What are you doing today?

[DT]

I probably should've tried Tesla service, I just figured this was something I could easily knock out in an hour or so, and we have an extra car, so it made it easy.

It was officially time to retire my jack (when I was using it I was like,"good lord, this thing is in terrible shape ..."), put it at the curb today (trash day), but it was gone in 15 minutes, and I stopped by Harbor Freight, picked up a new Daytona 3 ton, low profile model:

Also ordered some Tesla specific jacking pucks, they'll be here tomorrow (I'll need to pull the wheel again on Monday).

 

[Cmaier]

Wow man, I guess we know why the first shop wouldn't do it now. Run flats were one of the more cooler features of the BMW, a few years back I hit something hard and could hear the air whistling out and a pretty good rate, it was emptied in a matter of minutes but I still drove it 15 miles to the dealership at a slower speed without any issues.

i have had at least 10 or 12 visits from tesla mobile tire service due to screws, nails, random metal shards, etc. in tires. I’ve had them in the treads and in the sidewall (somehow). I most recently had a rim which cracked internally. Mobile tire service guy comes out to look at it and checks the other tires - “they all look good.” I point out that they are all essentially new because every 4-6 months they are replacing one. Tires have been a real pain in the ass on the tesla - it is like a nail magnet.

 

[DT]

Wow man, I guess we know why the first shop wouldn't do it now. Run flats were one of the more cooler features of the BMW, a few years back I hit something hard and could hear the air whistling out and a pretty good rate, it was emptied in a matter of minutes but I still drove it 15 miles to the dealership at a slower speed without any issues.

They were worried about the acoustic baffles, but other than that, it's a just a 235/35-20 Pirelli. I think the extra low profile and not paying attention caused it. Net positive: a new tire vs. a patch - Bummer: no Tesla this weekend, but I've been having a blast driving the Jeep

 

[DT]

i have had at least 10 or 12 visits from tesla mobile tire service due to screws, nails, random metal shards, etc. in tires. I’ve had them in the treads and in the sidewall (somehow). I most recently had a rim which cracked internally. Mobile tire service guy comes out to look at it and checks the other tires - “they all look good.” I point out that they are all essentially new because every 4-6 months they are replacing one. Tires have been a real pain in the ass on the tesla - it is like a nail magnet.

I had like a run of punctured tire, I mean, it defied probability - then not a single issue for like 10 years. Maybe this was the universe balancing things out a bit

It does tell me I need to get an actual spare, or even just a another M3P wheel/tire for a backup (lots of sets online and a few folks are OK with breaking them up). I could've probably done a plug, bit generally I like a full patch.

 

[Cmaier]

I had like a run of punctured tire, I mean, it defied probability - then not a single issue for like 10 years. Maybe this was the universe balancing things out a bit

It does tell me I need to get an actual spare, or even just a another M3P wheel/tire for a backup (lots of sets online and a few folks are OK with breaking them up). I could've probably done a plug, bit generally I like a full patch.

I’m still trying to figure out how i picked up a nail in the sidewall. Our theory is that a neighbor might have done it when I left the car briefly parked on the driveway. I came home from work early one afternoon and found, in my mail, a letter-sized envelope addressed to my address, but the name was just “Bob” (or something. Can’t remember the name). It felt sort of lumpy, and the return address was from central california somewhere that made me immediately think “is this some sort of drugs or something?”

I open it up, and sure enough there’s a plastic baggy full of pills. Googling the code on the pills, I found out they were Vicodin, if I remember correctly. So I called the cops, because I don’t know any Bob and I don’t want any part of whatever this scheme is - my theory was that someone had their illicit drugs shipped to my house, which is on the corner, and they planned to pull them from my mailbox when I wasn’t home.

Cop comes and says that is exactly what was going on - they see it all the time.

A minute after the cops leave, we get an angry call from a neighbor, asking if we received an envelope. We say yes (how would they know), and explain that the cops have it now. She tells us a story about how her adult son, who had just moved back in, needs the pills and yadda yadda. Two days later I get a nail in the tire.

I tell neighbor lady about it, and say that while I am not accusing her or her son of anything, if any piece of my property so much as gets another scratch I will tell the cops I know who “Bob” is.

They moved away around a year later.

 

[Eric]

I’m still trying to figure out how i picked up a nail in the sidewall. Our theory is that a neighbor might have done it when I left the car briefly parked on the driveway. I came home from work early one afternoon and found, in my mail, a letter-sized envelope addressed to my address, but the name was just “Bob” (or something. Can’t remember the name). It felt sort of lumpy, and the return address was from central california somewhere that made me immediately think “is this some sort of drugs or something?”

I open it up, and sure enough there’s a plastic baggy full of pills. Googling the code on the pills, I found out they were Vicodin, if I remember correctly. So I called the cops, because I don’t know any Bob and I don’t want any part of whatever this scheme is - my theory was that someone had their illicit drugs shipped to my house, which is on the corner, and they planned to pull them from my mailbox when I wasn’t home.

Cop comes and says that is exactly what was going on - they see it all the time.

A minute after the cops leave, we get an angry call from a neighbor, asking if we received an envelope. We say yes (how would they know), and explain that the cops have it now. She tells us a story about how her adult son, who had just moved back in, needs the pills and yadda yadda. Two days later I get a nail in the tire.

I tell neighbor lady about it, and say that while I am not accusing her or her son of anything, if any piece of my property so much as gets another scratch I will tell the cops I know who “Bob” is.

They moved away around a year later.

Definitely odd, I mean how else does something like that happen by accident. I take it you have sentry mode turned off at home?

 

[Cmaier]

Definitely odd, I mean how else does something like that happen by accident. I take it you have sentry mode turned off at home?

Ain‘t no sentry mode on my model S. No cameras, no nuthin‘. It‘s a 2013 model year.

 

[Deleted member 215]

Being frustrated and admittedly pissed off. A student at the elementary school I work at tested positive for COVID this afternoon and he was present in a classroom and the library I was also in yesterday so now I can't return to work until at least the 11th at which point I will need a negative test (a couple co-workers are affected as well). I'm honestly surprised the school is even open; the librarian was telling me that this small group of kids who were sitting in front of the front office this morning were gathered there because they had all tested positive. I feel like it and other area schools are on the verge of closing soon.

 

[Eric]

Being frustrated and admittedly pissed off. A student at the elementary school I work at tested positive for COVID this afternoon and he was present in a classroom and the library I was also in yesterday so now I can't return to work until at least the 11th at which point I will need a negative test (a couple co-workers are affected as well). I'm honestly surprised the school is even open; the librarian was telling me that this small group of kids who were sitting in front of the front office this morning were gathered there because they had all tested positive. I feel like it and other area schools are on the verge of closing soon.

I'm trying to wrap my head around this push for returning to in-school learning, even last week they were all stressing it on both sides of the aisle, especially with the lack of testing. I told my wife "the evidence is clear, it will spread like wildfire and they'll be reeling on this" and here we are. Somebody should make these dumbasses who pushed this work in hospitals.

 

[Deleted member 215]

If the threshold for closing the school is a significant surge of omicron cases, then that was bound to happen anyway. There was no need re-open after winter break.

This opinion of Jeanne Noble, the director of COVID-19 response at UCSF Health's emergency department, seems to be the opinion of many:

“Closing our schools in 2020, pre-vaccination, was wrong, harming children without reducing viral transmission. To return to this strategy now, post-vaccination, when facing an attenuated variant, is beyond the pale.”

 

[AG_PhamD]

Today we got probably about 8” of snow here in the Boston area. Thankfully the roads and sidewalks were well treated. Harvard Medical School posted above.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Headed to bed early last night and slept long and deeply and well.

Now, coffee beckons.

 

[chengengaun]

Looking forward to attending four successive concerts in January featuring all ten Beethoven violin sonatas (but not with the two virtuosi…).

Link to Apple Music

Attending the first two of the four concerts today, featuring Sonata Nos. 1 to 5 - hopefully the other concerts in January will not be affected by the imminent Omicron wave here in Singapore.

Today's update on "Where's Webb?" states that the anxiety-inducing multi-day deployment of the sunshield layers has been completed! Lookin' good....

https://www.jwst.nasa.gov/content/webbLaunch/whereIsWebb.html?units=metric

Last piece of the puzzle!

 

[Edd]

View attachment 10861

Today we got probably about 8” of snow here in the Boston area. Thankfully the roads and sidewalks were well treated. Harvard Medical School posted above.

This snow is very welcome for the mountains. Winter has not been kind to skiers here this season.

 

[lizkat]

Celebrating that the installation of new LPG tanks last week is officially in the rear view mirror and receding into history. Presumably, the crew of guys doing the installation are as invested in staying alive as I am; nonetheless it's nice that nothing went amiss and so they didn't light up the whole village after completing installation, testing and giving me the high sign to turn up the thermostat. Probably would have been more fun for everyone had this been done in the summertime, but that's not how their inspection schedule worked, and my gas tanks were looking older than old even to me, so at least now the replacement work has been done before deep winter, when access can become more of a project.

 

[Huntn]

Celebrating that the installation of new LPG tanks last week is officially in the rear view mirror and receding into history. Presumably, the crew of guys doing the installation are as invested in staying alive as I am; nonetheless it's nice that nothing went amiss and so they didn't light up the whole village after completing installation, testing and giving me the high sign to turn up the thermostat. Probably would have been more fun for everyone had this been done in the summertime, but that's not how their inspection schedule worked, and my gas tanks were looking older than old even to me, so at least now the replacement work has been done before deep winter, when access can become more of a project.

Our friends in rural Minnesota have LPG gas, at least big tank in their back yard and as I recall it is expensive. Maybe they just have propane… The only thing in our house that is gas is the stove, the water heater, and the fireplace. My gas bill runs $24 a month.

 

[Huntn]

This snow is very welcome for the mountains. Winter has not been kind to skiers here this season.

And snow is also important to the farmers And our water supplies.

 

[lizkat]

Our friend in rural Minnesota have LPG gas, at least big tank in their back yard and as I recall it is expensive. Maybe they just have propane… The only thing in our house that is gas is the stove, the water heater, and the fireplace. My gas bill runs $24 a month.

My electric bill runs about $30 a month since I don't really use very much, just cooking, lighting, washing machine. And yeah that's a no on portable heaters in the bath or a bedroom, I come from "get over it and layer up fast, it's winter." I'd rather have a better grade of coffee beans than pay more to augment heat electrically between my gas furnace cycles, even if I'm known to curse when the blower motor happens to kick in just as I'm emerging from the shower. The early push from the forced-air ductwork in a heating cycle is of course about as cold as the cellar. I don't even notice it any more even if I still do curse. Lots of things end up on autopilot, eh.

The heating fuel (and hot water) -- yes it's the propane form of LPG-- runs me on average between $1200-$1800 per season over the past 10 years I'd say. "The season" as far as heating usage goes is November through March when they deliver gas monthly, with just top-offs in September and April for the off-season usage.

The gas is more expensive this year than last but I always make a contract and pay up front for about 750 gallons, and it has worked out ok for me plus or minus around 20 gallons on the season. This year the pre-buy price here was around 2.25-2.35 a gallon, last year 1.99. Of course I can lose a little money doing a contract if I have a credit at the end, because it will be applied the following season at the new rate. But sometimes the price goes down too, as was the case between 2020 and 2021, so I don't worry about it considering how few gallons are involved in the over/under for my contracted gallonage.

I'd never go month-by-month for heating fuel buys, I've seen what the prices spike up to sometimes in the late winter and it's always possible the provider can't accommodate ad hoc needs since they deal with the contracted customers first and their policy is generally to fill up those tanks, even in very cold weather when usage can be higher.

 

[DT]

Well, yesterday late afternoon. Picked up the little G from school, knocked out a couple of quick chores and then headed up to the Old City for early dinner. It was super quiet, the parking garage was empty on the 3rd floor (4 levels) even 1-2 weren't packed, I'm just a fussy parker

Anyway, headed home, shot this from the garage, pretty neat sunset sky ...

 

[lizkat]

Last piece of the puzzle!

Yah that has been really exciting today. Mirror unfolding and latching were super-crucial steps.

NASA’s Webb Telescope Reaches Major Milestone as Mirror Unfolds

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope team fully deployed its 21-foot, gold-coated primary mirror, successfully completing the final stage of all major spacecraft deployments to prepare for science operations.

www.nasa.gov

The two wings of Webb’s primary mirror had been folded to fit inside the nose cone of an Arianespace Ariane 5 rocket prior to launch. After more than a week of other critical spacecraft deployments, the Webb team began remotely unfolding the hexagonal segments of the primary mirror, the largest ever launched into space. This was a multi-day process, with the first side deployed Jan. 7 and the second Jan. 8.

Mission Operations Center ground control at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore began deploying the second side panel of the mirror at 8:53 a.m. EST. Once it extended and latched into position at 1:17 p.m. EST, the team declared all major deployments successfully completed.

The world’s largest and most complex space science telescope will now begin moving its 18 primary mirror segments to align the telescope optics. The ground team will command 126 actuators on the backsides of the segments to flex each mirror – an alignment that will take months to complete. Then the team will calibrate the science instruments prior to delivering Webb’s first images this summer.