Saturday, March 31, 2018

The car company otherwise known as....



For the past three weeks I've started to watch the ghost lot at the car company otherwise known as. (I don't really want to say their name right now) Each time I passed it, there would be about 5 car carriers just kind sitting in the lot. Some of the carriers were empty and some had cars. And I don't know who owns the carriers, but you'd think you wouldn't have those things just sitting around. This lot has been there for months and it was the first time I'd seen carriers in the lot. And these were just parked. Usually they come out of the other side of the building full of cars.

I'd been meaning to get shots, but during the week I can't find a place to park and on the weekends I've been doing and taxes and stuff and just didn't have the energy to take photos. Today there were only two carriers in the lot and two flat bed trailers.

The last time I took pictures of this place they didn't have a guard shack. They do now, so I had to be kinda careful. They must have called security at the company next to us because they came to keep an eye on us as we were parked in their lot and on their property.

The first and second photos look like they are almost identical, but look at the cones. This was a three image sweep. I can't get a good read on how many cars are in there now.

In general I think the carpocalypse is still on. And has anyone else seen the 350,000 VW's they have sitting in the desert down South? One of my amazing readers Jeff sent this to me and I was stunned.

Friday, March 30, 2018

This is how creepy Facebook algos are.

I have a Facebook account under a pseudonym. I basically gave them bogus information on every level.

About five years ago my mother passed away. We had been estranged for a very long time and had never interacted at all on the internet. No email. No Facebook. Nothing. But she apparently had a Facebook account. Two years after she died Facebook actually started sending me those "you might know these people" things - and one of those people was actually my mother.

Now aside from getting a friend request from your dead mom, I was absolutely astounded that they were able to make that match. I never once clicked on that link as to never reinforce the information in their algo's.  But it was pretty shocking. I'm still not sure how they did it. I mean, if I got locked out of Facebook I wouldn't be able to get back in because I don't remember the information I gave them because it was all wrong.

Do you think Trump would bail out Tesla?

I've been calling for the failure of Tesla for a very long time, but this has gone on so long now that even I've given up. But now that their bonds are getting hit Mr S. and I started having a serious conversation about them.

Tesla has grown to have a very large footprint. They have a ton of real estate in the Valley. And if they were to fail, I'm not sure that people really comprehend the knock on affect this would have. All the supporting companies would also get hit. Last night Mr S. and I started talking about that.

When Tesla was small the economy was in recession and as they grew - the Valley really kind of grew around them to build infrastructure for the company. Maps. Sensors. All sorts of things. When NUMMI failed at that site - it really hit Fremont hard. But if Tesla were to fail it would hit the entire Valley hard. And you know what they say....as the Valley goes so does the rest of the States.

And while I am a Trump supporter - I would be lit if he bailed out Tesla. Tesla would not even exist if it weren't for the taxpayer. And frankly,  I'm not okay with that. I also recognize that there would be a lot of houses that would go into foreclosure. A lot of the smaller car players would struggle and probably get popped out. So yeah. Tesla is now big enough that I'm praying for them not to fail. But I keep looking at those interest rates and wonder how long people can buy 100,000 dollar cars. And I think that because during the recession I brought a ridiculously expensive car that I could have never have afforded if say the interest rates are what they are now. So I look at all those Teslas on the road and try to figure out what the pain point is.

Wednesday, March 28, 2018

palet truck.



This is it's nose. And I guess they are modular.

I think self driving trucks will be the thing that benefits humans the most. Our freeways are completely out of control. The pitch for this one was that you can schedule transport at the times that it would be cheapest.

When you have drivers - they have all these work rules, and that can send them through a city at peak traffic or in weather that slows the shipments and costs companies more.





Tuesday, March 27, 2018

Pennies for your thoughts.



This is an art installation in downtown San Jose. It's made of pennies.





Because I'm bored of delivery bots.



I think it would be funnier if instead of delivering food - it robbed you instead, because people had gotten too lazy to do that themselves.

Also... the Connect never dies. But it's the best product Microsoft ever made. Lidar is just getting really cheap these days, so I was surprised to see people still using it.

This is the stupid shit California makes companies do.



This was on the entrance to a giant parking garage.

Sunday, March 25, 2018

The Sunday rundown.



You have to get these shots when you see them. because fields are becoming condos at a crazy rate around here. Almost every week I drive by a lot and say - wow - that one's gone now. So I didn't really have this on my list of things to do today. But I had to get it before it's gone.



Motorhomes are pretty meh - but I've never seen one wrapped before.



I think cars should be getting better soon. For the past few years everyone has just been doing everything original. But this is how I think the evolution of cars play out.

1. Custom license plates. At first, that is the only thing people can afford to customize their cars. Everyone has custom license plates now.

2. Fancy tires. I've started to see more and more custom tires.

3. They finally feel rich enough to do paint jobs. Not seeing that too much yet... but..



I stopped at this because I thought it was a drift trike. But it's just an electric bike that goes 20 miles per hour. Bikes are actually the thing most suited for electrifying. They are super peppy. I'm trying to plant a seed in the guys heads so they will actually start doing drift trikes in the burbs.

Wednesday, March 21, 2018

Sheryl Sanderg came out today to say that Facebook has a "responsibility to protect your data, and if they can't they don't deserve to serve you. Which is confusing because who are they "protecting your data from"? Their whole business model is to sell your data. How else do you think they make money?

Seriously - the balls of these people.....

And she finally pops up.

Normally taxes take me a month of Sundays, but I owe this year and Mr S. and I decided to to accelerate the grieving process  So far I've sailed through shock and bargaining and I'm half way through acceptance.

So.... kinda nothing has been funny or interesting or cool. It's been nothing but taxes for the last week. And I know that is not a satisfying reason for me falling off the planet, but I debated on whether I should just be one of those bloggers that disappears and then pops up like nothing happened. But I'm guessing my long time readers are sort of used to this.  Once or twice a year the blog comes to a halt and we all get to guess if I'm ever coming back.

Blogging can be a real grind sometimes. Every day you wake up trying to find something interesting to blog about, and some days it's just not there. Sometimes that turns into a week.

Friday, March 16, 2018

I could make a million excuses..... just stay with me and I think it will be worth it.

Tuesday, March 13, 2018

This is sort of curious.

"Google and LG are set to present an 18-megapixel 4.3-inch OLED headset display with 1443 ppi and a higher refresh rate of 120Hz during the Display Week 2018 trade show in late May. The display will have a wide field of view and high acuity. The advanced program for the expo was spotted by Android Police via OLED-Info." Source.

I've been to this conference a ton of times. Google has never been there before. Or any other conference I've ever attended because they are Google. Just like you never see Apple show up at any conference except an Apple conference. It just doesn't happen. Now I've been to Google conferences - but they are Google only events. Like when they were releasing "Glass" I went to one of those. So it's kinda interesting to see them do this.  And sort of strange. Google is so big - they don't need ANYBODY.

And yes I will be there again this year, so it will be interesting to see this. Maybe I'm wrong on VR. I still don't think people like to wear glasses. And it's going to need a really interesting product for people to want to put up with them.

But hey - maybe higher resolution displays are finally coming.

Monday, March 12, 2018

My little time bomb is back on pink drink.



So I'm back to trying to get shots of her with pink lipstick. She's fine. But since she has non symptomatic E. Cuniculi I have to medicate any bout of sneezing. I got her tested as a baby and not as a result of her being ill. So I just have to watch her closer.

She loves pink drink though, and most of her muzzle just comes out blurry. I think that is a shot of her tongue.

Heart shaped palm.

Sunday, March 11, 2018

It's all I got.



When I stop writing, it's really hard for me to start back up. It's just hard to find the words. I've sort of been in a funk. A technology drought. But I'm trying to get a couple of projects done anyway.

I'm not one of those people that likes "the process" of woodworking. Wood has it own rules and you just can't rush it. Which is not really my style. I was telling Mr S. - I don't know why guys leave their wives to do woodworking. It seems like wood is bitchier than wives. Mr S. turns to me and with out a beat says - wood is more patient. I should have said - yes, but wood is less forgiving.

We are basically building a cheap bbq stand that tries to not look like a cheap bbq stand. You can't believe what people try to charge you for even the cheapest stand. Some of them can be like a grand! It's ridiculous.

But now I'm in some Festool cult just because I wanted to cut a circle in melamine. If you know anything about Festool, I'm sure you will know what I mean. I think Scientology would be less expensive.



Cutting a test hole in 3/4 inch melermine.





Now the real hole.





I'm about half done. But at least you get an update....

Thursday, March 08, 2018

How come guys never want a flying boat?

Wednesday, March 07, 2018

I swear when Bitcoin gets into the 12,000 dollar range I start rooting for it. Mostly because I think when a stock loses half it's value - it's more likely to go to zero than regain that 50%. Momentum is an amazing force.

Autonomous drones.



On a scale from 0 -10 how freaked out does this make you? Zero being not freaked out at all.

They are marketing this as a selfie drone, but I think they should call it an outdoor companion. If I do a lot of extreme sports I want people to know how I died. And really - if it can follow you - it could be trained to understand that if you stopped for too long it might need to go get help. I mean, if we are fantasizing about stuff.

Monday, March 05, 2018

Today I'm just feeling like those WeWork incubator guys were mad geniuses. Who could have predicted that people would pay for a ~cubicle~ and give you an equity stake in their company? These things have been out there for years now and what are they working on?! Seriously.

There is a huge disparity in the form of new products coming into the economy vs. the amount of giant buildings those WeWork guys are putting up.

Mad geniuses I tell you.

Sunday, March 04, 2018

Ya gotta give him props.



Today Mr S and I needed to dispose of a sofa. You pretty much can't get charities to take them anymore, so we decided to use chop it up instead of taking it to the dump.

I've done this once before but Mr S. wanted to watch videos to see how hard it was. That's when he landed on this guy's video - and there is just something I love about a "can do spirit". His choice of tools?  A bread knife, hand saw, a rolling pin and some beer.

Of course it did take him all day - but the guy actually did it!

My attempt was not as fun as I chose a sawzall, and it only took about an hour. And I didn't chose any beer because really - you can't lose any fingers with a bread knife and a rolling pin. You can lose more than a finger with a sawzall and beer.

Everything except the arm rests are in my trash bin. You can't believe how compactly they chop up. And it always fun to destroy something without having to have a plan to rebuild it.

Saturday, March 03, 2018

She thinks this is bullshit.



The front ones came right off. She was NOT having that. Escuse the blue tape. I'm building a mantel.

Friday, March 02, 2018

Rich bunny problems.



Litter boxes are not made for bunnies - they are made for cats and bunnies have completely different needs. Well... let me rephrase that. Bunny owners have different needs. We need bunnies not to eat their boxes, and boxes made for cats give no effs about that. Cats won't eat anything. Just as an aside - they have started making litter boxes for dogs now too. Which is odd.

So when my last order of litter boxes came a week ago - it all of a sudden created a crisis at the snarkolepsy household. You see - the company made the most minor of changes to the box on the left. Basically flaring this lip just a tiny bit more. But it took my girl exactly 30 seconds to notice that and start chewing.

We realized at that point they were phasing the old design out and set to the internet to buy as many of the old type as we could before they were all gone. We even stopped by three local stores. We managed to get the last 5 on the face of the planet. Petco literally looked through their whole supply chain and found us 5.

2 came from Virginia,  1 is coming from Oklahoma and 2 from Kansas. That is comedy. I'm not sure that is the cheapest way to get litter boxes. But it will give us the better part of half a year to find a suitable replacement or a hopeful redesign. But this is the stupid stuff that we have to go through every year or two when they redesign a litter box to please bunnies. It really eats up way more time than you'd expect and it's ridiculous.

Thursday, March 01, 2018

No ones' pubes were on fire after Obamas steel tariffs.

"Call that protectionist if you want to, I say it is smart policy and one of the most pro-business things President Obama has done since taking office." -Jim Cramer

The second aspect, Cramer said, was that the Chinese government was propping up its steelmakers with cheap loans from state owned banks. Thus, Chinese companies continued to produce steel though there wasn't as much demand in China, and instead dumped it around the world at unprofitable prices. This caused the entire globe to be flooded with cheap steel. These impacts were toxic to the earnings of steelmakers in the United States.

"A major game changer came forward about a month and a half ago when the Obama administration attempted to stop the flood of cheap Chinese steel. In early February, Congress passed the new customs and trade enforcement bill, which gave the president authority to take action against China's dumping of state-subsidized goods. 
On March 1, the commerce department announced it would add import duties on cold-rolled steel from seven countries, including China. 
"Call that protectionist if you want to, I say it is smart policy and one of the most pro-business things President Obama has done since taking office," Cramer said."

Source.

And Obamas tariffs were 266%. Not the measly 30% Trump wants. I'm just a little on my last nerve when it comes to phony outrage right now. And those tariffs didn't manage to create inflation.