Odds and Ends — 20 May 2021

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We’ve got a dehumidifier in the basement. Empty the bucket every day or three, clean the filter once in a great while, otherwise ignore it. For years.

Live like that and eventually the dehumidifier will start spilling water on the basement floor.

In no rush to spend $100+ on a new dehumidifier, and armed with minimal fix-it skills gleaned from a few YouTube videos, I decided to try and see if I could open it up and figure out what was wrong.

Um, yeah:


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Dust bunnies galore. I vaguely remember reading somewhere that Brits call them beggar’s velvet.


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I worked on it for about three hours. It didn’t go well. I went through dozens of wet wipes and paper towels and probably a hundred cotton swabs (as an aside, the origin of Q-Tips).

I found that in addition to the obvious air filter that I had cleaned before, there was an internal filter covering the copper coils. When I tried to clean it, it disintegrated like an incunable that had been nibbled on by wet vermin. Not sure if I’ll be able to jury rig a replacement for that part. I found a manual online, but it didn’t have one of those “exploded view” diagrams showing part numbers. And the manual I found seemed like one for a machine that was designed to be thrown away and replaced, rather than repaired.

Round Two of a possibly doomed attempt to fix this planned-obsolescence appliance resumes today.

Coronavirus News, Analysis, and Opinion:

Kenyan health minister says country is now days away from running out of Covid-19 vaccines

What went wrong in Singapore and Taiwan?

Malawi burns thousands of expired AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine doses

Cryptocurrency, Investing, Money, Economy, and Debt:

Yesterday, people were freaking out as Bitcoin was swinging $10,000 within in a few hours. How will they react later this year when it’s swinging $10,000 within a few minutes?

PancakeBunny tanks 96% following $200M flash loan exploit

Bitcoin Price Plunge ‘Feels Like Capitulation,’ Says Galaxy’s Mike Novogratz. Buy when there’s blood in the streets?

Politics:

Chairman Bennie Thompson on @Morning_Joe on why McCarthy won’t support the Jan. 6 commission: “my humble opinion is that there’s some information that he would deem troubling for the Republican Party if it got out, and I think he will do everything possible to prevent that.”

— Michael Del Moro (@MikeDelMoro) May 19, 2021

35 House Republicans vote in favor of Jan. 6 commission

The amount of Republican support makes it far more difficult for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to try and dismiss the commission outright as a partisan effort.

Republicans Fear Jan. 6 Probe Undercuts Midterm Message

Said Sen. John Thune (R-SD): “I want our midterm message to be on the kinds of things that the American people are dealing… not re-litigating the 2020 elections.”

“It’s not often that a politician says out loud that he cares more about his next election than our democracy.” —Taegan Goddard

The Perps Never Support the Cops

Georgia Republicans Won’t Condemn Atlanta Spa Shooting

All eight Republicans who represent Georgia in the U.S. House voted against a resolution condemning the Atlanta spa shootings.

‘QAnon Shaman’ Attorney Won’t Apologize

Good luck with that: More Oregon counties vote to move into Idaho, part of rural effort to ‘gain political refuge from blue states’

How Corrupt Is French Politics?

For a former French president to be sentenced to jail may be regarded as a misfortune. For the same ex-president to go on trial on different corruption charges 11 weeks later looks like a brutal commentary on the state of French politics.
Nicolas Sarkozy will appear in court in Paris Thursday to face accusations that he and his party created a complex system of fake bills to hide epic overspending on his failed re-election campaign in 2012.

Pelosi, McCarthy feud over mask rules on the House floor. In related news, House Democrats quash a G.O.P. effort to end the chamber’s mask mandate.

Funniest headline of the day: Giuliani’s 35-year-old son says he has 5 decades of political experience

Trump Loyalists Push to Revisit Election Results

Serendipity:

Small Scale Solar Setups

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Badge thanks to @arcange



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2 comments
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Well that also could have happened to me. Postponing and trying to fix it myself is often for me a great recipe for ... euhm ... faillure!
Here a !BEER for the hard work.

Cheers,
Peter

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