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TMOR (to my overseas readers): this blog
DOES NOT represent any average American life-style.

Warning. This blog has evolved through many phases and earlier posts did not allow for links that go dead or change. I never intentionally link to sites that requires memberships or similar. Same with sites that don't pass my stringent filtering system. Thus, I encourage readers to NOT follow any links that attempt to redirect, use cookies, or are obvious wrong material for this publication, which is rated PG13.

A reminder to the reader this is not a political blog, but commentary on human behavior. I am not pro-Trump, but pro-American, plus I truly love watching liberal scum squirm. I am not for or against any political party. Liberalism is not a political party, but a social cancer. It is wrong to steal money and it is just as wrong to elect people to steal it for you. One more thing, never argue with a man who buys his printer ink by the barrel.

August 29, 2025

Yesteryear
One year ago today: August 29, 2024, learning SATA tech.
Five years ago today: August 29, 2020, never been to Memphis.
Nine years ago today: August 29, 2016, a one-way move.
Random years ago today: August 29, 2005, brief “calendar” entry.

           6:30AM and it is still dark. I attached Jack a batch of MP3s, reminding him to have fun but no commitments. The changes since our days means there are no sure things left in this trade. Steve, who is also working major overtime, is not available for rehearsal. Jack used to own a retain store in Ft. Meade, so he’s got just about every gadget and toy on the market—except a PA system. Makes sense, I guess, drummer. But I heard him chant on key, so we’ll get him behind a mic before long.

           I do have that extra “Sarasota” PA in the shed. I should not be planning as I seriously do not know any place I could book a trio. While I know these days most guys would play for $15 if that’s all there was, that is not a business plan. My insistence the band make money applies directly to this situation. If the band makes nothing, you don’t want the drummer deciding between a gig like that and his grandkid’s soccer game.

           Here’s that kudzoo plant that took up residence under my birdbath. The source of water is too good to pass up and these plants sent roots down 35 feet, they say. So I decided to train this one to grow on a trellis, where it is easy to tame. Turns out the birdies do like this arrangement. Shown here is early morning, but this blocks the sun in the afternoons from hitting the birdbath directly.
           Maybe I should bet jealous of the neighbor’s near-orchard. He’s going to cut down his apple and orange trees so the yard is easier to mow. His yard is really three, that’s the guy who bought both houses next door so he’d have no neighbors. The point is, none of his nice trees took up residence on my side. Here is an example of another linden tree spot around by the laundry deck. It was cut down and shown here a month later is has around five new trees from the root left under ground. I will take a saber saw to these root bulbs, a dusty, dirty task. But there seems no other way. If I didn’t say, each one of those stems left unattended will be a tree by spring and hard as hell to chop up. Feel free to lend a hand.

           Now some sad news. The younger sister of Mitch has passed away. Quite a bit younger. This was very sudden and I have no details yet. We were close friends during our teens, she married early at maybe 19. This is another shocker to me, as all the kids I grew up with were all hale. I have not seen her in almost fifty years and now she is gone.
           This is another wakeup call to get my journals on-line. True, there will be consequences to some of it but I won’t be around. Or if I am, will be too old to care. I contacted Protonmail about their announced A.I. program and they say it was launched, by coincidence, 48 hours ago. Called LUMO, it follows their policy of not keeping logs of your activity and is based on far stronger European privacy laws. While these are toys meant for chat rooms, features are rapidly added. We’ll keep this one in mind. LUMO.

           I got half the south yard cleaned up before the sun put a stop to that enterprise. I have the other non-box lumber from the last pallets in a nice pile, but you tell me how all eight pair of my safety glasses are gone missing. I even have two pegs to hang them whether I’m the shed or the house, and poof, all gone. They must all be replaced, I know once they go missing, when they turn up the lenses are clouded. Do all you blog posters keep you as up to date with all this as I do? Then tell them to quit slacking off! One day they will appreciate how much they got done before noon. Don’t leave it as long as I did.
           This is the level of activity I described to the doc y’day, but odds are they hear it as bullsh from 90% of their patients who even claim to get any exercise. For me, the last month has been unusual in that I have not lost any weight, or just one pound according to the clinic scale. But I know when my trousers slip and I have to tighten up a notch. This morning I had to cinch past the last notch that has ever been used. I’ll settle for that.

Picture of the day.
Jail, Knox City, TX.
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           Early this afternoon I was over to the tube place on business and had time to chat. Less than a two minute drive from Jack’s place. I’ve said how Jack knows everybody and now double that. Everybody knows Jack. He bought a rifle from the shop twenty years ago and they know each other from the pub I first visited y’day. So I promptly drove back to Jack’s afterward and caught him frying up steaks. Which I don’t eat, so no, I didn’t stay for dinner. I needed to see if he was willing to sing, and he is. I know I kept that mic stand and boom in my old shed for a reason.

           No waiting for pictures of Jack’s Harley. Told ya it looked like the real thing. Here it is slouched in his driveway gleaming like a chariot. By now it was a brutal 96°F so these are the pics you get. Hey, at least I don’t use the millennial approach and make you wait. You know, “Ten things you didn’t know about custom Harley’s. Number seven will blow you away.”

           I visited ten minutes, leaving the van running with the A/C cranked. I confirmed with Jack that, if he could find us trio work, we could rehearse in his massive and otherwise empty and unused rec room. You may recall a year ago Jack understood the band was a duo, but that we always get approached by cherry pickers. In his case, the work will have to be finding the right places for us and acceptance that by default the duo may play without a drummer. He’s okay, meaning he knows the chances of ever finding any real band out there any more.

           Blog rules I record what’s unique and I stopped at Wal*mart for organics. I’ll just say what happened and duck out of the way. Thanks, ICE, there is parking near the doors. It was noon and a lot of customers about. Including these two ladies that got out a van. Every guy in the parking lot slowed to see the passenger side, it was a perfect-bodied slim blonde babe. I was also taken, too, for perfect proportion is so rare these days. Here’s the point. As she got out with those long silky legs, her purse moved out of the way.
           There it was. A long ugly biker tattoo down her left forearm. Immediately all the men sped up and went back to what they were doing. I saw it and turned on my way. Sorry, lady, you just undid what Nature gave you. From undivided attention to being ignored in a wink. She didn’t notice or maybe wanted that. But not the other lady, likely her mother, who saw the whole sequence. That was one pissed off lady, m’boys. I’ll steer clear of these rocks.

           Did I see the funniest thing on-line. A bunch of rent-a-protesters lined up along the path of a motorcade. But at the last moment, it was rerouted a block away. The protestors had to run across to the other side of the park. BWAAA—ha-ha, it was like watching walruses on the beach. Blubber boys and land whales huffing and puffing. Some smart aleck posted next time go for three blocks and watch the Demtards make it about half way.

           As for paid protesters, the USAID grift money has plainly dried up. San Francisco tried to hold an anti-ICE demonstration and only about ten people showed up, shown here. The police in Dundee (Scotland) had to send their entire force to arrest the 14-year-old girl for defending her sister. They marched the kid in an arm lock down main street as an example. Time to remind the world that White men as a group don’t get angry all at once. One more thing, Trump may break precedent and make political moves before the mid-terms. This will take his opposition by surprise and could just gain him a super-majority for the asking.

           The drive back had me listening to another couple chapters of the crazy lady. At least the plot is getting deeper, but the attempted portrayal of Aubrey as a sensitive liberal saved by her deep emotions is having the opposite effect. At 30, she’s still an airhead. The guy she met is a reporter assigned to investigate her story. And the possibility that her dead husband was selling hospital drugs has means he may be just kidnapped. But this broad is something else. When her man jogs, the sweat drips down his back, but when she jogs is flows between her breasts.

ADDENDUM
           What other blog can you trust for the latest in cheap building materials? Here are some wood-grain vinyl flooring strips that I noticed are around the correct width to line my box bottoms. Yippee, another experiment. The church up the road curbsided a huge pile, so I took enough to cover my bathroom floor. That floor must remain “removable” due to the amount of plumbing and electrical, as some day I will actually get around to connecting the new exterior water heater.

           I fastened these strips to plywood before, carefully matching the seams so the floor can be lifted in less than a minute. Years back, you seen photos of the maze of plumbing under there. No chance of it being made simpler, not in my lifetime unless I have no choice. You can one of the strips is upside down, showing the rubber-like backing. When I build small “panel” boxes, I will use any handy material that fits the grooves. Now, roughly every sixth box turns out to look better than the rest, which I set aside often to fine the cheaper panel material is exposed. I took to lining some with felt or even wood-grain wallpaper.
           Those materials are not durable. These vinyl strips are meant for foot traffic, so let’s slice some to fit and see if we can do better.

           Add a picture of lumber, this time for the loose tube crates. Five are planned. These are drying in the raw Florida sun. They are standing for a reason or two. This makes them easier to flip around as I walk to the driveway. The result is flatter drying, that is, the boards don’t cup as much as when laid horizontal. Maybe upright has better air circulation.

           Notable as well is the better choice of wood grain and the positioning of t knots where they will either be cut away or in the center of the final cuts, all for looks. This does not happen by chance. Shown here you can see the two different drying rates, the greener pickets on the left side. We know a lot more about grading lumber for boxes than not that long ago.

           For luck, we opened a can of Maxwell House and it is a good batch. That’s a plus because September is shaping up to be a cashless month. I’ve plenty to do around the house as long as the coffee supply can keep me going. Hey, some people gamble, I like coffee. What is that racket? Ah, Mrs. Red is declaring all others steer clear of the main feeder until she’s done.
           We might be dealing with two female cardinals. One is more skittish, I think the younger one from a week ago is now has full plumage and can’t be told apart. But one is easily spooked and flits away at any movement. The other could care less, does not even use the flight path for approach.
           Around mid-evening I see that silver is pausing at $39.98. I never understood the crazy prices between 2009 and 2011, but one sure trend was the price was always moving. That’s when I invested, and that’s where the old truism proved itself. Nothing will cause a price to drop like me investing in it. The price dropped to half what I paid and has stayed there for 15 years. But $40 is a traditional ceiling. If it passes that, it can cause a run. Please, just let silver hit a high just once in my life. How was your Friday?

Last Laugh

August 28, 2025

Yesteryear
One year ago today: August 28, 2024, WIP
Five years ago today: August 28, 2020, the expert pile.
Nine years ago today: August 28, 2016, the get-tough majority.
Random years ago today: August 28, 2008, dinner at Peggy’s.

           Here’s something you’ve likely not seen before. These are vacuum tubes that have a metal shielding or sheath. Other than emitting dangerous radiation, I don’t know if there is anything special about these. I’m having second thoughts on cataloging the latest batch of tubes, you see, in four days the total wholesale list price is so far just $436. After expenses, my cut isn’t enough to keep me interested. But so far, only spare time like this morning has been taken up.

           Details. The three tubes on the left have metal casings and they seem impossible to remove. There may be a trick to it, or maybe they are designed to be permanent. The one tube has a small piece of wire attached to case, probably to ground it. The stubby on the right, besice my green computer mouse, is a solid state tube. This was part of tube manufacturer’s last gasp to compete with the then-incoming transistors.
           Check back later, I’m crawling back in the sack. I made it to the last Friday in August of 2025, so no sense tuckering myself out first thing. I received an e-mail this morning about investing in a flying boat. It’s serious, some company has restored a 1941 Catalina and are charging people $400 for a half-hour ride around the local harbor. They are offering a 15% return plus profit sharing. The answer is no, but I will take a look.

           A perfect Florida morning until the sun came up. Logging a few more tubes, I played over some bass tunes in case today’s audition works out. It did, see below, just not in ways that help right now. Steve is really stuck in the middle of moving and could not be there. So it was bass and drums, but that is no challenge for me. I’ve been playing for money since I was twelve and have no fear of startup bands. The drummer is almost 90 but he knows every song you ever heard of. As usual with musicians, he could pass for twenty years younger.

           Um, change that to live, performing musicians. Studio people age before their time, gawd, have you seen NIel Young lately. And my time this morning was with the therapist place for some semi-happy news. By their standards, I am fully recovered and please contact them again when the shots wear off. By my standards, I’m only 80% there pain-wise and at most 70% strength-wise. They go by averages so these means the sessions are at an end.

           I balk at averages because the general declining caliber of people skews that number. For example, the average weight for my age is 21 pounds heavier than my optimum. According to their rule book, I’m doing fine. But I can still sense the injuries lurking just below the surface. But I will also enjoy the break, I’m now active three or four hours a day. Which found me driving to Winter Haven to audition the drummer guy. He’s been playing since before I was born.
           This morning I have yard pictures for you. Here are some fence panels drying in the sun and the linden tree sprout I will have to kill with chemicals. It is right in the footpath. Shown here, every time you cut it, there are every more sprouts and each of the saplings shown here can grow into an immense three in three years. Too bad it isn’t three feet further south.

           The Israelis have posted a communiqué that one Nimron C. has spent 700 days in captivity after being kidnapped in his tank. There is no data on just how that is accomplished, Gab has suggested he accidentally left the screen door open. But I must say, that was not on my bingo card. I mean, “Nimrod”?

Picture of the day.
Cable from Golden Gate.
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           Finally I get to hear Jack the drummer. I correctly surmised he knows all the clubs in this town, and here is a picture of one I checked out later (Florida like long, narrow bars). Turns out he lives around two blocks from the old tube warehouse. He’s got a mini-mansion bought in 1986 and owns two sets of Ludwigs. Pictures later, just not today. He’s getting up in age but knows every song in the book. Yes, he’s out of practice but drumming is the instrument most like riding a bike. It was just bass and drums but he quickly picked up on the methods, in fact, he was somewhat taken aback.

           This happens with people who have played in bands for years without realizing there is a pattern to things that go wrong and the people who cause them. Jack has evidently not met a real band manager before. Put it this way, he was awed by how the situation could be defined and measures put in place to best chase after success. Now, I don’t know if this could work out for various reasons, which I went over with Jack. But let’s look at what went right.

           We easily jammed ten of the standards. Jack is still old-school rock and roll, but know the parameters have changed. He would have to make the transition from customized rock beats to the looser country shuffles and lighter touch. He was not the greatest to join in on a song in progress, but that could be simple lack of recent practice, and he admits he’s been out of the loop a while. But those drum kits did not get into his double garage just for looks. Music-wise, the audition was a success. However Jack understands the market a lot more than he did this morning. So let’s talk social music.
                      Jack reacted quickly to the money part, that you will lose money in a band these days unless you get lucky. However, you will lose vastly less money than you would sitting in the crowd. I think he may know Dave Parsons. He mentioned by name lots of musicians I’ve jammed with over the years and have long forgotten. Most jams for me are one-time events, if I don’t meet candidates or Taylor, I move on. If you want to play the same jam forever, try Derry Downs.

           Jack has a house five times bigger than he needs, so he’s a prime candidate for women on the prowl, ha-ha. He’s also got a beautifully restored motorcycle I could not brand, but wait, nobody owns that much chrome without bragging rights. He’s in that category of musicians who remember earning $75 a night each. He knows those days are over. And he’s not jammed that much because he is left-handed. I already suggested me might consider an abbreviated kit for the lighter-duty music we’d be playing.
           Some aspects that amused Jack about the duo arrangement are the inclusion of all intros and outros, which soloists tend to leave off. Also the number of stops, which are best memorized. I realized around a third of my list has tunes with stops. Jack quickly spotted how the music would be very tricky for a solo guitarist to copycat, though I doubt he knows this is deliberate. He mentioned a pub I had never heard of, it’s in a strip mall not visible from the road. Jack says they are hiring, so I got my arse over there right afterward.
           Yes, it is actually large for Florida, with around 80 chairs plus a full rack of bar stools and another 20 chairs outside. They hire twice a week and promote local bands. I would like to see what they offer and the gal server took a few moments to say what they are interested in. I can do that, just not right now this moment.

ADDENDUM
           Ha, I just watched a documentary on the situation at Indian Creek. The media is all over the island known as Billionaire Bunker. It’s an enclave of billionaire right next to a town of millionaires. And it nicely demos what I’ve said about how American capitalism promotes greed—but from the opposite direction most people think. I’ve worded it that once you get rich, you cannot sit back and enjoy, because those who did not make the effort will now demand an ever-increasing share of your wealth.
           What happened is the island (man-made) has no sewage system, it is connected via a pipeline to the on-shore treatment plant. What I suspect happened is the millionaires upgraded their system without consulting the billionaires. It seems the millionaires tried to slap the billionaires with a disproportionate share of the cost, you know, like rich shit costs more to dispose of than poor shit. The billionaires said in that case they will pay nothing and had the authorities exempt them from any extra taxes over what happens at the end of that pipeline.

Last Laugh

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August 27, 2025

Yesteryear
One year ago today: August 27, 2024, another day.
Five years ago today: August 27, 2020, can’t get much friendlier . . .
Nine years ago today: August 27, 2016, leaving south Florida.
Random years ago today: August 27, 2007, nobody knows.

           Check in later today, old Jack has sent me a picture of his drum kit. It’s top of the line, major investment there folks. However, he may not have any way to move it, and a sparkling new array like this often indicates not only lack of use, but a person with a different perspective on what playing in a band is about. Just go slow, again this is a business of who you know. Let me grab a coffee and explain that a bit. For the umpteenth time, I remind you this is a management perspective. One can easily go through life without ever meeting another musician who is conscious of the facts.

           That’s the point—with the exception of family bands, once out of your teens you find 1/10 of 1% of musicians become good long-term band members. (In family bands, you can’t “fire” your brother.) There are two paths you can go. A long string of bands that never last, or bands that are painstakingly put together and held together by professionals. The sad part is that this [keeping a band together] is such a chore, even The Beatles didn’t survive. Even though everybody knows it was Johnny Lennon's band, there is always a McCartney.

           I gather from Jack’s tone he has never made the transition to pro—but that puts him in the majority, and trust me, in Polk County, majority rules. Yet one must not pass up a chance they just might work out. The margins in this business are pretty slim indeed. You know, that is how I can instantly tell when anybody, including musicians, gets off their ass and tries making something of their lives. Mind you, except for a couple women I’ve met, every last person I’m referring to left it too late in life. So, how can I tell? Easy. They like a flash stop criticizing the way I do things. It’s a far step from gratitude, but suddenly the negative feedback stops. Oh, and they think nobody notices.
           I confirm the eBay error, it is due to their misuse of an accounting term. It’s the old MicroSoft syndrome, where an idiot error gets introduced early into their software and soon after it becomes the idiot standard. “Net Income” means something specific to educated people, of which eBay doesn’t know from nothing.

           If you are curious, there are time-tested conventions that make accounting for money easier. One good example eBay missed is the Order Number. They should be short, easy to read, and consecutive. Here is the order number from my latest: 01-13412-81624. Now that’s a millennial brain-fart for you. My books list by what they call the Sales Order Number, in this instance it is 6029, and the one before it is 6028. Compared to eBay, this is much genius. I hear some GenXer saying their number means something different. Tyler, that is my point—they should call it something different.

           The sun is up and my yard is alive with birdies. They have an irregular sharing pattern with the main feeder. The cardinals get first dibs, and they like the oats so well I have seen them poke the other grains onto the ground to get the flakes. The pattern is a counter-clockwise flying pattern around the whole cabin. I can hear them. When their feeding turn comes, the fly in from the northeast along the shady corridor north of the sheds.

           I know I should work on the electrical, but this morning I’m planning to build a custom type of box for the loose tubes. The boxes will be removed if I find a buyer, and are stackable for other purposes. Generally, I don’t feel like starting any larger projects.
           Later, here’s the first el-cheapo box. It's half full of little envelopes, I will shop for something better. It is not enough to input the tube numbers, you must be able to rapidly locate them afterwards. The box doesn’t work as well as expected, but wood is always better than cardboard. The envelopes are barely big enough and will not stay closed when folded. Don’t tell me I now have to become an expert in this as well.

Picture of the day.
Saudi Royal Family jet.
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           It makes no sense, but my neighbors yard grows all kinds of trees and not mine. He has peaches, bananas, mangos, avocados, apples and papayas. Some of the trees are ten feeg from my property line, yet nothing grows here. He has diabetes so bad he can’t touch the bananas and on my side, my lone peach tree has died. And since I don't have any other pictures for you today, here is a schematic of the Morse sounding circuit I'm still building.

           While I’m not the one to be leading the lynch mob, the city has again subverted the laws meant to limit tax increases by appraising my property $3,600 higher than last year. The official Florida policy is 10% maximum increase in ten years with 1% maximum per year. Polk County since 2017 has treated those as minimums. What’s happened this year is they’ve realized they’ve hit the maximum early due to compounding. So they slipped in another property value increase. According to them this place is now worth $7,000 more what it was in 2016.

           That was the Reb and thank goodness we have a system, actually three systems for backup. Mine, hers, and ours. Turns out each bank has some snag built into their system that causes a delay, always in their favor. By playing each off against the other, I will have the situation in hand by late tomorrow afternoon. This is also why I never transfer funds between banks. I withdraw the cash and walk it over, a who's-laughing-now event. And sunshine, we are going to be broke for a while. The way the economy is going, so is everybody else. I may be a little old to be taking risks but I am fully aware of the number of 70 and 80 year old retired people I see back in the work force around here. Can you imagine turning 75 and knowing you have to get to work on time?
           I took a closer look at the documents she attached. I know it looks shakey with reserves as low as June 2016, but in fact there are many differences. I have two running vehicles, a house paid for, and even something put aside for my own funeral. So unlike 2016, if the bottom drops out, this time things will not come to a standstill. And I only need to scrimp by 23 days. Still, in Florida that’s tempting fate. At least I don’t live my life that way like most seem to around here. I must make a run into Miami in a week or so, but other than that, I’m staying put.
           Later, like I need another reason to hate coders. I missed a call from the Reb with the phone lying on the desk right beside me. It didn’t ring. I checked and the ring volume was set to zero. Setting this is a finicky process, but I set it back to max and put the phone down. Right there in front of me I watched it set itself back to zero. The slider just moved along by itself. Where do they even find such people?

           Let’s develop some system to these tubes. There are hours of work there that cannot be taken away from other tasks. This hints at putting them in a basket nearby and doing a handful each time I pass by. But that is a thousand handfuls. The unboxed tubes often have to be examined by magnifying glass to read the faded labels. As we now know, tubes are mostly neither rare nor expensive, often with dozens of differing models with minor but incompatible differences.
           How about the faith healer they arrested for sexual abuse? He was spraying women with some liquid and they would awaken later felling “abused”. Since the majority of psychic-users (94%) are unbalanced adult females, I don’t know what they can charge him with, but they did get Bill Cosby on something like that. You know, where the women never actually said he did anything. Some smart aleck posted the healer was providing a public service and suggested he open a franchise in Philadelphia.
           And there is a growing sound that America should invade England and free the White population from a hostile takeover. That would be the third rescue operation in living memory. The incident of the 14-year-old defending her 12-year-old sister against jeets is heavily resonating with Americans. Shame on you, Scotland, that school-girls stand stronger than your men. The audio clearly shows the non-Whites have learned to manipulate the law. Watch for a “Free Britain” faction, for the US has gone to war over less.

Last Laugh

August 26, 2025

Yesteryear
One year ago today: August 26, 2024, vacuum tube blog coincidence.
Five years ago today: August 26, 2020, a birdhouse day.
Nine years ago today: August 26, 2016, worst cookie ever.
Random years ago today: August 26, 2014, and interesting movie.

           Nope, not in my books. Some guy held his breath underwater for 29 minutes. Nonsense. Turns out he had hyperventilated on pure oxygen first. It’s an amazing new world when an entire generation does not consider this cheating. Wide awake early, I took on the task of those vast numbers of unboxed tubes. It’s far from a straightforward job like the others. The loose tubes must be individually picked up and turned around to find the label, of which most are faded. That means get the magnifying glass. Here is a pic of the first batch of 25, which took an hour. This is unusual, so let’s step through it.

           Without the boxes, the tubes are a mess that cannot be easily un-messed. There are three sequential pictures. First is the gear needed for cataloging one tube. A strong head lamp, the jewelry loupe, pen, and I’ve discovered the tubes will fit in an ordinary coin envelope. It does no good to dump the tubes back in a box, because you need the magnifier to ever find them again. So the middle pick shows this easy but time-consuming task, a batch of envelopes. Right now they are not sorted, the last panel shows them thrown in a cardboard box.
           And cardboard has been a pain for storing tubes. I have little choice. What’s shown here does not make any money. Each tube has to be matched to a current price, another chore. Same as the boxed tubes, most are $3.00 junk tubes. They only become valuable when packages and labeled. This batch yielded two “good” tubes listing for over $20 each. If, and that is a big if, all 25 of these tubes sold, my maximum commission would be $70. That would be worth it—if you knew when that hour might be. Um, the envelopes shown fit perfectly into the golden ratio e-boxes.

           I went to the bank, came home for a sandwich, and fell back asleep. I logged another 18 tubes first. Needing the money is an amazing incentive. Then I took every eBay menu apart until I found a fkup version of their earnings report. It’s a true imbecile format, designed by bastard rats for bastard rats. Of the twenty-odd figures they throw at you, only one has meaning and it has rare descriptive name, “Order Earnings”. The proper term is “Net Income”. Thank goodness I have a wide screen monitor, since this important figure is way off to the right.
           The lack of common sense is staggering, they must think the dude calculating the income tax cares if the item was shipped to New Jersey or eBay’s quality code.The reports are all full irrelevant crap and show two of my orders were shipped late. There has never been a late order here, but why argue with eBay if they prove themselves idiots without any help? My concern is that I used the Net Income column, and this caused my earnings to drop by $521 last year. Up yours, eBay.
           And here is a view of a jeet truck driver going down the wrong side of I-55 on an Arkasas y’day afternoon. TMOR, jeet is American slang for East Indians, in particular those who take away American jobs.

Picture of the day.
Original Taco Bell on skids.
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           This is a photo of the US firing off an outdated Patriot missile, in this case, a GEM-T, with a $4 million dollar price tag. That’s not including the support equipment. And that is 1960s technology with 2020 electronics. The connection here is that Poland just bought two batteries (four launchers each) and $208 missiles. They are preparing for something. These missiles require constant maintenance which the seller, Ratheon, contracts our for $15 per hour. The hours are sold by the year. Most foreign nations do not have trained staff, they buy a service contract.

           In this sale to Poland, the service contract was for 152,243.6 years (not hours, years) of service. Pricer (no link) points out that is twice as long a mankind (homo sapiens) have existed on Earth.

           We finally hear back from Jack the drummer. But he’s already proven to unregimented for band work. Setting up a rehearsal should not take 9 days and 15 e-mails. It looks like Scotland is going to arrest the 14-year-old girl who defended herself from a migrant attack. Today’s Festus movie gave him a ten-second bit part. SpaceX was due for a launch but I’ve heard nothing. Remind me not to buy avocados from Wal*Mart any more. Shopping there without the non-English crowds is actually nice again. Get ready for a lean September.
           There will be plenty to keep busy. The neighbor has another rack of lumber he says I can have. Some of it looks like excellent box lumber. E-mail from Texas says Bryne is installing a rebuild motor in his 351 Mustang. It’s intense, he writes, so don’t bother him for another three days. I still have not seen my $5,000 DOGE rebate. And there is one Boomer I would like to introduce to a cattle prod. The one who set the spreadsheet mode where the top bar of commands shunts under the top of your monitor, where it cannot be accessed and there is no easy way to undo that stupid thing. The cursor never changes to the drag icon.

           In the news is Trump sending troops into violent cities amid the screams of their politicians. It’s a spectacle, they are all Democrats declaring their cities to be safe despite daily murders (99% blacks). The mayors are screaming the usual, that this is taking their freedoms but it is not working like the old days. Too many people posting videos, too many citizens praising the safety. So what does the left do? They resort to the old tactic of their media broadcasting poll after poll that Trump’s numbers are falling. But this once-common tactic just has no traction in these times, where social media shows Trump’s numbers are exploding.
           Who’s telling the truth? There are two things to consider. One is the terrible reputation the MSM has caused itself, and the other is the very existence of alternative news sources is something the far left did not plan well for. Probably their figured they could control that, too.

ADDENDUM
           I was quizzical about response to Trump’s announcement ending Section 8 (welfare housing). No more. It seems the majority of Americans are just as fed up with single mothers on welfare as I am. These women think it is a career path. Most of them can’t name the father because they don’t know who that is. Getting pregnant on welfare is the height of irresponsibility. I’m curious where this goes, because some of these women are going to have to get actual jobs.
           Whoa, did I just hear a pack of losers on-line. Men over 50 who lost their jobs going about how they will never get hired again. I did not see many of them next to me in night school when times were good. Did I ever tell you how I worked with men like that? They could name which strippers were at which bars within a 30 mile radius of the jobsite. I think they all became mall cops because they were never heard from again.

Last Laugh

August 25, 2025

Yesteryear
One year ago today: August 25, 2024, anything like fair.
Five years ago today: August 25, 2020, a forgotten birdhouse design . . .
Nine years ago today: August 25, 2016, Autism, Shmautism.
Random years ago today: August 25, 2015, too tolerant.

           Taking a closer look at the z-box with a lid, I was reminded of the ammo box seen at Fort Payne a couple weeks ago. It was not reinforced and used ordinary T-hinges, which attach easily to the outside of the box. There were other ammo boxes that had extra reinforcement in the form of wooden interior corner “triangles” and others with strips added across the wood grain. These would be easy to cut and attach, the more so with the brad nailer. It makes the already-strong z-box even tougher and I can always make them stronger using screws.

           Box technology is top dog this morning unless you’d like to hear about my resumed therapy. What? Okay, the box it is. The largest of my small tools will not fit into the standard size. I’ll look into that, because they are also the most powerful tools most likely to be used in the yard. Some will fit with the battery detached, but that’s an idea that will not fly. I’ve still not repaired my bandsaw, but have the neighbor’s table saw will cut excellent small strips.

           This tool box should by now be somewhat a familiar design. It is exactly twice as long as a z-box, That Golden Ratio proves its worth again. The box handle, it I buy instead of make, will cost more than you see here. This is a trial to see what doesn’t work. For example, there is no commonly available length of wood screw to attach those end pieces. I once had a box of drywall screws that worked, they had a shiny black finish that looked good. But I’ve not seen them in years. Listed as 2”, they were actually 1-15/16ths. Don’t buy the spar pack at Lowe’s, those poke through.
           My plan is this afternoon, take a nap. When I waken, I’ll remember where I bought them, a sure sign of advancing years. Hey, at least I remember. Then off to therapy, which is getting more like a workout. The sessions are now under the Rule of Diminishing Returns so the staff has me bordering on aerobic sometimes. And they grill me for progress reports. Yes, there is great progress—but short of recovery. My ballpark is I’m running between 60% and 70% of my normal these days, which is about 50% of what it should be. Do the arithmetic.

           What’s more, it’s no illusion that moving around has caused me some weight loss beyond the quick check at the clinic. I attributed that to the few pounds most people lose with a simple change of routine or actually walking their dog. I don’t perceive it directly but moving around is easier and good enough for me. Let’s check the news for any opportunities to make snarky remarks, er, I mean for current events, you know, opportunities to use my immense personality and popularity for the good of mankind. Or some shit like that.
           I drive past the neighborhood lumber store on the way and I’ve long learned to connect the the number of pallets with how things are businesswise. They are not replacing their stock. Oddly, this is the way many people utilize government grants. I like the owners but that could be the case here. Get a grant, sell off the stock, pocket the money, and do a Chapter 13. Most locals do not like this and I see nobody much shops there any more. What is my interest? I should walk in and offer them a flat price for that whole shelf of hardware.

           What’s this? Dr. Pepper is buying a Dutch coffee company? Dr. Pepper, not Pepsi, is the second highest selling soft drink in the USA. But Americans drink over 500 million cups of coffee every day. Keurig, the k-cup coffee people, are involved. Coffee has doubled in price since 2020 meaning there is big money involved. As long as I get my coffee, I’ll be okay. But I would point out that over half my income these days goes to food, gas, and utilities.

Picture of the day.
The Black Crack, Utah.
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           What’s not up to chance is my fried rice recipe. The one with ginger and curry, reminds me of the time the hillbilly ate a week’s supply. Hey, I’ve been hungry myself like that. Do I, wait, yes I do have a picture of today’s batch. While additions can vary, this is just the basic receipe and it follows experience. It can be chicken or pork, this is pork. Fried in coconut oil and garlic, with celery and onions only. Don’t complicate the flavors. Moat exact is the spicing, ½ tsps each of ginger and curry, a dash of paprika.

           This is the small fry pan, the big one is four times the volume. That’s what he ate, folks, what you see here times four. I’m back from therapy and they are now targeting my whole back, not just the lumbar. My prescription for this is rice and a siesta. First, check for financial news, which is getting harder to find without lots of politics mixed in.

           There’s Cracker Barrel, backpedaling on their woke fiasco, but it’s kind of late in the game to have gone there, what, after witnessing Target and Bud Light? What fools. Euthenasia, we see Canada is expanding its death programs to include minors. What’s scary is something like 96% of those who choose assisted suicide are White. One thing I’ve never agree with is putting mental patients into hospitals at taxpayer expense. The families should have to pay just like with any other children who get sick. Sorry, I will not bend on this one, not now that insanity is known to run in families.
           Fallacy of Composition, that’s what you call the debate tactic of switching between the big picture and small picture. Now the Democrats are calling the thugs arrested in DC the “victims” and the flag-burning law a move to take away your right to private property. Some El Salvadoran has brought flesh-eating maggots back to America.

           The trip today got me through another chapter of “No One Cares”, but I do have to keep reminding myself this lady is over 30. If I had never worked at the phone company, I would not believe such ditzy broads could exist. She’s falling for some guy because he has brown eyes feels “breezes” when she walks around naked. Her hated mother-in-law just crashed her Mercedes through the wall, so maybe this story will pick up yet.
           Aha, I remembered the black screws are in a loose carton at the west end lumber yard. A pound for me is a large supply. The difference in length has something to do with the shoulder of the screw. By way of explanation, these screws are mainly used to reinforce box corners where strength is wanted, such as the tool boxes I am planning.

           Experience has shown the screws must penetrate int wood end grain at least a full inch, but over that risks other problems. For joining any 2x4s, I have plenty of 2-1/2 inch nails that grab into the wood the recommended 1 inch, and I always use pilot holes. It is important the screws from today have a coarse thread and a narrow shank. I’ve hand-sketched some plans to try a box that is slightly longer and wide, but the same depth as the z-box. Such plans usually do not work out.

           Another rainy afternoon got me watching some documentaries of how the world has unfolded in relation to my youthful plans. They were so disheartening I had to watch them. I admit I had no idea what I was up against—but I did know it was not a fair contest. One facet that always irks me is these photos of how “rough” celebrities of my time had it. Robin Williams had to work as a mime in Los Angeles. Cher was arrested for stealing her mother’s car. I mean, WTF? You had enough resources to live on handouts in Los Angeles? Your mother had a car? Spare me such hard luck stories.
           It’s fun watching this Narnia tale for the first time, about a ship that gets towed by a dragon. I don’t know this tale but great special effects. They could have chosen better looking gals but that’s a 1990s thing where they won’t show any sexpots. Great animations and imaginative scenes. Especially the rat, that is a masterful production.

           An e-mail from Steve that he’s in the middle of moving, so we may have a place to rehearse by September. His best contributed tune so far is that “Sweet Blossom” by Cravin Melon(?) but he’s left it with me so long I can solo the whole tune on bass, including the instrumental break. That’s the tune that has no real bass line, so nothing that fits is “wrong”, and he’s already seen how duo arrangements can maximize the presentation.
           And beside, if you leave a tune with me too long, I’ll steal the show without over-playing a note or upstaging anyone. That’s show-biz. And I know because I just got a call from Tennessee and things are not going as planned. The recording industry is corruption defined and I side-stepped, sticking with live music. My point is, you have no idea HOW corrupt it is. In case you are wondering, to “expedite” a contract these days costs $8,000 under the table. Cash.

ADDENDUM
           Whoa, talk about enshittification. Trying to find the meaning of the photos now showing up everywhere (that I use) with the prefix OIP. Not one direct answer in the first page, but I think it means Online Image Processing. Another of those gems like Calibri and png that nobody asked for.
           Since you are still reading all the way down here, I’ll end with what is probably good news. I know, “probably” isn’t a proper money word. You know that Caltier has not been forthcoming with much of their situation with the regulatory issues. All they’ve said is they are working on some government bureaucratic issue. So what I’m about to tell you fits exactly with questions I’ve asked here because asking Caltier goes nowhere.

           I mentioned a few months ago that $500 somehow appeared on my account, no explanation. I’ve said that even if there are no dividends, I’m satisfied that Caltier is still operating these rental properties—and doing so in a manner I understood from the beginning. Each property must be self-sustaining as to full operational costs plus a profit. I’ve blogged more comments on how my [Caltier online] transactions listing shows hundreds of small daily returns. They are still there, unexplained, now over 1,100 of them. And I also have a small amount invested in their “art” fund which speculates in art, gold, and such.
           One idiotic aspect of Caltier is they report the return on all these funds in one big commingled sheet. The most accurate records of what goes where are here on my computer. I would expect any returns not portrayed as monthly disbursements to appear somewhere else, but they never have. And that includes me wanting a statement stating $0.00 if that is the case. So, it was with some surprise I noted my account now contains another $2,749 more than my records show from March this year when the troubles began. That [figure] includes the mystery $500.
           Have they sold something? Is that money paid from rentals? I don’t know. That’s where the “probably” comes in. Folks, we now have over $26,000 in Caltier and I could not tell you how 24.9% of it got there. But I do know I stuck with the investment through some shaky times. Did you know, on average to keep a pet dog for 12 years costs a national average of $42,000. If you do all the calculations, that is twenty times what my parents. We didn't have a dog.

Last Laugh

August 24, 2025

Yesteryear
One year ago today: August 24, 2024, my last 386.
Five years ago today: August 24, 2020,car radio listenership.
Nine years ago today: August 24, 2016, yes, I’ve read Darwin.
Random years ago today: August 24, 2013, lumber by motorcycle.

           Here’s a Rubik’s cube for $17, in case you don’t have enough useless stuff. It said squish, so I tried it. Kind of a stiff foam rubber. It’s rain all day, which is rarely constant in Florida so I’ll use one of the gaps for shopping. The birds take the same opportunity to hit the feeders, actually you can tell it is a short let up when the birds share the feeders. What a gloomy day, as I am deep-reading the chapters on North America in the book “1421”. I figure the Chinese must have been all up and down the Pacific coasts. But the Chinese economy was based on the tribute system and the inhabitants of the Americas were too primitive to bother with.

           This is curious because we are told there were great and flourishing civilizations in Central America. That’s the Toltec/Aztec period in the Mexico area, but other than some stone implements for grinding corn, nothing has shown up in China. Yet the stories persist of great cities and vast trade centers, but the only industry known is subsistence farming. It doesn’t add up to me. How do simple farmers build monumental cities? And how come the Chinese never found all the gold the Spaniards hauled back to Europe in galleons?
I do have a theory. The Chinese found nothing because they introduced a plague that killed every meso-American before any use could be found for them. The Chinese them packed up and left.

           Let’s look at last night. Kind of late, I drove to the old club to find two things. Wilford on duty and a Karaoke featuring country music. Fancy that. It was a lady from Winter Haven and talk about rookie. The show was 8 to 11, so I tip-toed up to her and said if the crowd is happy, ask the management for another hour. She did, and focusing on country music (some guy in the audience kept doing Johnny Cash), the show went on to 1:00AM, fancy that again.
           Knowing the owners were present, I put in my show. Lot’s of audience participation, a little dance exhibition with some housewife, and a duet with another. The DJ went a little Broadway but I brought it back to country with Johnny Cash. All this in full view the folks who would never give me credit for it but the change back has my name written all over it and they know it. The change when I get on the mic is actually a bit startling. Then again, I have a half-century of experience working the room. And it was housewife city this evening.

           One character, new around here club-wise, got up and sang a 1950s tune, “North To Alaska”. Instantly spotting this, I cornered him to find out he is (guess what), Amish. He does not play guitar but knows every country tune in existence. Do I hear an echo? That guy is talented and could do a remarkable rendition of “Wolverton Mountain”. I gave him my business card.

           A blustery day, so that meant hotcakes and coffee and back in the sack. Intermittent thunder right above my house means no sleeping in. I heard since climate change has worn out its novelty, there are new terms invented, or is rain now blamed on chemtrails. Don’t misread me, I know there is experimentation going on and most vapors introduced into the stratosphere are not good, but I’m not willing to be taxed because somebody thinks it’s worse than I do.
           Here’s a product I’d not seen before. It’s honey with chili peppers. That’s precisely what it tastes like, I’ll rate it as rather unusual, use sparingly. It has just those two ingredients. Other than that with crackers or something, I can’t think of a use for it.
           I’m still toying with the idea of a radio antenna and that may revive now that so many foreign stations went dead without USAID money. Bushnell radio (the adultery station) is not long blotted out, and yes, every second caller or talk show is about that subject. The point is,reception is returning. That’s how I learned the lame-brains at Crackerbarrel are trying to blame their train wreck on Trump. They say his economic policy forced them into it and point out the logo was the same “when Biden left office”. If that’s their double-down, I may soon lose one of my favorite places to park free overnight. I mean, I never eat there. Too expensive.

Picture of the day.
Greater Idaho.
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           Our old national hero, Nigel Farage, has emerged hands-down the favority for Britain’s next Prime Minister. And he’s a champion of deportation. He’s in unless we get some American style funny vote counting. It’s late afternoon and still soggy out there. The time was used to examine the z box with a lid, shown here. The lid is the same thickness as the rest of the box, limiting the interior space. The logic here is a small tool box.

           Without the closing lid, the box is carried like a tray. I don’t mind but then, I have nice sheltered work areas. If I had to lug stuff around a job site, one tool in one box makes more sense and that is kind of where this concept began—the near impossibility of getting most tools back in the plastic cases they arrive in. And no room for spare blades or a tin of nails or screws.

           The video clip shows an immediate problem. The standard z-box is too small for a lot of tools. The lid slice thought the thumb-hole is something to ponder. It prevents the box from being picked up when the lid is not fastened in place. Anybody who has spilled a box in the dirt knows that is not so much fun. I think I’ll set this box aside where I can see it and just think about it for a while. If the lid looks much better than my earlier models, it was marked at cut with the new gauge I bought in Tennessee last trip.
           Familiarity with box construction lets me plan things in my head so I have fewer drawings for you. By now, you probably could, which is why you like this blog so much, right? I mean, we know this box is the biggest I can build out of commonly available scrap cheap lumber. The pallet wood is not a reliable supply. Plus I’ll eventually get that planer working. I’ve seen to many pieces of bad lumber to trust putting most of it through a planer. Bigger boxes means bigger wood.
           Ah, some say, what about that biscuit joiner? I made up eight pieces of joined lumber back in 2021 and left them outside. Some warp, some pull apart, but around half survived reasonably well. I built larger boxes that hear for my chain saw and such. While I was not impressed by the all-weather adhesive on my 2x3” bench (which came apart after two rainstorms), I have learned to trust higher-priced glues with the z-box project.

           My health reports are not that big a draw, but I am recording the aging process in general. Today was a good day. I realized by late evening I had gone the entire day, around 18 hours, without a single symptom. I’ve made other changes, such as limiting myself to four cups of coffee per day and am feeling lighter on my feet. I attribute that to moving around more, actually a lot more. Will I did that bicycle out from the tarp? I’m fond of bicycles since 2005.
           Years ago I read how a squad of Marines at Guadalcanal(?) fired over 100 mortar shells in one minute during a banzai attack. Marines meant it was the 60mm, which I now want a closer look at. There are dozens of photos showing the tube almost vertical, meaning the crew was dropping shells vertically on nearby targets. When I was ten, I was at a fairgrounds where some soldiers from a nearby army base fired “star shells” at night. They were flares on little parachutes. Other than that, I’ve never seen a mortar. Time to take a peek.
           I found several youTube documentaries, none which addressed my questions. A surprising number show the mortar set up in urban areas. Several videos confimed the 100 shells per minute, but did not specify if it was one mortar or one squad, which I think was 4 tubes back then.

ADDENDUM
           It says here a film festival in New York was canceled because HAMAS refused to give “permission” for them to show video of terrorism. HAMAS recorded themselves kidnapping and raping Jews. They don’t want the world to see that part. It says here Florida spends $24 million on each death penalty. It should cost $1. China and India are both eyeing the Yangbo for a major dam. But the one on the Chinese side of that border becomes a strategic asset. Watch for firewords. Why is the silver market stalled?

Last Laugh

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August 23, 2025

Yesteryear
One year ago today: August 23, 2024, what do you mean?
Five years ago today: August 23, 2020, banks, business stuff.
Nine years ago today: August 23, 2016, $160,000 per adult.
Random years ago today: August 23, 2010, funny, but insulting.

           Good, a blustery day, since the morning was occupied writing one single check. That’s a telling commentary on two subjects. The dismal state of our computerized banking system and the level of detail and security required to process money properly. The focus here is check to a different bank, all of which are photocopied here and logged into two different databases. One, a sequential list of every check written in the previous five years and the up to date balances of each account. You might find it curious that I never electronically transfer locally. I withdraw the cash from bank A and walk it over to bank B.

           Money took top place, but have a gander at this box design. Familiar? It is a regular z-box but with a solid lid. Shown here, the lid is cut off the box after it is built. The only cut that fits the lid sliced through the finger hole. Less, the lid is too weak, more and the box is too shallow. This is a result of my original planning not looking far enough ahead. I have an idea, since when closed, this error doesn’t make a difference.
           What if I design it so the box cannot be picked up unless the lid is closed? It’s a mistake we’ve all made, scattering contents on the floor. Maybe later. Let’s see who has done their homework. At the bottom of the picture you can see the cut does not go all the way to the end. Why? This box is now finished and I’ve set it aside to completely go over the design shortcomings. Once more, a box that was fun to build took over from my other chores. Now, back t money.

           Recent events have caused a real shifting of ballast. It really was not all morning, I played some bass and wrote a bit waiting for updates and such. The point here is the actual writing of the check, with full security features (which include the specially tinted envelopes which aren’t cheap, and the security seal) required 41 minutes. Aren’t security seals ancient and outdated? Yes, that is why it is the position of the seal that is important to the recipient. There are two wall calendars that are marked with the relevant numbers. What a pity the network cannot be trusted with the simplest of tasks, nor the system itself.
           And I just discovered copper roofing nails are no longer copper. More like copper clad, and if that atomic-deep coating wears off, solder won’t stick.

           The good news is I have another $71 if I want to do anything tomorrow. Today is a bit of an anniversary. The Reb & I met around 2:30 in the afternoon. It was a Sunday. Her and I played a gig six weeks later, the other two big-shot heros never did get a thing off the ground. That’s the Jim & Randy you may see mentioned time and again. They are not important, but music is. They’d heard I could play bass. I’d immediately recognized them as organizational rookies and told them I had been a band manager. They assured me the plan was a working band. The problem is they didn’t have a clue what that entailed.
           The rumor is 40% of the US intelligence service will soon be looking for new jobs. A.I. is to systematically “root out the Deep State actors” in a move which pleases most of America. No good news for over a thousand people who work at the big paper plant in Savannah, Georgia. After nearly 100 years operation, they got one month’s notice. The reason this one has my attention is the interviews all of which showed a single common charactertistic. It was that same job-for-life mentality I saw 40 years ago at the phone company. So don’t expect much mercy.
           They were a repeat of the bunch who used to laugh at me when I went to evening school for seven long years to get two computer degrees instead of joining them at the stripper bar. That recent comment here that I know people who will always be poor because they don’t ever complain about certain things applies here today. A thousand people who may never have contemplated a life without a paycheck to pay their debts is nothing to me—I’ve worked with 15,000 of them and was the only survivor (financially).
           True, the highest seniority people got up to 8 years paychecks out of the company, but there were no more buyout packages. Most left empty-handed. If you’ve followed along, you will recognize the out come of some of my strategies, alas the original computations of 1985 were all on paper and long lost. That is where I’d first used VisiCalc to calculate how much I needed to invest to make 10ȼ per hour. It was not the tiny amount since it was not enough to get ahead. But I was the company lotto collector and calculator of present value (the amount people could borrow now following each negotiated union raise). People could look on the board and see my results.

           Ten cents was enough to make a difference and I was astounded how others did not see this. Another advantage was the money was always reinvested so it was always that much less I did not have to take out of my pay. I did a lot of rounding off, but you worked 2,000 hours a year back then, so an annual income of $200 was needed to equal that ten cents. I have historically based my investments on a 7% return, so I knew I needed over $28,000 to achieve such a goal. In 1985, that was impossible.
           The rest of this complicated process is spread all over this blog, but this is where I began looking for other means to get that ten cents—and it started me on another path whereby if I could make that $10 per hour, I could effectively retire. Because when it was all said and done, after taxes and expenses, I was living on less than that at the time. And so was everybody else. I make the effort and the attendant sacrifices and am not the one likely to feel sorry for those who did not. In the end, it cost me $19.34 every two weeks.

Picture of the day.
Spike missile, $249,999.99 each.
Remember to use BACK ARROW to return to blog.

           Here’s a box I built this afternoon. The rain arrived early and gave me time to learn a few things. I learned when you laser burn a logo on the wood, it creates and inside and and outside you did not have to watch for before. And if you don’t watch, the wrong side has a predilection for making its presence known after you already applied the glue. I learned that the panel wood on this “pencil box” design has to be as thick as possible to keep flat or it’s not easy to fit back in the grooves.

           Working with smaller pieces is itself a lesson. You develop a feel for what size of staple fits a thickness and type of wood, as well a knowledge of which brads and staples you can pull and which you are wise to push through. I had a lot of fun building this box, it will be a container for small cables that tend not to say inside an open box when coiled. Note the fancy pull, it is also a carry handle. It is located where I had to add that brace to keep the panel flat. Hey, I told you I was learning.
           Later, I got the pencil box finished for use, it has all the defects and still works. For very large pencils that is. This format is not scalable. Get too big and the necessary lumber becomes too heavy. This experiment was a boost because it was made without plans on existing jigs. The reason the last bit of cut on the lid this morning is because that part is done by hand. It you cut it on the table saw, there will always be a bite mark where the wood has pinched The jigsaw makes it easier but it’s still off just a bit.

           Smaller pieces have another characteristic. When you glance at them, the difference in dimensions are not as obvious. Couple that with my difficulty seeing pieces on end and I’ve had to take several boxes apart. Today was too gloomy but I did get several other boxes almost done. I’m slowly breaking my habit of working till a task is done before taking a breather. Too long, and a ten minute stop becomes an hour just like that.
           I’m grabbing a coffee, but I’m going back out to make one more box, a container for my coin tubes. They come in plastic bags these days that are useless for storage. So just because I feel like it, my coin tubes get the royal treatment. Remember, coin tubes contain 1134 Found Money, and I’ve found $38,000 in my life. (That total is a classification, for example I include tax returns, rebates, and some tips as found money. 1134 is the account number.)

ADDENDUM
           Who remembers the angulator? This was the toy I built that eventually let to my purchase of the sextant. Here’s a picture from June, 2014, there seem a number of rare pictures of this object. Mostly in June and October that year, but I know I had it some years earlier. This makes for a curious history lesson here. And in the process, you get free insights and philosophy.
           For example, I knew navigation was or must be complicated. But for me, “complicated” is a sliding scale, as in 0/10 for “needlessly complicated” as in cell phone menus, up to say 10/10 for “nightmarishly complicated, as in financial planning. One major determinant is how many idiots were involved in the process. As you may know already, going on-line is not a lot of help. Fifty posts on easy beginner stuff and nothing on how to actually get the work done. Oh, it’s work.

           In those early days I was flying blind. I had the impression sextants must be very expensive. Now I know good map tools are the real cost. It was building the angulator that spurred me into buying the sextant which I only casually know how to use. The connection is that today I found the last pieces of the angulator in a storage case, now deteriorated in the Florida humidty.
           You see, when I became interested in navigation, it did not involve a sextant. I spent a month looking at the correct way to read charts, which proved non-challenging. What struck me was the extraordinary accuracy of the readings even on my primitive device. You can see from the photos the scale was just something I hand-drew on the wood, but you could handily read the differences from day to day. I may even build another, now that I have a way to make exact laser markings.

           Where do I stand with navigation? A curious hobby, where I can calculate the position of the Sun, which I’ll do for you over my second coffee. I can also do star calculations but I’ve never personally measured one. And I have a thorough understanding of how to plot a line-of-position out in the open ocean, where I never intend to be. I don’t care to get much further into sextants, I threw out the last tarnished pieces of the angulator. To used GMT, Greenwich Mean Time, you must have the date, hours, minutes, and seconds.
           But the on-line sources of this information have become enshittified. The A.I. site does not give the seconds, that took a supreme GenX brain-fart to come up with that one. There is even a GMT millennial web page that states it does not have the GMT because “London doesn’t use” it. Duh. Count how many sites before you get to one that actually supplies the information. I locked on this date at 12:21:51, but be careful, that site uses a 12-hour clock, double-duh.

           Allowing for my other conditions, such as using my 2014 Almanac, the Sun is at W06°48.2’ by N11°22.1’. (That is -6.7712° and +11.3536° in Googletalk.) As is customary let’s find the nearest town or land to that location. We are in southwestern Mali. It looks to be a patchwork of cleared farms or pastures with no habitable structures at the 100 meter scale, the best available by satellite. I get it, why waste pixels? The nearest mapped town is Bougouni. Let’s zoom on that.

           The blurb says the town is a “serene escape into West African culture”. That would, presumably, include the traditional lithium oxide mine and the many roadway minefields. Travel advisories do not mention the frequent artillery shells that hit hotels, but the UK government site does advise against all but essential travel, very nice of them.

Last Laugh