Welcome to not so Thirsty Thursday up here in NorCal. I dumped 2.1 inches of rain out of the gauge this morning and have had reports of up to 3 feet of snow at some locations around here. CalTrans and CHP are finally getting the roads open, but it is still a big mess between the stranded motorists, accidents and snow.

 

That's how I feel about most politicians. Octogenarians and septuagenarians holding the same seat for perpetuity.

My personal bias. I think that new ideas, fresh eyes, and younger minds deserve a place in the conversation of how we operate our society.

 

We have flooded freeways. Storm drains are clogged with debris. They are out there trying to clear the drains with pump trucks.

 

Our rain gauge undercounts the actual rain by an unknown amount mainly because it's in a high wind zone, and the wind going by is also in an upward trajectory. If we get high wind, the rain rate measured goes down. If there is light or now wind, the rain measured goes up. So what I do is keep a straight-sided bucket in a more wind-protected area. This last storm, our official weather station measured 4.62" of rain, but the wind-protected bucket got about a foot. Yes, there was a lot of wind.

As for politicians, I don't know what to do. Incumbents are 90% likely to get re-elected. There's something to be said for experience, but experience only gets you so much. It's also a good thing to bring in knew ideas and new approaches to old problems. I am fundamentally opposed to term limits, because it forces out demonstrably good politicians. I'm thinking we could raise the bar on re-election. For the second term, you need to make 55% majority, for the third term 60%, and so on. So, in order to stay in office, you need to make a higher and higher percentage of the electorate. Just a thought.

 

Still raining here, forecast states tomorrow we should have a none rain day. Hopefully, they will be correct.

Jim

 

No rain up north! We got 8" of snow a couple days ago, it's kind of warm today, 37° right now.

Rob from the city, why so many USB connection in your truck. I have two in my work truck, but I have two phones. I guess I could see having one more for my GPS if Iwas to bring it with me. It looks like you have installed nine of them?

 

Tim, it's crazier than I can believe myself. The project ran away from me. I took the cigarette lighter off to install 1 outlet. Then I noticed that there's enough room for 3. Makes sense. 3 passenger cab. Everyone can charge their phones, iPads, laptops, and whatever. Then I saw the outlet with the voltage meter, and remembered that I hated the coin holder. The voltage meter has 2 more USB ports. Now I have enough ports to power my fish finder GPS, my phone, my computer, and maybe cameras to create content for an adult video channel.

I did the rough math that with a 20 amp fuse, 5 volt USB ports will not leave me with a dead battery.

Yes, I am still using this very old GPS from Lowrance. The company that makes fish finders.

Notice how old and dirty the truck got, with 15 years of spilled and splashed coffee, leaving the windows down all the time, and never cleaning.

 

I agree with you.

Maybe no term limits. But shorter terms. No recalls. Then if someone is doing a bad job, we can get them out sooner. But if someone is good, we should be able to keep that person in office. If someone is blatantly and wilfully performing unacceptable acts in office, then it's off to the hoosgow. Kangaroo courts to fight misprision in office. Lower legal bar to meet for conviction. Instead of a jury trial without a reasonable doubt, politicians can be tried and convicted with 2 out of 3 coin tosses. And penalty will include forfeiture of assets. That should be enough deterrent. If you screw up the your town, county, state....or country - we flip a coin, lock you up, and seize your property.

And maybe an age limit. After a certain age, you can't join the military, join the highway patrol, etc. Maybe we establish that if you are old enough to retire and collect social security, you can't hold office.

No more campaign funds. No more lobbying. Nobody should run for public office and collect free money left and right. Rich people should not be able to buy elections. All candidates get equal public exposure. No more rich guy buying more advertising to overwhelm less wealthy candidates.

And free utilities for all. Nobody in America should be without running water and electricity. Maybe we can't get national health care. But at least running water, and heat. And everyone should get free school lunch. Even if Dianne Fienstein bought a confederate flag to fly at City Hall.

 

Happy Saturday Nor Cal. Looks like it may be a nice sunny day today. Should go out and do some work on the truck, but I'll wait to see if the weather holds.

Jim

 

I don't know about an age limit. Maybe someone can come up with a competency test? I don't know, whatever the solution might be, it's above my pay grade.

 

Morning truckers!

Thanks for the info on the USB chargers Rob!

 

Politician is a job without minimum requirements. You don't need to pass any kind of examination to prove physical fitness, mental competency, skill level, or intellectual capacity. It's harder to get a job driving a bus.

 

No public opinion on her politics, but I love her cooking show.

 

The last day of January 2021 and I haven't even started my Christmas shopping for this year yet... I must be getting old.

Jim

 

Costco has beef cheeks. I think it was about $2.69 per pound. It turned out really good. Soft. Falling apart. The meat just melts. Extremely flavorful. Very rich, beefy taste. It was like eating ox tail, without the bone. This cut is all meat. I used something called "5 spice". Next time, I will just use salt and pepper. The beef taste so good, you don't have to add more seasoning.