There were a number of appliances we've had to replace, beginning with a microwave oven that started acting up after the power outage caused by Irene and some subsequent power glitches. It's not good when something like that will start running all by itself for no reason. After 20 years of faithful service it was time to replace it.
We also replaced the old (around 20 years old) but semi-serviceable vacuum cleaner. There were a number of annoying problems that finally drove Deb to the point where she just didn't want to deal with them any more. (It didn't really bother me and I used it far more than she did.) It wouldn't have been a big thing except for the fact that there wasn't anywhere that would service it because repair parts, specifically the electronic control module, weren't available. You see, you couldn't shut it off. As soon as it was plugged into the wall it would start to run, but at a low and varying speed. Once a speed was selected (low, medium, or high) it would run normally. Hit the power button to shut it off and it would run at the aforementioned slow but variable speed. (For you techno types out there, that tells me one of the MOSFETs used to control the speed was leaking, probably due to damage caused by a power spike.) One thing I found ironic is that the new vacuum cost about a fifth of what the old one costs, and if inflation is taken into account, it's probably closer to a tenth. Whether the new one will last as long as the old one is something we won't be able to answer for a while.
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Solyndra isn't the only solar power company to go under.Solar Shop in Australia is in bankruptcy, apparently because government subsidies dried up and it wasn't able to meet expenses without them. What does this tell us?
Green energy isn't able to stand on its own because it isn't profitable. Until then green energy will always be a money loser, particularly when it comes to the so-called “green jobs” that goes with it.
(H/T Powerline)
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This just in: Osama bin Laden is still dead.***********
Did I watch the coverage of the 9/11 Memorial in New York City? Yes.Did I watch it from beginning to end? No. I couldn't. I felt too much sorrow and too much rage and had to leave the living room more than once to regain my composure. I tried to busy myself with domestic chores. But I have to admit being drawn back again and again during each of the six moments of silence denoting the events of That Awful Day.
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Glen Reynolds links to a Discovery Channel article instructing people how to extend the range of their wireless router using a beer can to create an antenna reflector. (Note: If you don't imbibe in the elixir of civilization, then a Coke, Pepsi, Dr. Pepper, or other soft drink can will do.)This kind of innovation appeals to ham radio operator in me, where on more than one occasion I've had to improvise with materials on hand to fix/build/support antennas during emergencies.
Who says American ingenuity is dead?
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Don Surber has found someone out there willing to state the obvious: “We're being led by a group of college kids with no experience in the real world.”Ironically this wasn't said by someone here in the US but in the UK, in this case Nigel Farage, leader of the UK Independence Party. But his words apply equally here in the US, for that's who Obama has serving him as his advisers, cabinet members, and agency heads – inexperienced college kids. (Yes, I know they aren't really 'kids', but their lack of real world experience makes them so.)
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If we need any more proof that the so-called elite don't get it, all we need to do is look back at the post-9/11 reactions of many of the Left.Stella Paul explained it thus:
Despite the "United We Stand" posters plastered everywhere, Americans almost immediately divided into two irreconcilable camps: those willing to understand the nature of our enemy and those who wanted to deny it, at all cost.Their obvious hatred of America, specifically of the majority of Americans, and willingness to embrace our mortal enemies as if they were the aggrieved proves to me they are not fit to lead anything, let alone make decisions for the rest of us. And if you think they have moderated their outrageous support of our barbaric enemies over the past ten years, you'd be wrong. Of course I would expect them to change their tune should the barbarians start killing them off once the useful fools have served their purpose. But I could be wrong.
Within days of the attacks, a friend coolly informed me, "the people in the Twin Towers deserved it." Still reeling from that shock, I almost lost it when another friend admiringly compared bin Laden to George Washington. Soon thereafter, a well-known academic in my circle complained that the sudden outpouring of patriotism made her sick.
This utter madness, which I thought would be confined to the fringe, rapidly spread to every corner of elite society. The more we learned about the savagery of the Islamist world, the more our moral and cultural superiors turned their wrath on us, instead of the enemy.