Buying at retail for this Christmas.

 I did it.  Last few Christmases I ordered everyone's Christmas present off the Internet.  This Christmas I went to LaHoute's ski shop in Littleton and came way with gloves, hats, and shirts.  Then I did the Little Book Store on Main St and came away with toys for grand neices and grand nephews.  I had a Christmas wrap session and I am now ready for Christmas.  Bring it on St Nick.

Biden is reported to have nothings to say about the Virginia election

 Jeez, What can he say?  His party took a big loss in Virginia.  What is there that any Democrat can say about it that sounds half way intelligent?

Virginia

 Glenn Youngkin has claimed victory just a little after midnight.  And the Republicans have won the lieutenant governor and attorney general races.  Margin of victory was thin, 2 or 3 %, but better than nothing in a long time democrat state.  I wish the new Republican government of Virginia all the best luck in the world.  This Republican win will certainly strike fear into the hearts of democrats about the 2022 midterm elections. 

Self Driving Cars

 All the car manufacturers are working on this product, some claim to have one that works already. Question:  Would you buy a self driving car?  Would you feel safe riding in one?  Me, I would not trust a microprocessor to handle Rte 128 rush hour traffic.  Especially when it snows. 

Booster shots?

 

Booster shots? I got my two vaccinations with the Moderna vaccine back in February and March of this year. The TV has been talking about booster shots for people like me. (I am well over 65) The talk was that CDC or FDA was looking into it and would let us know what was what. Some time has gone by and our ever vigilant and hard working bureaucrats have done nothing yet. My doctor was reluctant to recommend something that had not approved the the government. A proper attitude for doctors and just about anyone else. Anyhow I have not heard of FDA or CDC approving Moderna booster shots. I might have missed it, but I have been looking for it.

If the government OKed Moderna booster shots and my doctor said they would be good for me, I would go out and get one. Otherwise, wait and see.

Virginia Election

 Fox gave good long interviews to both McAuliffe and Youngkin.  I call it even steven, even though Fox is a Republican media.  Youngkin sounded really good, talked about concrete things he would do, starting with throwing critical race theory out of the public schools.  McAuliffe not so good, he used a lot of political bafflegab, and then started trashing his opponent, calling him a racist, a Trump stooge, and I forget what else, but it was not complimentary, or fair.  Polls are indecisive, one poll puts Youngkin 8 points ahead, another poll puts the election even.  We will know something in a couple of days.

So how do those containership ports work?

 Surely those big steel containers don't have paperwork showing where they need to go on the outside of the container somewhere.  Would not a few rough seas wash such paperwork overboard, or at least get it so wet as to be unreadable?  How do the crane operators, truckers, and railroad crews know where to send each container?  Clever computer programs that display the bill of lading for just entering the container serial number?  Do containers have serial numbers painted on the outside?  You would think they do, but I have never gotten close enough to see them. 

Ideally the crane operator would pull a container off the ship and drop it on a truck or a train and get it out of the port right then and there.  If they pile the containers on the ground in the port that slows things down.  The containers piled on the ground have to be picked up and loaded on trucks or trains sooner or later.  Which takes as much crane time as unloading them from the ship in the first place.  Faster is to unload the containers off the ship right onto trucks or trains and get the containers clean out of the port right then and there.   

I am thinking that a long train of double stack flat cars, pulling slowly along side the ship as the crane unloads is the way to go.  Only drawback is the train only goes to one place, so all the containers wind up somewhere like Salt Lake City from which they get sorted out and shipped to their owners.

And despite what union leaders say, the port can move more containers if it runs three shifts and operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.