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utilitus

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Posts posted by utilitus

  1. 10 hours ago, rafterbr said:

    I had my teeth whitened at Dental Express.  The woman doing it used so much force covering my gums she cracked a crown and I had to get a new one.  

    A computer-sculpted molar crown installed at Dental Express a few years ago failed, which in turn led to an infection only discernable by X-ray, necessitating an extraction.  In the process, the dentist also broke an adjacent crown.  I will never go back, and am of the opinion that DE specializes in English and marketing.

  2. Thanks, LQ - my recent cursory research into alternative ISPs for our ranch in a tight little valley in the wilds east of Napa revealed that further to the  northeast about 40km, there were two SL ground arrays within about 20km of each other - the only 'twin' installation displayed by the tracker app.  I imagined that this was great, until just now when tracing their activity, it appears that due to the sparse  geometry of the orbits (over the north Pacific?), two such sites were required, and there are still periods when no transmission is indicated.  Good to know.  Thanks again.

  3. Better still would be to take a few days or more prior to installation to go online and study up on FO cable placement (determined in part by type, bending radius, color, local regulations, etc.)  Then experiment with layouts using masking tape and a tape measure to reveal problems and opportunities, length of cable required, and importantly, how to safely penetrate the housing structure if required.  This planning can cover both inside and outside, and induce the owner to tidy up their cable plant in advance, and perhaps move furniture as well.  The installers can then review and comment on the proposed layout and proceed promptly, and the owner can ask them for general advice and about local issues and who to call for effective help while proffering a reasonable tip.

  4. 3 minutes ago, bmh said:

    In France  you have to occupy a property against the owner s will to have the right on the land.. here not sure what it is .

    Don't know about the Code Napoleon, but in both the US and Mexico they seem to apply the principle of 'adverse possession', which comes in a few different flavors.  Call it 'Ejidos Revenge' when the squatters evicted are gringos in Baja...

    There is an entry for 'squatting in Mexico'; historically it seems significant and worth clearing up.  See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squatting_in_Mexico

     
  5. 3 minutes ago, mudgirl said:

    Absentee property ownership isn't a great idea in Mexico. They have some squatter's rights laws. But I wish you luck.

    Right - cursory research indicates it may be an issue after 4-5 years.  Years ago in Costa Rica everybody felt the legal need to install a caretaker, at least on built properties.  

    What I think I'll do is have this guy eliminate the physical danger of two stories and at his expense give him the chance to have drafted and sign appropriate waivers (which he won't want to do).  If he is unreasonable, as I warned him on principle years before he built his place, I will design what I called a San Miguel Allende cube to the property line in all directions, occluding one of his views.  I also have a couple of those handy-dandy battery powered chainsaws which would probably have to go into expensive stowed luggage on Volaris...   Thanks.

    • Haha 1
  6. A Mexican family built a nice but not huge new house in a nice new neighborhood in the hills of SJC, which borders my similar lot.  The husband of this seemingly nice youngish family of 5 or 6 is occasionally mentioned favorably in his professional capacity on this web board, and that's nice, too.  Working from recent photographs sourced from Google and images from real estate ads for other local properties (as I monitor the development of the viewshed), it appears somebody has built smallish palapa structures on my neighbors' roof and on my property, adjacent to the neighbors' homes' wall, the later seemingly reaching two stories tall. 

    This neighbor had used my adjacent property as a staging area for the construction of his house about two years ago without permission, (and possibly without any clean-up), and several months ago shot off a few odd emails to me here in California asking about selling the property and after that was precluded, asked when I might build. (Strangely, given his line of work, his English is a as bad as my Spanish, and clear and candid discussion is called for, as follows.) There hasn't been any communication since.

    So here I'm appealing for any brief, culturally sensitive advice as to how to proceed anyone would care to offer - I wish this family well, but on the basis of liability alone, something has to be done.

    TIA

     

  7. On 2/7/2019 at 5:14 AM, Aquaponicsman said:

    " I need two desktop computers running 24 hours a day, 7 days per week."

     

    I run a network of two or three maxed out laptops driving 55 inch HDTVs 24/7, pulling in at least two HD streams and several live financial accounts.  After building my own PCs going back to x286, several years ago it became obvious that laptops had evolved their integration and features to the point where, apart from maybe gaming and 'crypto' mining, they provided a superbly energy efficient and convenient platform, other than running hot if one neglects to refresh their thermal paste every few years. My energy bill is very modest here in the redwoods of northern California, where metal corrosion is a recurrent problem that laptops seem to avoid. Just my take. 

  8. I don't know the Spanish for 'mirabile dictu', but a (probably new) predial payment website for Joco seems to work, retrieving my record and progressing to the payment page.

    The site is https://pagos.jocotepec.gob.mx/predial , but before I start the payment process, I'll solicit your good advice on two points in particular:

    - the 'payment' button is labeled "Pagar Adeudo" - when I pop it, what is likely to happen?  Will my US credit card do the trick?, and...

    - the amount of the tax indicated online has more than doubled relative to my last (physical) receipt (dated February, 2020), but I assume this is because I wasn't Lakeside last year and owe for both '21 and '22.  So the automated system seems to take that into consideration, but without providing any accounting detail, other than the current early payment "descuento"...

    Any brief comments would be appreciated.  Thanks.

  9. 4 hours ago, NLU said:

    I have Obitalk for my Google Voice...

    May I ask, briefly, does Obihai (mine is v. 2.0) registered with Google Voice work with a long established GV number in no other way involving the US?  In other words, does it work lakeside as if it was in California?  Thanks!

  10. Scientific American published an article in 2017 entitled, 'Scientists Solve a Dengue Mystery: Why Second Infection Is Worse Than First'

    It concludes, in part, that "...findings also underscore the need to use dengue vaccines carefully. A study ...suggested that the vaccine should be targeted to children who have already had at least one bout of dengue...."

    See: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/scientists-solve-a-dengue-mystery-why-second-infection-is-worse-than-first/

    See also: https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/askst-dengue-reinfection-dangerous-when-it-is-from-a-different-serotype

  11. RE: "try to give reasons why markets behave the way they do "

    There are different kinds of 'causation'. 'Financial repression' is government manipulation at its' extreme - but it goes way beyond real-time market manipulation, per se.  And as Keynes noted in his famous 'beauty contest' metaphor, sophisticated market players, human, institutional and/or AI, position themselves relative to the other market players, not some absolute of value. (The value of money in capitalism is its' potential for making more money.) 

    Anything, including mistaken rumors, can and do move forex markets almost instantaneously.  I observed yesterdays and this mornings' shenanigans firsthand, in real time, as an abstracted stimulus-response model, and use the forex markets as a currency hedge just because such financialized hair-trigger mechanisms as modern markets are not predictable, rational, or authentic.  Cynicism is an absolutely appropriate overall attitude (especially towards late 'capitalism'), but it doesn't provide granular explanations for a wide and important spectrum of phenomena which we are condemned to experience, unless you want to nail 'cynicism' it like a little sign to the helical cross of 'selfish genes'.  

    • Like 1
  12. 1 hour ago, Mainecoons said:

    Expectation of rising interest rates.

     

    Plus coordinated release of several national 'strategic petroleum reserves' (50mbl for the US just announced), plus thematic problems of EM banking as the USD gains value into next year (especially vs LatAm, except Brazil, according to TD Bank analyst just on Bloomberg).  Turkey (which ironically imports all its' energy) experienced a 13% exchange rate crash this morning due to moronic political leadership, maybe additionally fouling the EM forex pond, just thematically.

    There is great controversy as to the nature of Fed rates - it will almost certainly not track realized inflation due to the unpayable scale of the modes of US debt.  'Financial repression' is the future of the USD, along with the devaluation that should entail, though other countries may try to competitively match it.  

    By the way, recently stumbled on statistics indicating that Mexico's oil reserves are probably the shortest-lived among recognized producers.  What then - maquiladoras replacing Chinese solar hardware production - or will the US and others go aggressively robotic?  

    • Like 1
  13. An excellent dentist (in either Thailand or Costa Rica - can't recall) once explained that restorations definitely should be floss-able.  I just did a little research, and that seems to be the case.   When I was in grad school, I had some work done at the UCSF dental clinic and they took great pains ;) to engineer what they considered 'ideal' contact margins.

    Interestingly, my search just now found seemingly responsible articles (some from the UK!) discussing research questioning the value of flossing.  

     

  14. On 11/18/2021 at 8:19 PM, RickS said:

    Crown..amazing margins for a great fit

    I had this procedure about 20 months ago at Dental Express, and after about 10 months the molar crown became a bit loose.  I believe it can be glued down easily when I return in a few months, but the restoration is thus imperfect.  And please be aware that the subtractive shaping of the crown required (in my case, anyway) that it is composed of a tough polymer of some sort, not metal and/or porcelain.  At my age, I feel this approach represents good design thinking, so long as it actually works...

  15. Be aware that the internet signal provided by the so-far sparsely populated fleet of Starlink satellite transponders is quite sensitive to physical features surrounding any receiver.  Lakeside, this might be the steep hills running E-W, or any tree.   But the orbital path of the existing and future satellites should be available and large feature issues like mountains that might preclude service should be recognizable in advance.   See:

    https://www.theverge.com/22435030/starlink-satellite-internet-spacex-review

    https://www.starlink.com/faq

  16. Let's make it a triple dose to cure any confusion - from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generic_drug :

    "A generic drug is a pharmaceutical drug that contains the same chemical substance as a drug that was originally protected by chemical patents. Generic drugs are allowed for sale after the patents on the original drugs expire. Because the active chemical substance is the same, the medical profile of generics is believed to be equivalent in performance." 

    As ML previously observed, for the US anyway, emphasis should be placed on the relevant patents (as administered by the USPTO in the US).  Patents confer exclusivity of ownership (IP rights) to exclude others from copying the chemical formulation discovered, for a number of years set by law, typically by a bioscience startup or large international drug company, and proved effective to the US FDA at great expense.  Companies will often fiddle with their formulations in an attempt to extend their patent rights for additional years of  exclusivity, and will sometimes 'negotiate' with generics manufacturers to retain their ability to gouge the US public through the opaque and essentially corrupt pharmaceutical insurance industry (which my late Dad helped found 50 years ago as a nonprofit - then the Texans moved in...)

     

  17. 4 hours ago, NLU said:

    I finally bought a Cat-8 cable ...

    Apparently the cable selected is "outdoor", which is excellent, though "buryable" is probably better.  Unless you expect to have 'net service to the home at speeds exceeding 10 Gb/sec, a ruggedized Cat 6a - 7 product should perform the same, but why not 8.  The length limit on ethernet cables is usually 100 meters (300 ft), and my cursory tests at home indicate no major speed reduction at that length.  A longer ruggedized cable even at a lower Cat standard can afford great flexibility in cable placement and even burial (in PVC pipe, for instance).  

    • Like 1
  18. 6 hours ago, ezpz said:

    It starts with an unmistakably sudden onset...

    EP, thanks for the valuable and competent first-hand report - a tonic in an era of medieval epidemiological propaganda (stateside, anyway).  

    May I ask, where are you and your afflicted neighbors located, as precisely as is comfortable?  

    Again, big thanks.

  19. A few years ago before I bought a still undeveloped lot in SJC, I did everything I could online to check out the municipal sewer system serving the site (which is very steep, at least).  I came across this (free but gated) 'case study' describing the installation of an UV processing plant in SJC.  See: https://www.wateronline.com/doc/wastewater-disinfection-san-juan-cosala-mexico-case-study-0001, and also https://www.trojantechnologies.com/en/applications/municipal/wastewater?origin=dropdown&c1=applications&c2=municipal&c3=wastewater&clickedon=wastewater

    The manufacturer at least claims to serve serious towns in California, and in my neighborhood in the redwoods most everybody uses 'ozination' to treat their large well water tanks, and knowing this I was skeptical/pessimistic that SJC could/would maintain their system, which if it's similar to ozination requires specialized light emitters, electrical power and regular flushing.  Expensive.

  20. 4 hours ago, cedros said:

    They told me that all were in Spanish.

    ...and you previously wrote "How far west? To Jocotepec and the  on to Zapopan."  These comments suggest you may have spoken with Total Players, perhaps during your own installation.  Your blurb indicates you're in SJC.  May I ask, AFAYK, does/will TotalPlay serve SJC neighborhoods west of the Racquet Club?  Thanks -

    (And I guess this brings up a question I won't ask about the availability of "infill" installations by TP, ILox and others in proximate neighborhoods bypassed during initial build-outs...) 

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