Oopsie…

Looks like another east coast wind farm is biting the dust…

BP and Equinor have decided to cancel their power contract for a major offshore wind project in New York, citing “changed economic circumstances on an industry-wide scale.”

“Equinor and bp today announced an agreement with the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) to terminate the Offshore Wind Renewable Energy Certificate (OREC) Agreement for the Empire Wind 2 project, an offshore wind project in the US with potential generative capacity of 1,260 MW,” Equinor said in a statement. 

Full article, HERE.

I know we’ve beaten this horse again and again, but they never really pay for themselves, and the ‘investors’ get their federal energy subsidies from the government for the term of the lease/ownership, which is why they are ‘sold’ every time the .gov money grants run out.

Also, most of them need at least 9mph of wind to ‘generate’ any electricity, and top out at 35mph for generation. Anything above 55mph ‘should’ cause them to auto feather to stop damage to the blades/gensets/etc.

I know that travelling 287 N, everytime I go up toward Amarillo, I see more and more of the wind turbines with blades feathered even when the wind is blowing. Overdue maintenance? I have no idea.

Also, they DO use up to 700 gallons of oil to lubricate/cool the turbine heads, which must be replaced every 9-16 months, and the blades are not recyclable… They have to go to special landfills or are burned because they are fiberglass and composite that is NOT biodegradable.

And as a ‘bonus’, they kill birds and screw up radar returns for low flying aircraft, among other things…

Grrr…

Just another CI…

If there was any doubt that Ray Epps was a confidential informant for the feds…

Ray Epps, the only person who was captured on video actually telling people to storm the Capitol on Jan. 6. 2021, has just been recommended for a six-month sentence, while others who entered the Capitol when police opened the doors for them and walked around for awhile taking selfies are facing years in prison. What’s going on here? The most obvious explanation is that Ray Epps is or was a fed, and a leader of efforts to fabricate a Jan. 6 “insurrection” in order to frame and destroy Donald Trump. But surely the leftist elites wouldn’t dream of doing such a thing, would they?

Full article, HERE.

This isn’t the first time, and probably won’t be the last time a CI has been in the middle of an ‘incident’… Garland, Texas HERE, the Minnesota governor kidnapping HERE, and numerous other cases.

It was interesting how ‘quickly’ Epps disappeared from any charge sheets after the demonstration, and suddenly showed up as a witness for the government, and on TV talking about it while everybody else languishes in jail or has gotten long prison terms (some up to 18 years), yet he didn’t spend any time in jail or was arraigned in the original filings, even after being filmed exhorting people to go into the Capitol.

And we all know the Jan 6 investigation was staged by the dems and a couple of RINOs and ‘produced’ for television by a literal television producer!

I don’t know about anybody else, but what little faith I had in .gov law enforcement of any type has fallen into the negative numbers at this point…

Sigh…

A little humor…

To start the new year!

The staff at a local United Way office realized that it had never received a donation from the town’s most successful lawyer.

The person in charge of contributions called him to persuade him to contribute. “Our research shows that out of a yearly income of at least $500,000, you give not a penny to charity. Wouldn’t you like to give back to the community in some way?”

The lawyer mulled this over for a moment and replied, “First, did your research also show that my mother is dying after a long illness, and has medical bills that are several times her annual income?”

Embarrassed, the United Way representative mumbled, “Um… No.”

“Or,” the lawyer continued, “that my brother, a disabled veteran, is blind and confined to a wheelchair?”

The stricken United Way representative began to stammer out an apology but was interrupted when the lawyer added, “Or that my sister’s husband died in a traffic accident?” the lawyer’s voice rising in indignation, “Leaving her pennyless with three children?”

The humiliated United Way representative, completely beaten, said simply, “I had no idea…”

On a roll, the lawyer cut him off once again, “So if I don’t give any money to them, why should I give any to you?”

++++++++++

A champion jockey is about to enter an important race on a new horse. The horse’s trainer meets him before the race and says, “All you have to remember with this horse is that every time you approach a jump, you have to shout, “ALLLLEEE OOOP!” really loudly in the horse’s ear. Providing you do that, you’ll be fine.” The jockey thinks the trainer is mad but promises to shout the command. The race begins and they approach the first hurdle. The jockey ignores the trainer’s ridiculous advice and the horse crashes straight through the center of the jump. They carry on and approach the second hurdle. The jockey, somewhat embarrassed, whispers “Alllleee ooop” in the horse’s ear. The same thing happens – the horse crashes straight through the center of the jump. At the third hurdle, the jockey thinks, “It’s no good, I’ll have to do it,” and yells, “ALLLEEE OOOP!” really loudly. Sure enough, the horse sails over the jump with no problems. This continues for the rest of the race, but due to the earlier problems, the horse only finishes third.

The trainer is fuming and asks the jockey what went wrong. The jockey replies, “Nothing is wrong with me – it’s this bloody horse. What is he, deaf or something?” The trainer replies, “Deaf? DEAF?? You asshole, he’s not deaf – he’s BLIND!”

++++++++++

This guy is walking through Chinatown and sees a building with a

sign “Hans Olaffsen’s Laundry.” “Hans Olaffsen?”, he thinks. “How in

the world does that fit in here?”

So, he walks into the shop and sees an old Chinese gentleman sitting

in the corner. The visitor asks, “How in the world did this place

get a name like Hans Olaffsen’s Laundry?”

The old man answers “Is name of owner.”

The visitor asks “Well, who is the owner?”

“I am he,” answers the old man.

“You? How did you ever get a name like Hans Olaffsen?”

The old man replies, “Many years ago when I come to this country, I

was standing in line at Documentation Center. Man in front of me

was big blonde Swede. Lady look at him and go, “What your name?” He

say, ” Hans Olaffsen.” She look at me say, “What your name?” I say,

“Sam Ting.”

+++++++++++

As a guitarist, I play many gigs. Recently I was asked by a funeral director to play at a graveside service for a homeless man. He had no family or friends, so the service was to be at a pauper’s cemetery in the back country. As I was not familiar with the backwoods, I got lost.

I finally arrived an hour late and saw the funeral guy had evidently gone and the hearse was nowhere in sight. There were only the diggers and crew left and they were eating lunch.

I felt badly and apologized to the men for being late. I went to the side of the grave and looked down and the vault lid was already in place. I didn’t know what else to do, so I started to play.

The workers put down their lunches and began to gather around. I played out my heart and soul for this man with no family and friends. I played like I’ve never played before for this homeless man.

And as I played ‘Amazing Grace,’ the workers began to weep. They wept, I wept, we all wept together. When I finished, I packed up my guitar and started for my car. Though my head hung low, my heart was full.

As I opened the door to my car, I heard one of the workers say, “I never seen nothin’ like that before and I’ve been putting in septic tanks for twenty years.”

Apparently, I’m still lost…

+++++++++++

Paddy was driving in a dangerous manner, swerving across several lanes on the motorway. This was notice by Guard O’Malley, who after completing a vehicle stop, approached the car, and said, “What in heaven’s name are you doing?” Paddy replied, “This is my first time behind the wheel. I’m learning to drive.” “Saints preserve us! Without an instructor in the car?” Guard O’Malley exclaimed. “There’s nothing to worry about officer,” Paddy replied as presented the phone in his hand, “it’s an online course.”

Happy New Year…

I wish everyone the best for 2024…

Go forth and screw up those checks for the next month!

Now go away, quit bothering me, I’m going back to sleep…

Auld Lang Syne…

Getting this in early, since I’m NOT staying up…

Happy New Year to all, and best wishes for 2024!

Rut Roh…

Seems Daihatsu has been a bunch of bad boys… for over 30 years…

The underlines are links to other articles on the subject.

A Japanese tiny-car manufacturer has halted production of its vehicles after admitting it had been forging safety tests for 30 years.

Toyota subsidiary Daihatsu, known for its miniature vehicles, halted factory operations on Tuesday after a report found that it had been forging the results of some safety tests since 1989.

The company had already paused shipments of all its vehicles, and will now shut down its four Japanese factories until at least the end of January.

It’s the latest development in a long-running saga surrounding the company’s safety record, with Daihatsu first acknowledging it had falsified some crash tests in April.

Full article HERE from Business Insider.

Daihatsu was/is known for making the VERY small trucks/cars in Japan, many licensed as Toyotas for world-wide sales. And they are now owned by Toyota.

That makes Toyota ‘suspect’ in their oversight of Daihatsu, and calls into question their own QA and crash test procedures. NOT a good place for them to be, especially with the Japanese consumers, much less the world-wide consumers.

Heh…

Looks like ‘some’ of the car dealers are wising up to the EV boondoggle…

Ford has admitted that around 1,550 dealerships – representing half the Ford dealers in the country – have decided not to sell any electric vehicles in 2024.

Unlike Buick dealers who were told to sells EVs or die, with almost half choosing to go out of business, Ford dealers who have chosen not to invest in the infrastructure needed to sell and service EVs such as the Ford Mustang Mach-E will continue to sell ICE and hybrid vehicles.

“EV adoption rates vary across the country and we believe our dealers know their market best,” Ford spokesman Marty Gunsberg told the Detroit Free Press. “As Ford dealers have completed their own local market assessments, enrollments for 2024 are just over 50% of the network, placing 86% of the population within 20 miles of a Ford dealership that can sell and service a Ford EV.”

Full article, HERE from CarBuzz h/t to Stretch for the link!

I think the ‘reality’ of the EV debacle is percolating through the public as more and more reports get out there of the problems with charging EVs, the lack of infrastructure, and the costs of replacement batteries, among other things.

I really don’t see .gov going totally to EVs, even if it is being mandated, simply because there aren’t enough EVs to fulfill those orders! And I don’t seen the rural portions of .gov wanting one, since they might have to travel 3-400 miles a day in their jobs, which exceeds the range of any EVs build today.

Also, with winter coming on, the ranges are going to be even shorter with the battery having to be used for heating the EV’s interior since there isn’t any residual heat from the IC engines to be used. Huh…somebody did that- HERE. 18-42% less range… Wow!

Anyhoo, not getting one over here…

YMMV, etc. etc.

Again? Really???

New York has for years had a ‘hard on’ for Chick-fil-A… And now we have yet ANOTHER ploy to force compliance…

What is about Chick-fil-A that absolutely drives so many on the Left to push for its destruction via periodic spasms of boycotts (that typically fail) or imposing abusive government regulations like that proposed by New York State Assemblyman Tony Simone?

Simone is a freshman member of the Empire State’s legislature, representing a district that encompasses “Chelsea, Hell’s Kitchen, Midtown and part of the Lincoln Center area in Manhattan,” according to his official website.

For whatever reason, Simone became deeply concerned about the fact that some Sunday travelers on the New York Thruway (NYTW) might not be able to get their lunch or dinner at one of the Chick-fil-As operating Monday through Saturday at six state-managed rest stops.

Full article, HERE.

The problem is that Chick-fil-A, much like WalMart did in DC 10 or so years ago, will just close the stores rather than kowtow to the powers that be…

How many times in how many places must this crap play out before the powers that be realize they’re not going to buffalo corporations into doing what they want when it goes against either company policy or common sense???

Sigh…

Here we go again…

One of the U.S. Navy’s program executive offices is a few months into a pilot program aimed at enabling rapid acquisition, which could pave the way for a larger change in how the military branches develop and buy weapons systems.

Program Executive Officer for Integrated Warfare Systems Rear Adm. Seiko Okano was tapped this fall to lead a pilot program centered on two efforts: finding creative solutions to warfighter problems that can be tested and fielded quickly, and then considering how to change the budgeting process so these new capabilities can be quickly purchased.

Full article, HERE from Navy Times.

Funny, I remember the battles we had from 2003 onward about getting ‘stuff’ the warfighters needed/wanted to them ‘through’ the acquisition process.

I know a couple of the things I worked on took 12 years from final R&D testing to actually making it to the Fleet, and these were deemed ‘critical’ items!

I also remember being in meetings with higher where the statement got made more than once of “What do you want me to kill to get your stuff funded?” And getting laughed at when obsolete programs were proposed because they had congresscritters ‘protecting’ those programs… sigh…

This will last just long enough for something else to bubble up and get folk’s attention, and it will die a quiet death in the back halls of the Pentagon.