we typically use the Subie to haul stuff since it's easier to get stuff in and out.

The RAM is so tall it's unwieldy to get stuff in and out of the bed. I really need to sell that thing and get something practical.

The newer Honda Ridgeline is pretty close to a modern El Camino, albeit with 4-doors.

These are found in the Ozarks of Missouri and Arkansas, too.

For a related bit of obscure US history you can read about the post-civil war vigilante group named after these: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bald_Knobbers

This is so true. I just replaced the screen on my x230; the new screen cost $75 on ebay, the benzel came off with two screws, the screen itself with 4 screws (all normal philips) and one easily undone connector. 5 minutes to do the whole job.

We have a new house--about a year old now--here in Texas with all the efficiency and insulation stuff. I noticed after working in my office with the door and windows closed I didn't feel so good after awhile.

I got one of those trendy Awair monitors and stuck it on my desk and hooked up the iPhone app. And sure enough, when I started not feeling well it was because the CO2 was over 1500 ppm.

I don't know about the accuracy of the actual CO2 measurement, but I figure the delta is at least good enough to spot trends. And yeah, those times I don't feel well is always associated with a rise of CO2. I "fix" it by either opening the door and/or window or running the fan of the central air system. Our system also has a "bleed air" adjustment for outside air. I turned that up a bit, too.

The Awair also does "chemicals" and PM2.5. I'm surprised our new house doesn't an issues with those, but I do see PM2.5 go up when the window in my office is open and "chemicals" fluctuates throughout the day but at a low level. I'm not exactly sure what "chemicals" means in this context; I haven't really looked into it yet.

You might consider the Awair; I've been happy with it. I have several thousand systems that need tending at work and, same as you, I don't need to come home and do more. My wife's Windows gaming rig needs enough of that as it is...

ERCOT (which manages the grid in most, but not all, of Texas) has 5 DC ties to other grids. Two are to the Eastern Interconnect and 3 are to Mexico.

El Paso isn't in ERCOT, but is connected to the Western Interconnection

Geesh, I just sold my ranch last year that had its own transformer at the very end of a distribution circuit. I could have gotten extra for it's "audiophile grade electricity" if only I knew that was a thing!

Several years ago at work we lost one of our utility feeds. Turns out a snake got up on the pole and shorted across two phases. Texas.

Yeah, the Apple Network Server running AIX with some Apple-specific customization. Interesting idea that didn't work out.

Same when I worked at Rackspace. I was in a football-field-size windows-less room (there were actual windows at the periphery but I was so far away it didn't matter) right under a fluorescent light fixture shining right in my eyes. Most of us had these gigantic plastic leaf shades we found in the kids section of Ikea blocking the light. Some folks went as far to drape their cube in surplus camo netting.

Now I'm in an office sitting right next to a 10x10-foot east facing window with lots of light and views outside. But I nearly always have the shade down since the sun shines right in and blinds me every morning.

All this could be solved with private offices. I just hope I live to see the day when our line of work reverts back to private offices from this open space insanity.

I totally agree. I got my truck when I had a ranch with livestock, a tractor and all the work that goes with all that stuff. I'm now living in town about two miles from work and really don't need the truck but they're more easily acquired than gotten rid of. Most days I leave the truck in the driveway and drive the wife's Subaru.

As far as grid operations, it's not really that exciting to see in person. Access is tightly controlled and it's pretty much like any other enterprise application shop.

The control room is pretty cool, though: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KatQ9Q_IQk

Look me up when you make to Austin. I live and work about 25 miles east at the place that runs the power grid for Texas.

If you're ever in the Austin Texas area look me up and you can drive my Ram 2500 diesel around. It's a highly over-rated experience, IMHO.

A bit late to the reply, but mostly it's perception: when the urea-injection exhaust-aftertreament systems first came out in 2013 or so there were a few reliability issues that dealers didn't do a good job of fixing. It's much improved now and my truck hasn't had any issues at all.

And, I'm sad to say, some folks just like the whole "rolling coal" thing and the ability to put out huge plumes of black smoke.

Tangentially related to this article is Simon Winchester's latest book "The perfectionists: How Precision Engineers Created the Modern World".

One of the chapters in this book is about the differences between the hand-built cars of Rolls Royce (and their origin story which I never knew) and Henry Ford's production line that required interchangeable precision parts.

At the voltages involved in power transmission the "grounding" will cause an arc that'll do a lot of damage and take the transmission line out of service until it's dug up and fixed. And that takes awhile and costs a lot of money not to mention lost revenue while the transmission line is out of service.

Above ground is the way to go since it's cheaper to construct and much easier to service when things go wrong.

Exactly. It's mostly cost that keeps underground transmission lines limited to very specific situations. I forget the exact figure, but underground transmission is something like 20x the cost of above ground.

Surprised it wasn't mentioned in the video, but this is where the term 'parsec' come from. A parallax angle of 1 arc second means the object is 1 parsec away (3.26 light years).

I live in a small Texas town outside of Austin. I think my diesel pickup is the only unmodified one here. It's really that common. The exhaust after-treatment and DPF systems are fairly complex and most owners just take 'em out. There's emissions inspections in this county, but diesel vehicles are conveniently exempt.

Story: I just bought a new house and the space for the kitchen range was too small by just a hair for the new induction range my wife insisted on. The construction manager came out and proceeded to take apart a utility knife to get the blade out to use it as a substitute scraper to shave the wood cabinet down a bit. I told the guy I have a good small Lie-Nielsen block plane already unpacked in the garage that'll do a much better job, but he insisted on the knife blade. And you know what? It turned out just fine.

I think a lot of folks nowadays have never used a really good high-quality tool and have no idea what they're missing.

Awhile back one of my co-workers got involved with a contractor. Apparently the relationship went "bad" at some point and one of the parties decided to get HR involved. Both were fired immediately.

I think it's just a failure of imagination. Granted, very few folks leave here and no one can remember anyone leaving and coming back. But the team that runs the machine now knows of this edge case and are addressing it.

Yeah, my wife would agree. ;) This is probably the most epic failure of my career. I thought I did proper due diligence but obviously I didn't. A learning experience for sure.

I had a similar experience but in reverse.

About six months ago I left my long-time enterprise-y employer for a startup in another city. So we sold our house, packed up the family, bought a new house and moved in.

After 3 months it became obvious I had made a terrible mistake, so we sold the new house, packed up the family again, and bought another new house in the same city we had just left 3 months ago so I could return to my previous employer. They were happy to have me back and I ended up in the same desk and chair I had just vacated 3 months previous.

Only it took awhile. Since I was already in the system as a terminated employee it required manual intervention and code changes to the employee management system to get me added back in. It took about 3 weeks before I could do anything besides go to meetings.

If anything needs disrupting, it’s the employee management systems in use by pretty much all the large enterprise shops. It’s a mess.

Same here. I've been using BBEdit on the Mac for 20 years now. I suspect BBEdit on the Mac and vi(m) in the terminal will be the only editors I'll ever need.

Yep. Here in Texas we have an open energy market and in most areas you get to choose your energy provider and an array of plans.

One of my co-works with a Tesla got a plan where electricity is free at night. He cranks the AC during the night and charges the car and ends up paying around $40 a month. Not bad.

My son and his girlfriend (now wife) worked over-winter in Yellowstone for Xanterra after college and they really enjoyed the experience.

I can vouch for this.

About 15 years back I was living in a rural area of New Hampshire and got the "bulls eye" mark on my leg. Never saw the tick in this case but ticks and bites were common around there.

I promptly went to the doctor to get a course of antibiotics and never had further health issues.

Now I'm in rural Texas and surrounded by fire ants. I need to rethink my life choices.

An additional complication is that generation and load aren't evenly distributed in a typical energy grid. This can create "traffic jams" that aren't reflected in a typical residential electric bill but something utilities and large business get to deal with.

In open energy markets like those in California and Texas there's things called "Locational Marginal Pricing" and "Congestion Revenue Rights" to deal with this.