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Well, depending on which science we choose to believe, it may be a mellow winter or a real humdinger. I'm surprised we haven't heard much about the stratosphere anomaly being attributed to the Hunga Tonga eruption. It is a pretty significant change and we don't have history of that scale to study. Depending on political agenda, there are two trains of thought about what the weather will do through this winter. I would not be surprised if people will look back longingly for $6 pricing by mid winter. I'd hate to imagine what the game plan is across the pond. We at least, have a few options.

Yep, It would be no surprise who wanted that volume turned down. The good news is that they were able to flip off their reactors nice and quiet.

Interesting that the first responses say this is good. Money and power is main reason anyone else got involved. This kind of stuff is the exact reason they wanted to stop it early. Unfortunately, the mess is going to get quite a bit worse as time goes by. That guy has been setting up for a bigger power play long before this round started. I don't see much good with the direction this is headed. I do think it's B.S. that half the world is trying to slow down that guy. It might seem easier to let him play, but the sandbox would get pretty dirty.

I'd agree. How often do you ever see a worn out scoop shovel or pitchfork anymore? I can't even think of any farm kids that were fat when I was young. That has certainly changed. Dang kids can't cross the yard without a four wheeler. All kidding aside, it is a whole lot easier to get more done now. BTW @ACE, It's dang cool to see your kid teaching his bud. Is the guy a city slicker?

I'd agree @Bontz that you have a valid point. I tend to believe that lifestyle and freedom to do things in those cities is a big factor. I didn't see it mentioned in the article. I prefer sticking an argument to the statements provided. Assumptions can get us in trouble when we try to figure out the truth. I'm relatively close to the "hole" you mentioned. I own property and I'm in the mix way too often. My wife has an office that had this view briefly in 2018. I'm right there more than you can imagine. I can give you one thousand reasons how they have screwed up and probably miss another thousand. I see it firsthand and live with the reality. The arguments are valid. I can sit around, make assumptions, and play a simple blame game. That action wouldn't get far in changing the mess they have created. It is a mess. There is some irony to what is mentioned in the original article. It's about money. It's hard for leaders to talk real action when it comes down the little stuff like crime and lifestyle.(that's a tongue in cheek comment to past action) When you start talking about money, people start doing things. There is a need for action when their pocketbooks are affected. Again, I'm relatively close to the hole. All this dinking around and playing games got us into this mess. I've noticed less finger pointing and politics lately. Maybe they will actually get something done before the exodus is too deep.

It's interesting that you guys keep bringing up political affiliation. I see correlation to the political environment, but that argument doesn't explain why prices kept going up. The argument would give reason that prices should have gone down. If you take politics out of the discussion, those housing prices are just simply too high. Now, if the article had mentioned that people are moving because the living environment is crap, I.E. crime, lack of services for the money etc. I'd be all in for the political side of the argument.

They should leave. It's a market economy and those prices are too high. Our old headquarters were in San Fran and the market sucked for bringing in talent. Housing was too expensive. On the other side. Friends bought Oakland condo for 600k in 2014. Nothing fancy, but it fit their price. They sold out last year for 1.2 mill and moved to a cheaper market. That's not a bad return and they are looking at the beach in Hawaii for less money. Still have the same jobs too.

The kid running cart is 12 when this was shot. He's been at the wheel for quite a few years. He's pretty dang good. Very predictable and consistent. I think he was in the seat for around 1,800 acres last year. That cart/tractor combo has been nice for teaching because it's smaller for maneuvering and you can see. The kids like the auto steer, but it sure helps to see the head. They are getting a bigger rig with sync this season. It might be hard keeping them awake.

I always wanted to do sports in school. To paraphrase my dad, "You kids don't have time for sports, you have chores". I was one of those wiry little buggers. I don't remember what grade in school when the P.E. instructor had us doing all sorts of crap like situps, pullups, running, and whatever else. Each one of those I had to do while the class watched. I was starting to get pissed by they time they asked me to throw a ball. (I think it was a softball?) I went out to the field and threw the thing. The teacher asked me to throw another one, but to throw it further. Pissed, I said where do you want me to throw the damn thing? I got a lecture about my language while they sent someone to stand in the field as my aiming point. I went out, threw the ball over their head and then trotted off to the principle's office to talk about my language. Nobody ever told me why there was so much fuss about doing all those tests. Weeks later, the teacher had me stand in front of the class while she did a little speech and handed me a patch? All that corn shoveling, rock picking, manure pitching, bale throwing, and whatever a farm kid does, earned me a President's fitness award just for showing up that day in P.E.

Pretty cool to see them getting the kids involved. It's funny how some love driving and other's couldn't care less. That guy is pretty small too. He's a long way from the seat back. Buddies kids love driving except one. They all started in the grain carts pretty young. Two of them could contour around power poles and stay under the auger by that age. Then, they did unloads into semis parked on deep ditch township roads. That is an impressive feat. Drive out onto the road and back along the truck while straddling the shoulder with 60k on the cart. There is no room for screw ups. Those two also hopped into semis dang early. It's amazing how well they manage the clutch with full trucks in the field. The one thing those kids can't do well is mud. New farm equipment doesn't "feel" like the old stuff. There was a lot of feedback when things started to get juicy and you learned how to "drive" when conditions went south. The kids don't know they are getting into trouble with mud until they're damn near stuck. There aren't many options left by that point. It's funny @Mag6240, with the clutch. I had one heck of a time with some of those when I was learning. I basically stood on the pedal. Nowadays, we don't have much left with a real clutch pedal and you can shift with a finger.

I wonder what material composition is used on those tanks? Electrostatic build up doesn't seem to be an issue with tons of other vehicles. The best bet to figure this one out is what is the same on those sleds. It is an odd combination of machines over a long time. Interesting side observation. Our local dealer just had a large storage building go poof. It was at his home place and filled with lots of toys. Sounds like some pretty good money in cars alone. I sure hope that fire wasn't related to this issue.

Apparently you can. The title isn't exactly forthcoming. The guy should be gone. There is no place for anyone with a political bias. The thread title is an issue. How many would believe that a single agent could be in charge of that combination of cases? We should not be that gullible.

It wouldn't be much of a news grab if they said "Slightly different weather" as their headline.

I completely understand what you are saying, but there is another side. Testing and development is going in two directions. Bigger is better when you have operators in the machine. I do agree that there is not any current technology that can be retrofitted to make the big stuff work as electric. There is a lot of data capture being done with the big machines to help develop the autonomous side. The guidance systems don't have much need for dynamic situations with an operator either. It wouldn't be money well spent if they loaded the machines with even more sensors. (It has been a fact for years that simply flipping a switch could take the operator out of the seat.) The part of their approach that I do like is how the guidance is based on true location. It's close to drive by wire for accuracy. Ironically, the machine to machine communication in fields has been slow to launch. The tech has not been embraced by farmers. Subscriber fees have not helped. Autos still need sensors to tell them they are in their lane. Autos also do not communicate with each other. The big shots will continue to resist true across the board vehicle to vehicle communication. That would be a big deal if it happened. Imagine flying through intersections without the need for stopping. Stop and go traffic would be done with flow managed vehicles. There is a lot of room for energy savings on the road. It all adds up. I'm not really a fan of going autonomous with farming. It is still a big part of farming to be in the field and look at the crop. If that is gone, why bother being a farmer. It concerns me the direction we are headed with the corporate business structure that is almost necessary in today's market. Smaller autonomous farm vehicles are a better fit with factory farming. I seriously believe that the last generation of family farmers has already been born. That is not a good thing.

I always wonder why some of these stories circulate. Anyone can write a story. It takes another person to have the motivation and move it to the next, and the next. . There is some irony to the discussion. JD has been working on electric for quite some time. They were deep into testing before we saw Tesla on the road. Their testing has been mostly in smaller autonomous machines. The main thought behind going electric is to use a lot of machines vs. a few big machines. You will see a different approach to "how" fieldwork is done. Maybe 5-10 smaller machines vs. 1 or 2 monsters in a field. Time of day would be irrelevant and night work wouldn't use lighting. BTW, they have been way ahead of the auto industry in self driving for a long time. They are no dummies on the marketing side. They know that farmers still like to be in the seat. The technology to remove operators has been in place for quite some time. If the big players in the auto industry had looked over their shoulders at Deere, they would have created a self driving system that actually worked. The auto manufactures have taken the wrong path. Their sensor systems are way too prone to failure and they don't manage traffic flow. It's basically a nick knack trinket system for marketing teams to "add" value to the cars.

@Turbo Kitty I give you my condolences. Glad you were there for him. It is tough with this disease. You get ups and downs, fill your days with hope and prayer. It is hard to watch those you love in so much pain. I'm not sure if it happened with you, but I felt guilty that I couldn't do more and felt relief that their pain was over. "Cancer Sucks" is appropriate.

I had ordered a GN that priced out a little under 18k. I was going to school and thought it would be a fun car for the money. The dealer called with a bad news good news scenario. The order was canceled, but I was number nine on the list for a limited edition model. He didn't know a whole lot other than the bigger power and limited features. (Tires, rims, stabilizers, dash and seat emblems, off the top of my head) . The price difference was roughly ten grand more for the GNX. That was a tough decision for a college kid. I was smart enough to know the car would go up in value, but I needed to park the thing for awhile. I would still need a daily driver. I sure as heck didn't want to give up fun money to pay for two cars while going to school. I did some rough math and figured the money would cost too much. I told the dealer to let it go to another customer. It wasn't easy seeing that car running around town getting beat to piss. Oddly enough, I ran into the owner at parties. He knew the back story and handed me the keys so I could "drive" the thing. It was tire burning machine that did easy shitties. The dude really didn't care about the car or money. I'd buy him a couple beers and we'd laugh that he needed another set of tires. Ironically, I talked to him years later and he had bought another one with low miles. Said he was going to park that one.

The Y2K thing is a great example. There was plenty of that happening. I was headed out of town that weekend and stopped to get some cash. The crazy people had drained quite a few ATM machines. BTW, there are people of "certain religions" that have stockpiled food and water for generations. I worked as a mover during college summers. We'd go into those safe rooms and find walls lined with barrels of water and dried food. In one home, the family had eight kids, their room had over forty barrels and a ping pong table in the middle. We figured they would get tired of ping pong long before they ran out of food and water.

Crime of opportunity. Rims and stereos are too much work. I used to think that a noisy vehicle coming down the road always belonged to someone too cheap to replace the muffler. Now, the majority of them are nice vehicles with nicely removed cats. I'm not sure if the supply shortage on those has improved. I know that some had a long wait for replacement. One of the supposed deterrents being promoted was painting them with bright orange paint? There were a few news stories showing cops under vehicles with spray cans. Who comes up with these ideas? Those things get sold through a fairly narrow pipeline of scrap buyers. It makes more sense to focus in that area vs. the PSA stuff with cops crawling under cars with spray paint.

They already have a name for that effect. https://www.epa.gov/heatislands

Title is correct. Bummer you got hit again. That is a lot of rain in that amount of time. Hopefully it is done for this round. We are still dry as heck in the north metro. Drought stress is zapping a lot of trees.

I agree on the us vs. them theory. How you handle the situation has a lot to do with your success. The US people took on that mentality during WWII and the general population (us) worked together against their enemy, (them). There are plenty of old sayings along the line "United we stand, divided we fall".

Adult responsibility is recognized at an early age. The community support is strong as well. There is a lot to be said for working together. I know a number of very successful individuals that didn't do so well on the first, second, and even more, attempts. They still had a strong backing within the community and went on succeed.

I was shipped to St Mary's in 96 with a crushed hand. The locals figured they were my best shot if I was going to keep my fingers. The care was pretty impressive. Good enough, that I kinda forgot about that time. I know, seems hard to believe, but that is a testament to my recovery. Anyhow, when I was doing blood work for the donor match, they said you already have a patient number in our system. Thanks everyone, I share the thoughts about others too. It is tough. @Turbo Kitty, You are a good one. I hope the best with your brother.

My Brother lost his battle with AML last night. As hard as it is to say, I'm glad his pain is over. He put up one heck of a battle. I never saw him complain and the chemo stuff was brutal. Multiple rounds and just couldn't get the blasts down for BMT. I was a match through the initial screening and we had some hope. For awhile, I felt like I could help. What a horrible disease. The ups and downs of treatments and hope eat everyone around. We all tried and gave everything we could to help. It was especially hard to see the pain in his family. Mom and the kids rallied together for the fight. They coalesced and bonded together with him through each phase. There is another side of this horrible process and maybe we were lucky. Toward the end, he was in a pretty good facility. (MAYO) We had a similar experience in the first hospital. The people involved in the care were extraordinary! (Wish I could find a better adjective.) The nurses . . . , It takes special people to go into work and do that every day. I saw them hiding tears at times. They had their hearts in the battle too. It showed in their care. It showed in the interaction and relationships that we formed.