Its one of those weeks where I couldn’t figure out what pissed me off more.
This is my review of Rusty Rail Brewing Luminous:
I began my week like any other, upon completing ¡enlaces! I scour the internet for something off putting but nonetheless relevant to the day. Glen Reynolds tends to be a good resource for content but his audience has a lot of crossover with David Burge so he’ll throw in a link to auto magazines from time to time. Is Instapundit really a car guy? I dunno, nevertheless he delivered for me once again, something right in my wheelhouse:
So, with the 2026 edition of the National Electrical Code approved as proposed, it will become illegal in coming years for many U.S. homeowners to install their own EV chargers. The only thing that could have stopped this from happening was a last-chance motion to strike the clause from the code at the National Fire Protection Association’s annual technical meeting on Friday, June 20, 2025.
The change stems from a new addition to the 2026 NEC that reads, “Permanently installed electric vehicle power transfer system equipment shall be installed by qualified persons.” As proposed and ratified, the 2026 NEC defines a qualified person in vague terms likely to be interpreted by states and code enforcement departments to mean a licensed electrician.
Fun fact: I don’t own an electric car. If I ever buy one it will be the VW Electric Bus, that I will convert to an A-Team style colorway to piss everyone off and even include a gun rack with Ruger Mini-14s. If not if would be a Cybertruck that I will mount a gun turret in the back. My sons will love riding back there, especially now since they just discovered HALO on my little brother’s old XboxOne and it looks like the Warthog. Just because I don’t own an EV, doesn’t mean I don’t care. I should be able to install one of these if I know how. The example they use is the Wallbox EV charger that runs on a NEMA 14-50 plug, but I would probably get the hardwired version and run pipe from the panel, across the attic, and send a whip to the side of my house and install a box. The end result will probably look pretty decent and my electric work has fooled inspectors before. This is a subversive attempt to ensure only licensed electricians are hired to do this shit. Primarily because there is a master electrician on the NFPA board to act as a voice for the average union electrician working in—-
*record scratch*
—-Wait. They’re building a fucking train.
They’re building a fucking train, in my state.
“We’re not in a position of being confident or not confident. Our job is to come up with a proposal for passenger rail that policymakers can review and make those decisions,” he said.
Oh fuck off. You’re going to tell them about the wonderful jobs it will create and the revenue the ridership will bring, and it will be a chance to placate the local Indians by naming a station after Ira Hayes. Never mind the fact that Ira hated everyone and everything.
Ira did like drinking though but this probably isn’t his speed either. Much like the one from lT week this is a interesting take on something otherwise familiar (H/T: DB). White chocolate and macadamia nuts are a classic combination, so its hard to go wrong here. Macadamias are a tropical nut, so its a bit softer and has a pleasant texture, paired with white chocolate which is sweet and a bit buttery. Does this beer taste like cookies? Of course not. It tastes like beer, an interesting beer but one that doesn’t leave me reaching for the white girl beer alert. 3.7/5
Golden Stout?
Looks nice, abv?
But…what’s the beer score?!? How am I going to know if I should buy it?!?
It’s beer.
So, avoid?
Quality is really slipping around here.
Maybe it’s a high abv, could explain things.
I was thinking the same thing. I’m guessing MS gives it 3.5 stars.
Fixed.
I was close.
Thanks Spud
Qualified person is already in NEC for certain other articles such as PV installation. Yes, it is up to each AHJ how to interpret that but generally if yours allows homeowners to pull their own permit, it won’t be a problem. If your work can’t pass an inspection and it’s “What’s an NEC?”, probably should be calling for some one to install it.
The real issue is fly by night handyman level outfits that companies like Ford would hire to slap in shit for their “free” charger offer.
And the real issue with the NEC is ridiculous 3 code cycle that keeps things forever in flux, always adding more bells and whistles, and is a giveaway to CEU outfits.
*3 year code cycle
They gotta protect their phony baloney jobs.
The real issue is fly by night handyman level outfits that companies like Ford would hire to slap in shit for their “free” charger offer.
+1 Redneck Engineer
Basically you want an outlet “for your welder”.
The current electrical also has the issue that an outlet for an EV needs a GFCI usually in the form of the breaker. Problem is the portable charging cable is also required have GFCI in it as well.
This result in frequent nuisance trips in one or both devices as they test for leakage.
An outlet for a welder requires no GFCI.
This update is a desire to fix this issue and get guild members paid.
Electrical wiring is tough. Two or three wires, it’s worse than a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle and a 6 pack.
There’s a couple books or so, probably videos, that take a novice through the steps. It’s sort of a repeat of comments from yesterday.
“Do you need some help?” One thing that needs to be remembered though, electricity is faster than you.
And they keep score too!
https://electrical-inspector.blogspot.com/2013/06/Electrical-Boxes-Volume-and-Fill-Calculations.html
Load balancing is important, things get hot if you dont
I’m scared to attempt electrical work for two reasons:
– I’ve made a ton of absent-minded mistakes on my various projects: Forgetting to shut the water off before I disconnect the water line, cutting out the non-waste instead of the waste on dovetail joints, cutting a 2×6 header slightly too short… Usually it’s just a bit of cussing, maybe a trip to the store for a replacement of whatever I jacked up, and laughing at myself later that day. With electricity, it’s not a humorous mistake, it’s a dirt nap.
– My neighbor runs a plumbing business and told me that if an amateur wiring job causes a fire, the insurance might not cover it, and those investigators are surprisingly good at sifting through burnt rubble and figuring it out.
I’ll do just about everything else myself, but I know a fairly reliable family business around here that I call for all that.
Just wear rubber gloves.
They’re building a fucking train, in my state.
No, just a railroad.
Its a fucking train.
Terrible Maps
@TerribleMaps
America’s 50 drunkest counties
https://x.com/TerribleMaps/status/1938678780270145681
not one in arizona
They’re not all in Wisconsin?
I dont see Clark co. NV or any Res’s on there.
Oddly, Menominee County, WI isn’t highlighted, which is also the Menominee reservation. My county also isn’t highlighted. I believe there to be an error in the methodology.
The two counties in the Dakotas are where all the people live.
I think there’s a flaw too, CPRM. I’m in a western Wisconsin county that made top-10, but this survey is taking “heavy/binge drinking” to mean drunk. I always thought that drunk meant impaired, and most of the heavy drinkers here function normally.
White chocolate and macadamia nuts are a classic combination – pffff americans…
Its a fucking train!
Grifting never ends. A fuckin’ choochoo from Phoenix to Tucson? Once you leave either of those cities by rail, what do you do with your car? Pay parking for however long you are gone? Once you arrive in either city by rail, what do you do? Pay Uber fees every time you have to go anywhere?
How far over budget has the CA rail grift gone now? 10X? 100X? 1000X? How long past completion date? How many passengers use it? Does it matter? Its sole purpose was to rob taxpayers. If the pols have their way it will continue to soak up money forever and never carry a single passenger.
What is this? AZ saying ‘hold my beer’?
I’m surprised their not asking bright line to build it.
But maybe this is just step one for them to get some sweet sweet grant money.
It’s entirely possible Brightline didn’t think it would be profitable.
Assume it has been stolen?
WTF Arizona? For all the reasons that Suthenboy points out you should add that people from Maricopa/pinal and Pima counties don’t interact unless it is for UA v ASU sportsball. I grew up, and then spent time as an adult, in Tucson and nobody went, “Hey everybody let’s go to Mesa and look at the wide roads!” People from Scottsdale don’t go, “Let’s not go to Fashion Square and 5th Avenue and go check out the shops and homeless people along 4th Avenue in the Old Pueblo.”
Even the idea of trying to save money and taking the train to Phoenix’s airport crashes upon the reality that means I would be going through the hell that is Sky Harbor. (Not to mention the trains won’t be operating on a frequent enough schedule to make this a realistic option.)
Take this advice from tropical Oahu. Don’t do it. Our train to and from nowhere costs the taxpayer a world leading $47 in subsidies for every $2-3 ticket purchased. Luckily only ~2000 people buy tickets each day. (2000 tix equals $94,000 subsidies)
It’s Hawaii. I just assumed everyone walked. You have a train? WTH for?
Because the bus doesn’t run to the other islands either?
We had the “Super Ferry” which ran between Oahu and Kauai, Maui, and (eventually) Hawaii. It was killed by lawsuits from a textbook classic “Baptists and bootleggers” coalition.
The rental car companies and hotels (stand to lose $$) teamed up with the environmentalists (lose heaven) to sue the company after the ferry was in operation. A State Supreme Court in Honolulu ruled the EIS had flaws and ordered service to be stopped until a new EIS could be completed. The company went bankrupt.
The “Skytrain” will run from Kapolei around Pearl Harbor and eventually to the mall at the edge of Waikiki. Originally it was to run all the way to the university campus close to Diamond Head. Construction started in 2009 and was to be done by 2013. After the costs began ballooning from the original $5.3B to $12.4B today (with the final estimated cost rising every year) the project was scaled back from the university to the mall. When the costs and time was still taking too much money it was proposed to be shortened even more. The OMB 1.0 Admin then stepped in and said if you do that we want all our billions in grant dollars back. The county quickly backed off that plan. The current timeline to the mall is 2031 (nobody believes that) and the price is pushing closer to $14B weekly.
Plus, to make sure to buy taxi drivers support the planners put the station at the airport is well away from the terminal with no connector. Because land ain’t cheap here most of the feeder stations in the ‘burbs have no real long term parking spots. To keep the construction industry happy the entire project is elevated, even the parts running through flat open land. But we have no cement here. The sand and gravel yes, cement no. So all that gets shipped in. The county wanted to keep it local so contracted with Kimo’s Garden and Railroad Construction Service instead a Euro or Asain company that knows how to build urban rail. Now the pillars are cracking (sand improperly rinsed of salt content), the wheels on the cars are too narrow making a derailment hazard at switch points, and on and on and on.
‘sand improperly rinsed of salt content’
That’s concrete 101. This is criminal.
Are HI taxpayers picking up the subsidy or does it come out of the Fed’s pocket?
The subsidy is shared now but every year the Fed share will drop.
The rest of the state “noped” out of this boondoggle hard so are on the hook for only a small part. My part of the island is pissed because we pay the taxes and the rail didn’t even think about coming across the mountains towards us.
Ugh. Sorry you are stuck with it.
How far over budget has the CA rail grift gone now? 10X? 100X? 1000X? How long past completion date?
I’ve been assured that the only reason it’s the CA rail is not an amazing success is because “they’re not using Imminent Domain enough”.
That’s a silly argument. All the land has already been seized.
‘They’re building a fucking train’ (kjzz.com)
How do you pronounce that station name?
K-jizz?
More importantly, Code Switch is on!
The fearless conversations about race that I’ve been waiting for!
K-jizz?
Correct
Electric cars. I dont know where to start.
I run my weedeater over about 3 acres. The gas weedeater consumes about half of a cup of gas (direct use of energy from C-C and C-H bonds). My neighbor charges his electric weedeater for hours and exhausts the battery after less than an acre. How much gas was used to generate the electricity to charge his battery?
Same with chain saws. I can cut all day with about 3 pints of gas. My brother bought an electric chainsaw. He cut a dozen 8″ to 12″ sweet gums before the battery crapped out and he threw the damned thing in the creek.
Fossil fuels are the most energy dense and economical source of energy we have. ‘Economical’ is important…the price of something is a measure of how much resources are consumed to produce a product.
The replacement of IC engines with electric ones is just a shell game. I guess I can keep screaming at the sky but people are gonna keep throwing their money and freedom away to that guy with the card table and the coconut shells.
I do like battery power for occasional use tools, even ope. Drawbacks above but don’t have to worry about a clogged carb or stale gas (I don’t use ethanol gas in my ope).
I kept my electric leaf blower around for small jobs. It’s perfectly fine for them.
For anything big, the gas powered leaf blower comes out.
I for one am pissed that I can no longer get a gas powered circular saw, screw gun, and framing nailer. These fucking battery run things are the worst.
Most of the electric stuff is crap, but I’ve been pleased with the Bauer system at Harbor Freight. It’s been great for every type of power tool use, with the exception of a framing nailer. Really need a compressor to run those.
Yard equipment’s a bit different. Bauer has a weedeater that’s worthless like your neighbor’s. The 10” chainsaw is solid. Runs longer than I can but starts to bog down down with 20” trunks.
I started buying their 80v Atlas equipment last month, and so far it’s been just as good as anything consumer-grade that runs on gas.
If I ever buy one it will be the VW Electric Bus, that I will convert to an A-Team style colorway to piss everyone off and even include a gun rack with Ruger Mini-14s.
Despite it being an EV, I approve.
I assume the gun mount is for an M134? Electric car…electric gun?
Oh, yeah, baby.
People started doing Warthog wraps on Cybertrucks almost as soon as they hit the market, too.
They’re building a fucking train, in my state.
When I drove into Arizona from California on I-10, I saw a sign that said “Californians welcome, but don’t California Arizona”. Sounds like it is too late.
It was too late in the 1930’s when they diverted the river at the Parker Dam.
White chocolate and macadamia nuts are a classic combination, so its hard to go wrong here. Macadamias are a tropical nut, so its a bit softer and has a pleasant texture, paired with white chocolate which is sweet and a bit buttery. Does this beer taste like cookies? Of course not. It tastes like beer, an interesting beer but one that doesn’t leave me reaching for the white girl beer alert.
Huh. This sounds like a good dessert beer.
I am looking to return to Tucson when I retire in less than two years. This kind of crazy talk puts Wyoming back into the retirement mix.
Take your boat and move to Madisonville, LA. We could use more like you around here.
Hell is spending rest of one’s natural life in Ft Polk.
You are not wrong Gustave, but Madisonville is not Leesville. Very much the opposite.
I visited there for a couple months, spring of ’57. Operation Swift Strike, if I remember correctly
Saw your comment the other day about Alexandria falling apart. I was there in 1998 and seemed like they were trying to make a go of the decommissioned England AFB. Not entirely surprised.
i cannot fathom why someone would want to move to a place with that kind of weather
Less people live there in 2025 than when it was granted statehood in 1890.
Great hunting and fishing.
Fantastic mountains to climb.
Every major species of animal that was present in 1890 still resides there in numbers.
Smallest population in the 50 states.
Liz Cheney has left.
But winters can be miserable.
I-80 runs through the ugliest part of the state. Travelers battling the wind have no idea of the beauty that lies beyond the northern horizon.
Arizona became a state in 1912
dnleagle, that does sound tempting. I would be tempted myself except when the temp drops below 72 the wife starts complaining and I have land and deep roots here. Otherwise….Montana also has some very interesting gun and photo companies oddly enough.
He’s talking about Wyoming pie, read your map again,
Less people live there in 2025 than when it was granted statehood in 1890.
[The Price is right foghorn plays]
According to the census of 1890, the population of Wyoming was 63K people.
This. And I knew you were talking about Tucson.
fewer
Trains, etc. get proposed and studies funded because those opposed don’t generally show up at public meetings to make a compelling case. There aren’t organized libertarian and fiscal conservative groups to push back against the self interested grifters. I did so about seven years ago when the regional transit authority proposed extending a local rail line. It still hasn’t been approved.
This is a subversive attempt to ensure only licensed electricians are hired to do this shit. Primarily because there is a master electrician on the NFPA board to act as a voice for the average union electrician working in—-
No kidding. If they don’t constantly change the rules just for the sake of changing the rules people might wonder what real purpose they serve.
the revenue the ridership will bring
Haha, good one.
Oh, it brings revenue, the question is to whom?
This weekend’s beer is the Mudshark Scorpion Amber from Lake Havasu City. I would call it more brown than amber. Nice body, a little toasty flavor. Very nice.
Been a while since I found that brand, I’d probably have to look for it at Basha’s.
I recall an article that I read way back in the 90’s that was talking about air pollution. This was from someone like the Colorado EPA and they stated that 90% of the air pollution was caused by 1% of vehicles. The article mentioned that the money spent on trying to clean up the little bit of pollution left would be better spent simply buying the problem cars off of their owners and getting them off the road. Instead an ever-growing government agency keeps throwing an ever-growing pile of money at an ever-shrinking problem. Catalytic converters basically closed the book on tailpipe emissions.
I mention this because there is a similar process in the electrical code. The basic provisions of the code have been in place for decades and have saved countless lives. Milestones such as dedicated grounds and GFCI needed to be addressed when they were introduced. But revising every 3 years means that they are tweaking at the edges at this point.
The code that I knew 40 years ago is still applicable to 99% of the wiring that I do today.
Similar things are happening in engineering. The standards keep getting more and more complicated to squeeze out less and less juice.
It’s unfortunate because I get the feeling that the chances of a duck up actually increases as the codes get more complicated.
I’m drinking Killian’s Red because there was no Guinness draft at my usual liquor store and I didn’t feel like going to another one.
Florida is not the best place for dark brews, though I do like the local Midnight Oil oatmeal stout from Swamp Head Brewing in Gainesville. It’s a shame I’ve only ever seen it in bars.
Yeah, the climate doesn’t really support it, unfortunately.
Killian’s ain’t bad though.
They still brew Killian’s? I learn something new here every day. Wednesday’s I frequently learn what can’t be unseen.
Kona Brewing has a coffee brown ale, but I’ve only ever seen it in Chicago. Shitty town, but what a selection of food and beer.
If politicians are obsessed with boosting infrastructure spending, could we at least build useful things like oil refineries and nuclear power plants?
Gavin Newsom says no.
OK, how about spending money on controlled burns in order to prevent destruction from wildfires?
You know, the thing every other state does. They have forests and droughts too just like California.
https://cepr.net/publications/us-forest-service-decision-to-halt-prescribed-burns-in-california-is-history-repeating/
Gavin says controlled burns make Gaia cry.
Why would they do that? That would mean actually producing useful things, that’s work.
Easier and more profitable to throw shit-tons of money at going through the motions for diminishing returns.
You would be a terrible pol Derp.
Well, as bad as the ChiComs are, they build lots of coal-fired power plants. And ghost cities too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mt-Pa5s5zZI
I was class president in 6th grade because the most popular boy nominated me as a joke. I also narrowly avoided being impeached because of a prank I did when I was told to speak during the morning announcements. It nearly cost me the role of Scrooge in the school play that year.
Those ghost cities are fake, like everything else they do. Their industry is 99% cargo cult bullshit too.
Their re-education camps aren’t fake.
Nor are their numerous weapons exports or the foreign infrastructure they own.
Also, this funny video of a funny and hungry Chinese boy during an earthquake:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWpAkLTqPYo
I enjoyed my trip to China and Tibet in 2007, though the smog in Beijing was epic.
90% of the air pollution was caused by 1% of vehicles.
Focus on marginal return? That’s crazy talk.
I was surprised the other day to learn that people are the only apes that can make a fist. Other apes can’t because their fingers and palms are too long. There is a popular hypothesis that people have fists because cavemen did a lot punching. But punching usual hurts the attacker more than the target. This guy debunks the caveman fist hypothesis:
https://www.science20.com/genomicron/another_justso_story_time_about_fists-101308
Before boxing gloves were standard, bare-knuckle matches took forever and ended when somebody hurt their hand.
I punched a wall and broke my hand many years ago, had a boxers fracture and now my pinky is bent at an odd angle, makes for interesting bass playing.
PLASTER IS NOT DRYWALL
Well of course, Drywall is dry because it is not being applied to the wall wet as plaster is.
No, its because the material is denser and backed by lathe,
I think you took my comment as being about a part of yours different from my intended. I was simply reacting to “plaster is not drywall”.
Sorry about your hand, but I was talking past the incident.
Well, at least you showed that wall who’s boss for looking at your gal pal.
In college, there was a bar I walked past daily that had a cardboard cutout of a young woman leaning against a pole, like a wallflower at a party. And yet, the first time I saw it, I was thinking “huh, I wonder why she’s standing there by herself on a bar patio in the morning?”
It’s a good thing I’m not a duck. The decoys would get me.
There was a video game called Deer Avenger about a deer that hunts rednecks. One of the tools is a “human call”. When you blow on it, it makes the sound of a young woman saying “I’m naked and I have a pizza!”
All of the great apes use their hands as weapons, they dont have to be fists.
Yeah, but they prefer to use their teeth. Hence the presence of canines on herbivores. Chimps do eat meat sometimes though.
I heard a radio report about chimps, and how common it is for their trainers and zookeepers to lose fingers and other body parts.
Chimp attack victim reveals face: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqOjG1NiQb8
gorilla fights:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZMpGk2FmGA
I see slapping, grabbing, and scratching.
I see ‘one slap and human head is jello’.
https://cdn.britannica.com/49/92849-004-83081108.jpg
Keep in mind that not only are they larger, their muscle and bone are 10x as dense as yours. It is not even close.
Rather than ‘our facial bones evolved to take punches’ I posit that our facial bones have become more gracile because we use weapons and that greatly diminishes the advantage of tough and strong.
A Lilly is a delicate flower. She cant take a punch but she has a trick up her sleeve.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtJYJro8VMs
It is a myth that gorillas and chimps are way stronger than humans because of anatomy and physics. Their bones are made out of calcium carbonate too, same as every other vertebrate.
A guy I knew in college insisted that 10 gorillas could kill an elephant. I told him that wouldn’t happen in the first place since they don’t live in the same habitat. And 10 mature male gorillas would never form a group anyway. He was a transfer student and took 7 years to get a 4 year degree. He bragged about being a bouncer and was scared to ride a horse when we visited a professor’s farm. Like many big tough talkers, he was a moron and a pussy. I guess Joe Biden has plenty of company.
Bears are bigger and stronger than gorillas, and they cannot lift 10x their weight, or whatever other ridiculous thing has been claimed.
Bear vs human tug of war: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHjHD4BE_S0
Also, I think our hands are the way they are because we do a lot of tool making. The punching thing is a side effect. I have heard the hypothesis that our facial bones have evolved to take punches. Looking at the facial muscles of our ancestors and cousins I am skeptical of that was well. Want to break the bones in your hand? Punching a neanderthal in the face should do the trick.
Men having thicker bones, especially the jaw, makes sense given that cavemen had access to sticks and stones.
visual aid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wstIBq2H0z8
Also, the shit of neanderthals was all retarded and they talked like fags.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTkF8tomobA
I swear the above is not comedy.
OK, how about spending money on controlled burns in order to prevent destruction from wildfires?
Ask Hobbit about “controlled burns”.
Your mileage may vary?
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/new-mexico-wildfire-prescribed-burns-officials-federal-report/
Officials’ prescribed burns caused New Mexico fire that’s scorched 500 square miles, report finds
Oopsy.
As one of Pater Dean’s cowboy buddies said, “It’s a controlled burn until someone strikes a match”.
Amusing. Even Asians at UCLA are cheating with ChatGPT:
https://youtu.be/_WYKiEvc0S4?si=becB6_mFMT–a0c-&t=63
Ancient Chinese secret, huh?
Oh, no. It’s speed-reading books…blindfolded!:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_6iPwT_cUE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0xHFCS20AM
Ad on TV just now: Actor professing that despite his very successful career and other concerns the most important thing to him is the safety of his children. We can all understand that. We all want children safe. Either he was being deliberately vague or I was flipping the hamburgers and missed it.
Ok motherfucker, classic dishonest approach – We can all agree that X for the children. The children. You dont hate children, do you?
What kind of shit are you pushing?
Here is his link: https://agreetoagree.org
Gun grabbers. Of course it is.
Go fuck yourself Harry.
Schnitzel needs tonkatsu sauce.