Phil Landmeier @shuttersparks@qoto.org

@ai6yr Same here, which was probably my problem. The girl I ended up marrying was fascinated by my array of keyboard instruments and piano, and my electronics workbench we walked by on the way to the bedroom... If you get my drift...

@karlauerbach @smellsofbikes Did you really??? Cool. Over the years I bought many Triad and Thordarson transformers for various projects. Also used a couple of transformer houses in Los Angeles for custom designs and mass production. Later, Hammond Transformers for higher voltage, high power applications. Plus a few pole pots for more serious voltage and power. Hahaha. It used to alarm people who came into my living room in the 70s to see a 14,400V 50 kVA transformer sitting in the corner. Wanna see a Jacob's Ladder that radiates heat you'll feel??? Check this out...

You've done some fun stuff!

@ai6yr Sounds like fun. Never done that sort of thing, though. I did do the disco scene, though, back in the 70s. It was interesting but boring and unproductive.

"Why am I here? It's loud, which is damaging my hearing. The girls here seem completely uninteresting and bored, going through phony motions..." I went numerous times and could never figure it out. Why are these people even here? I get the impression they don't even want to be here. Why are they here? Yet I went many times to places in West LA and West Hollywood. Same thing every time.

What's the attraction? Maybe it's different 50 years later, but I suspect it's not. I just don't get it, never have.

@ClaraListensprechen4 Hahaha. I can be gentleman, if the situation calls for it. ;-)

@karlauerbach I don't remember a lot of details, but my takeaway from history (back when they taught history) is that tariffs are an attractive idea to stupid people but don't work and usually backfire. If it's a trading partner they'll just tariff back at you. Now what? Everybody starves.

The end result is unnecessary, artificially stimulated inflation.

And let's not forget that tariffs are simply taxes on your own people, without calling them taxes.

I mean, if I were president I would remain open to the idea of tariffs but only for specific precisely targeted purposes. I want to bring chip fab back to the USA. Okay, maybe a tariff on imported semis, carefully adjusted to encourage semi makers to move production back to the USA.

But blanket tariffs are just dumb, especially when dealing with an economy like China's, where the USA is just a very small part of their market, like 3 percent. Our tariffs will be ignored by the Chinese. Irrelevant. Most of China's output is sold internally and in Asia. The USA is tiny. But we think we're "punishing" the Chinese. Hahaha. No. They won't even notice.

These tariffs Trump is talking about will do nothing but harm to us.

And if the tariffs worked and people tried to bring production back to the USA, where will we get the people to employ? Employment is near 100 percent of employable workers.

Immigrants, of course is the solution. But he wants to get rid of immigrants. We can't man the production even now. Lose the immigrants and his whole plan collapses. Can't be done. Don't have the people to do it here.

So Trump's whole "plan" doesn't make any sense. The result will be extremely high prices and shortages. We'll starve, in other words.

@ClaraListensprechen4 Yeah, no doubt. It just seemed odd for there to be so much noise. I mean, sure, if you make a drag race run at max power I'd expect cooling systems to kick in afterwards. But this guy drove like the proverbial little old lady. Real slow and careful. Annoyingly slow, actually. And the outside temp was around 50F. I don't get it.

I'm not familiar with Teslas like people in California. Is all that fan noise normal? I don't like it.

@ClaraListensprechen4 I dunno. I don't get it. What's with all the fan noise? It sounded like an ICE car with the radiator fans going full blast after a hard run.

I would expect, click, whoosh. Silence, except for the tire noise that you can finally hear because the car is quiet.

Funny story...

EV's are not a thing here in West Virginia, yet. I *think* I spotted a Volt one time a few years ago but am not sure. I did see a Rivian downtown about a year ago. But that's it.

Here it's RAM diesel pickups rigged for smoke, SUVs, and 1960's, early 70's muscle cars, fully tricked out, 3/4 race cams, open exhaust, being driven on the street. Doing a burnout on the street with a 60s muscle car is fine. The cops don't seem to notice. Hah. Wish I had my 'rod from the 70s again (a tricked out '67 Chevelle SS that I sold for 50 bucks because I was sick and tired of building engines and car & boat drag racing.) I'd kill to have my Chevelle again -- 10.94 in the quarter mile.

Anyway, never seen a Tesla...until a few days ago. Called for an Uber ride to escort a friend and her kid to the dentist and here rolls up a maroon colored car. Didn't pay attention to the type of car. Didn't care. Didn't seem unusual because the car was quite noisy with fan noise, etc. After riding for a minute I realized it was a Tesla.

The driver was an old guy like me and he had the heat turned up to like 90 degrees in the car. I didn't complain because the ride was just ten minutes. But there it was, a Tesla. It behaved like an ordinary car but the external noise was off-putting. I would expect silence from an EV, like the electric buses and trolleys I grew up around in Los Angeles 65 years ago. What's with all the noise? The thing sounded like the fans in a data center, which is why I didn't notice it was an EV until I got in and recognized the Tesla escutcheon plate.

Anyway, so I've finally seen a Tesla and ridden in it. I didn't have time to talk with the driver about his impressions, unfortunately. I was too busy talking with the person I was escorting and translating for. (She doesn't speak English).

@lovelylovely Exactly.

@karlauerbach I love Costco! When in Florida I shopped there all the time. Here, the nearest one is too far away.

It was actually a fun outing for me. Eat a couple of hotdogs, then comb the entire store, resisting the urge to buy everything.

:-(

@randahl It hasn't fallen yet. Odd things can happen.

@cdarwin We shall see. The CIA has a long history of doing its own thing, independent of any government oversight. See Iran-Contra, drug transport, etc. The CIA is capable of funding itself, independent of government oversight, independent of the "black" parts of the US budget.

In the past, this has been a problem. Given what's coming, this problem might prove to be a solution.

@JonChevreau I don't think he's bluffing. Trump is intent on destroying. High tariffs is an excellent way of accelerating the process. Tariffs always cause great harm and backfire, which is what Trump wants.

@starwall @johncarlosbaez If I'm not mistaken, to us viewing the process from a distance, time stops at the horizon, but to the occupants of the ship, all proceeds normally and they pass through.

Or I could be wrong. Hahaha.

@georgetakei Hahaha! Truth! I had one back in the day and I have to say that it was a lot more fun back then than it is today with a modern smartphone.

@ampersine OBVIOUSLY! That's what tariffs do.

Vendors are already responding. The price of the sugar I buy, which is imported from Colombia, jumped up 30% in the last week. Boom! It hasn't changed in ages. Suppliers are assuming Trump means what he says so here it comes. Buckle up.

@dangillmor Not to mention that these are not legally required anywhere. Know that it's entirely the decision of the web creator to abuse the user in this way.

@lovelylovely Yes, and it's going to get worse, quite soon and quickly I believe.

I wonder if the MAGA people will react. I wonder if they will even notice they've been taken for the fools they are.

They scary part is I think they won't notice and will continue with the "This is expected. It's all Biden's fault..." schtick.