Modern Vespa

The private utility companies have gotten out of having to do net metering in California. I am lucky to be serviced by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power which still offers net metering.

Due to yesterday's fresh snowfall, I set out a bagful of dry cat food for the birds.

Evidently, word soon got out.

Birds are cat food with feathers attached

'Particularly Dangerous Situation'

Santa Ana Wind Event Brings Wildfire Risk To Southern California

Minnesota use to get wacked with heavy snow and subzero weather. There has been a shift in the jet stream in the last few years that still gives us cold, but, the snow is all going South of us.

So, I am happy as hell. Not selling my huge snow blower any time soon.

Bob Copeland

there

Windfall repealed! After 40 yrs.

As of yesterday's signing, I can finally obtain my full share of SS payments owed after paying into the system from the time I was 17 until 37.

From age 37 to 67 I had 10% of my pay withheld in a State employee pension.

Someone decided that to receive my pension AND my paid-up share of SS was some kind of a "windfall".

The public misunderstands the situation.
No, as a State employee paying into a pension, I did not pay into the SS system. But for the 20 years prior to working for the state, I did. It is those years we did pay into SS that we are finally recovering.
O.S.

{
Sunny and 74 degrees here (sorry).

Santa Ana winds coming tomorrow and Wednesday, though.

Santa Ana's make for great surf conditions in SoCal especially in Santa Barbara county where I grew up. The south facing beaches and the Santa Ana winds combine to hold the waves faces up for longer rides even on the beach breaks.

Also the water is usually warmer in December and January than it is in April or May so even if you are just going for a swim it's perfect for playing in the water.

My favorite Christmas ever was in 1980. My parents were overseas working so I had no family obligations and I went with a bunch of friends to Rincon Point.

I had never seen so many surfer's in the water before in one spot. My friends and I were all gobsmacked so we went a little further north to Loon point. After we got there a few other friends showed up having repeated what we did, saw the zoo at Rincon and went to Loons.

So it was about 14 close friends all of us locals that had grown up together and we had the spot to ourselves. Water was warm and a fire on the beach just for ambiance. Perfect conditions and of course anytime anyone of us would catch a wave the rest of us were hooting and hollering.

Later we found out the Surfer Magazine had done a photo shoot on Christmas day 1980 at Rincon which was why there were so many people there. I am sure a lot of the top pro's were there to the photo op but even though we were all local we had all missed the memo and didn't find out till later.

The photo shoot from Christmas day came out in the June 1981 issue with the title "The Queen of the Coast". Years later after I had graduated from Carpinteria high school it was pretty common for students to get pictures in the yearbook surfing there.

Beautiful place to grow up but I always thought that if I had grown up in the midwest I would never have known how poor I was. To see the area explode in popularity and cost of living was pretty tough. Have to take the good with the bad I guess and at least I have the memories of the good times.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/135267813197

Wait till April just north of Point Conception at Jalama beach and try to get in the water!

It is my favorite beach just for the incredible beauty but wait for a day with no wind on the coast to visit. Great spot to go for a ride to just for the scenery.

https://www.countyofsb.org/638/Jalama-Beach

You have to get off of highway 1 to take a windy road through the oaks and you come up over the coastal hill to see the ocean emerge. It's a special place.

I didn't know where to post this, really. But it cheers me up learning things.



It connects via USB-C.

I grabbed the USB-A to USB-C cable from my headphones and viola! Blinky flashy power!

Wait till April just north of Point Conception at Jalama beach and try to get in the water!

It is my favorite beach just for the incredible beauty but wait for a day with no wind on the coast to visit. Great spot to go for a ride to just for the scenery.

https://www.countyofsb.org/638/Jalama-Beach

You have to get off of highway 1 to take a windy road through the oaks and you come up over the coastal hill to see the ocean emerge. It's a special place.

Again I want to reiterate it is my favorite beach because of the drive to get there and how pretty it is and then you get to see the ocean appear as you come over the hills. It is not my favorite beach to swim at. It used to not be nearly as crowded as what I am hearing about now but I would still highly recommend it for a day trip/destination for a scooter/motorcycle ride.

They used to let you in for free if you just ask the ranger if you can check the waves. They would tell you if you want to stay all day you have to buy the day pass but they will let locals that know the secret word (check the waves) hang out for a bit.

Don't you just hate really talented people.

I usually love myself

We have a special term for people that do that.

This prompted me to do some digging. I now know ... things. I learned USB-C is not a protocol, just a connector. I knew power can go both ways, so it made me investigate "how do it know?"

USB-C is a 24 pin connector, two of which are CC pins for communication (see fig. 2) They look for a 5.1K pulldown resistor to call for power. If it doesn't see that, the port doesn't know to deliver power. If it does, the VCONN channel then provides power to the device.

HOWEVER, a lot of manufacturers sell products with a USB-C port and an A to C cable, knowing that the USB-A port will always provide 5V, because that's what USB-A does.

Bonneville passed the useless state inspection yesterday.