The Vent and Rant Thread

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by CWatkinsNash

I did hang on, and it was AMAZING! (Wait, can I be giddy in this thread? ) We did it! Okay, they did it, I only watched. But still.

YES, and landing on that damned barge--that is just ALL THAT!

Hitch

[CWatkinsNash]

Originally Posted by Hitch

YES, and landing on that damned barge--that is just ALL THAT!

Hitch

Right?? Though I'm still laughing at, "Of Course I Still Love You Loss of Signal". I guess drone ships use the same naming conventions as racehorses?

[Hemmi]

I saw that! That was funny when that flashed on the screen.

[Uncle Robin]

Originally Posted by CWatkinsNash

Right?? Though I'm still laughing at, "Of Course I Still Love You Loss of Signal". I guess drone ships use the same naming conventions as racehorses?

All the Space X drone ships are named in homage to Iain M Banks books, iirc.

[Rumpelteazer]

The last couple of nights were warm. Last night I didn't sleep well at all. Right now it's still over 23C in my bedroom. Not as bad as last night, but still too warm. It also didn't help that Maru suddenly had a thing for my toes. She didn't really bite, Maru's always careful, but it did wake me up a couple of times. I'm hoping it will cool down more during the night, and that Maru isn't in a playful mood again.

From tomorrow the weather will turn cooler and wetter for about a week. I don't mind. But first I have to get through this night.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by Rumpelteazer

The last couple of nights were warm. Last night I didn't sleep well at all. Right now it's still over 23C in my bedroom. Not as bad as last night, but still too warm. It also didn't help that Maru suddenly had a thing for my toes. She didn't really bite, Maru's always careful, but it did wake me up a couple of times. I'm hoping it will cool down more during the night, and that Maru isn't in a playful mood again.

From tomorrow the weather will turn cooler and wetter for about a week. I don't mind. But first I have to get through this night.

73.4F? Dear Lord, you'd be mighty unhappy here! On a really good night, in the summer, we turn our thermostat down to 78F, and our bedroom, which is across the house from it, is not remotely that cool. If I had to guess, I'd say it's 80F. But air-conditioning units can only cool a maximum of 30 degrees, Fahrenheit, and that's only if you want them running non-stop. When it's 115F outside--which it will be shortly--it can make for some toasty nights! (Ceiling fans are our friends!)

Hitch

[4691mls]

Originally Posted by Hitch

73.4F? Dear Lord, you'd be mighty unhappy here! On a really good night, in the summer, we turn our thermostat down to 78F, and our bedroom, which is across the house from it, is not remotely that cool. If I had to guess, I'd say it's 80F. But air-conditioning units can only cool a maximum of 30 degrees, Fahrenheit, and that's only if you want them running non-stop. When it's 115F outside--which it will be shortly--it can make for some toasty nights! (Ceiling fans are our friends!)

Hitch

Yeah, low 70's F seems like a decent room temperature to me. I guess if the humidity were high it could still feel sticky.

Thankfully it's never 115F where I live! Summer daytime temperatures here are typically in the 80s or sometimes 90s (90's have gotten more common in recent years). Usually it cools down considerably overnight.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by 4691mls

Yeah, low 70's F seems like a decent room temperature to me. I guess if the humidity were high it could still feel sticky.

Thankfully it's never 115F where I live! Summer daytime temperatures here are typically in the 80s or sometimes 90s (90's have gotten more common in recent years). Usually it cools down considerably overnight.

We tell ourselves, of course, that the trade-off is that we have gorgeous winters, and we do. No argument. But I've been here, on and off, since 1979 and there's simply no two ways about it--the ever-increasing size of the city, the pavement, the planted trees and lawns have created a heat island that's ruined the daily "monsoons" (a misnomer) that we used to have each afternoon, like clockwork, through the worst part of the summer. It would rain like hell, each afternoon, around 2-3:00 pm and cool the city down, from the radiant heat of the sidewalks, pavement, etc. and it made the summers far more bearable.

Now? Now we never see them, certainly not the old reliable dailies. Yes, we get "monsoons" and "haboobs," but it's rare, not daily, and not each afternoon.

(sigh). I've increasingly wanted to relocate for half the year, each year, but my other option has bupkus for bandwidth, so I could never do it, as I need that to run my biz. Rats!

Hitch

[4691mls]

Originally Posted by Hitch

We tell ourselves, of course, that the trade-off is that we have gorgeous winters, and we do. No argument. But I've been here, on and off, since 1979 and there's simply no two ways about it--the ever-increasing size of the city, the pavement, the planted trees and lawns have created a heat island that's ruined the daily "monsoons" (a misnomer) that we used to have each afternoon, like clockwork, through the worst part of the summer. It would rain like hell, each afternoon, around 2-3:00 pm and cool the city down, from the radiant heat of the sidewalks, pavement, etc. and it made the summers far more bearable.

Now? Now we never see them, certainly not the old reliable dailies. Yes, we get "monsoons" and "haboobs," but it's rare, not daily, and not each afternoon.

(sigh). I've increasingly wanted to relocate for half the year, each year, but my other option has bupkus for bandwidth, so I could never do it, as I need that to run my biz. Rats!

Hitch

This past winter here was definitely warmer than usual. We're now into our typical summer weather pattern where most days there is about a 40% - 60% chance of showers or thunderstorms in the afternoon or evening. In spite of this being normal, the stupid local TV station calls it a "weather warn day". It seems to me they should save that for a day when we are definitely expecting extreme weather. if they say that every time there's a chance of a thunderstorm people will stop paying attention.

[Rumpelteazer]

Originally Posted by Hitch

73.4F? Dear Lord, you'd be mighty unhappy here! On a really good night, in the summer, we turn our thermostat down to 78F, and our bedroom, which is across the house from it, is not remotely that cool. If I had to guess, I'd say it's 80F. But air-conditioning units can only cool a maximum of 30 degrees, Fahrenheit, and that's only if you want them running non-stop. When it's 115F outside--which it will be shortly--it can make for some toasty nights! (Ceiling fans are our friends!)

Hitch

I don't like heat and I do love a cool bedroom. My ideal temperature with my summer blanket is 19-20C. I can do warmer but I need to get used to that. Today was a nice 16C, tomorrow 13C, which is cold for the time of year.

My bedroom is already cooling down nicely, when I go to sleep later I should be able to close the window to just a crack and get comfy underneath my blanket. My bedroom ceiling is too low for a ceiling fan.

I have a Dyson hot + cool and on the lower fan setting it doesn't blow so hard my throat dries out and gets sore over night. But if we get another hot summer I might have to invest in a small airco for my bedroom. Yesterday I read an article that during the warm night from Tuesday to Wednesday a lot of people were online shopping for fans and aircos between 1am and 5am.

After the last two scorching summers I'm genuinely cool summer, with regular rain.

It used to be fairly normal that after a hot day there would be thunderstorm during the evening or night to cool things down. We didn't have that the last two summers.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Hitch

73.4F? Dear Lord, you'd be mighty unhappy here! On a really good night, in the summer, we turn our thermostat down to 78F, and our bedroom, which is across the house from it, is not remotely that cool. If I had to guess, I'd say it's 80F. But air-conditioning units can only cool a maximum of 30 degrees, Fahrenheit, and that's only if you want them running non-stop. When it's 115F outside--which it will be shortly--it can make for some toasty nights! (Ceiling fans are our friends!)

We have a combo heating/cooling unit, replacing a former in window A/C. The old A/C was set to keep things at 76F. A few days ago, I turned the current unit down to keep things at 72F.

Years back, my then employer sent me to Alamogordo, NM for a couple of weeks in July. We were opening a facility there, and I was part of the tech team making it live. My first response was "You want to send me to a place where it hits 100F or more in July?" I was not thrilled. But the old adage "It's not the heat, it's the humidity" proved true. Temperatures were 95F to 100F during the day, but relative humidity was 10%-15%. It was hot, but I could deal with it. I called home to NYC. It was 90F and 100% humidity, and my SO was a very unhappy woman. We would have frequent thunderstorms, but it would still be 100% humidity afterward. I thought "You know what? I think I got the better deal!"

I'd have been happier if the hotel I was booked into didn't have a heated pool in the dead of summer. The Front Desk Manager I talked to didn't understand it either, but that was what the owner wanted. (While I was talking to him, a woman came to the front desk to complain about it, trailed by her 12 year old son who tried going for a dip and came out resembling a freshly boiled lobster.)

There were joking comments about transferring me to Alamogordo to be resident tech manager at the facility. I said "Okay. First, you double my salary. Then you pay my relocation expenses and rental on the housing while I'm there. Next you pay for my T1 connection to the Internet, and my unlimited charge account at the local book and record store. And last you pay for my supply of really good drugs, or I will go straight up the wall in about 2 weeks flat!"

Alamogordo reminded me of a story an old friend had told me. He was an industrial designer, living in Philadelphia where I lived at the time, whose office was in a suburb. The plant that made what he designed - rooftop A/C units - was in Jackson, Tennessee. His boss floated the idea of him relocating, to have the lead designer of the product located where they were actually made.

He said "How thick is the Yellow Pages?"

"Huh?"

"How thick is the Yellow Pages?" If it isn't at least an inch thick, there isn't enough of what I consider necessary to a decent quality of life, and I'm not moving!"

That was my thought about Alamogordo. A nice little town 100 miles from anywhere, with little of what I consider needed.

I did get to see the Alamogordo Air and Space Museum, with things like the rocket sled where Air Force Colonel Andy Stapp set a record in the amount of G forces experienced by a human being (and had long term vision problems because he got detached retinas in the process.) I think I was the only one there aside from museum staff who knew what I was looking at and sitting in. And I got too see the famous white sands of the White Sands proving ground.

It had some attraction as a tourist visit, but not as a place for this Northeastern city boy to live.
______
Dennis

[covingtoncat73]

My back has been killing me.

[HLS]

My check engine light turned on. taking to the dealer Monday. little worried. the car has only 52,000 so I hope its something small. car runs good.

[4691mls]

Originally Posted by covingtoncat73

https://billmoyers.com/story/we-hold...Z26MVW72fUHZBQ

We probably can't discuss this outside of the Politics and Religion forum, but that article is pretty scary.

[4691mls]

Originally Posted by HLS

My check engine light turned on. taking to the dealer Monday. little worried. the car has only 52,000 so I hope its something small. car runs good.

This can actually be caused by the gas cap not being tight enough. That happened to me once - apparently I was in a hurry and didn't tighten it properly. If you Google "check engine light" and "gas cap" you'll find a lot of results!

I once also had that light come on (different car) because some sensor needed replacement, as I recall it wasn't terribly expensive, though that was a long time ago.