Lots of wacky ideas in play. The catch is--we are very far along the performance/value axis. This means that: 1. Many of the wacky ideas are too wacky, and won't work. 2. Multiple prototypes of multiple wacky ideas are required, with listening of different candidates needed to determine...

Okay, I'll bite. You guys are crazy.

Yeah, 20K tanks, 4200SF roof collection area, 2 people, half time (keeping Corpus house), literal xeriscape...I don't think we're going to have a problem with rain capture. But it's not for everyone. For what it's worth, the local rain capture guys recommend 30K tanks if you have a family and a...

Sisterdale is on the list. They seem legit, and worth a visit. Also of note, Newsom Cellars is in the same area (Comfort) and the winemaker frequently mans their tasting room, so if you go by on a slow day, you may be able to spend a few hours talking wine. Fredericksburg is also nearby, and...

Oh gawd, here's where we are at: Yeah that's a rainfall capture/solar house in Texas. Quick update: 1. Valhalla 3 has two transformer ideas in play. It may happen. Probably not this summer. 2. Working on chapter for something that will happen this summer that changes everything (no not...

Oh you guys are hilarious. And the way things are going, you're gonna be very lucky if there is a Valhalla 3. Ever. Warning: mini-chapter ahead. Today, after months of painful back and forth with transformers, the whole Valhalla 3 thing came to a head. As far as transformers go, we are...

I need to try some OSD! (This is not a beg. It's a reminder to myself.)

Oh no, this is Texas, not California. They're used to building homes. Cali: 7 years, including public hearings and city supervision of the entire construction process (that we paid for) and engineering reviews and threats to rescind all approvals to date based on disagreements with contracted...

Let us now proceed on the sinewave to smart toilets featuring Flush Nexus (TM). No, not our next business.

Oh and I remembered why I dropped by, before getting sidetracked by freezers and stuff: Magni+ is gone. Magni Heretic is still on Last Call, for a while at least.

The reason I hated sandwiches as a child. (Seriously, I had no idea why friends had great-tasting sandwiches until I had left my parents' house. I thought Miracle Whip was mayonnaise, not some weirdly-sweet completely-wrong bizarre-ass concoction made by evil food scientists who hate life.)...

Always a Bosch dishwasher, whatever else you have. At least IMO. Fun anecdote: a friend got two "free" Viking dishwashers when he bought a bunch of Viking stuff. I told him that our experience with Viking dishwashers was, ah, not ideal. He said, "Who cares, I have two of them." A year later...

Portrait of crazy people: we buy fridges without icemakers. Why? Because we make ice only with RO water. We don't want the ice to affect the taste of the drink. So we use an external icemaker, fed by a reverse osmosis unit, to make ice that is then stored in the freezer. We can also talk about...

Yes, California operations are moving to Texas beginning this summer, and wrapping up before the end of the year. I announced it in video, and I'll probably have a longer chapter about it eventually. Corpus Christi keeps operating as the "smaller products" production center. When the ink is...

2024, Chapter 5 The End of the End of the World? Some of you are gonna get an email soon announcing the blowout on Ragnarok 2. And it’s a biiiiig blowout. As in, Ragnarok 2 is now $999. Like I said, BIG. “Why?” some of you cry. “Why oh why do you have to do this? What happened? Did you...

Oh, we all still need to get a life, but I could do with some more simplicity right now. Four states, two cars, three tortoises, a stop at the house under construction, decisions on that, signing stuff for the new building, taking the tortoises for a walk in the park in the middle of Boerne...

Finally back in Texas! We spent the past few days driving back (bringing cars and tortoises as part of the move, LOL). I'll have an announcement tomorrow. Not a giant deal in the grand scheme of things, but, well, a giant deal literally. We'll get to the former later this year.

Yes. Weighty like this!

You must be near the path of the eclipse. A guy in Comfort said they expected 450-500K visitors in Kerrville--or 20x the population.

I think there's a little too much focus on "getting to 10,000 (pages in this thread)." Again, relax. Reflect on the fact that you only live 30,000 days or so before worrying about getting this thread to 10,000 pages. Get out. Go hiking. See your family. Take a trip. Meet new people. Do...

One more political thing or ad hom insult and I'll pause this thread for a week or two. Relax. Enjoy life. I'm not enjoying being the gatekeeper here.

Don't feel bad. Every kind of notification from this site, from other sites, from my phone, etc have been muted for YEARS. Otherwise I'd get nothing done. Back to a quad of prototypes here...

But let's forget politics for a second. Let's talk about something that seems to be disappearing: courtesy. As in, consideration of how other people feel. Acknowledgement that their time is worth something. Gratitude for a polite response when making a small intrusion. It's far too easy to...

Deleted more political stuff. I don't understand how hard it is to understand: NO POLITICS. OF ANY KIND. If this becomes too troublesome, maybe a week of thread closure is a good idea. I don't have time for this.

HEB+ is legit deranged, and a reason never to go to Sprouts or Whole Paycheck (which originated in Texas, for the doubters), but then again there's Natural Grocers, which again, for the doubters, will blow up your head, and then there's the plethora of exceptional local butchers doing amazing...