December 13, 2015

Yesteryear
One year ago today: December 13, 2014, thousand dollar sneakers.
Five years ago today: December 13, 2010, no electricity.
Nine years ago today: December 13, 2006, on freight containers.
Random years ago today: December 13, 2012, the Justin Beebs plot.

MORNING
           Yes, I’m watching silver take a tumble. Wondering what they are up to, these huge banking concerns and speculators controlling that market. I was curious to read that just before England switched to a currency based on silver, good old Churchill’s family bought up a huge pile of that metal. I treated JZ to coffee and thumbed through the latest “Nuts & Volts”. Strange, the “Build the Amigo” feature plastered on the cover of this issue is not mentioned anywhere in the magazine.

           I feel I could build a computer now, and a kit would be a breeze. What’s with putting a cover on a magazine that doesn’t have the article? I put it back on the shelf. The rest of the electronics section was equally disappointing, maybe four or five books of beginner’s material. But that blonde lady by the entrance, that was no beginner. At anything. Drop dead gorgeous.
           The bookstore. That’s where Sunday mornings should be located. The nearest is almost ten miles away, out in Pembroke Pines. The place was full of gorgeous women, not just the one I was taken by. So I can no longer say I haven’t seen any this year in Florida. But this is precisely why one has to eventually leave the southern part of the state. As soon as there is the slightest surplus of men, the supply of good-looking women shrivels to zilch.

           Later, a follow up on the Amigo article shows it may have been a simulator centered on the difficult-to-use PIC microcontroller board. What piqued me was the kid on the front cover is pointing to a monitor displaying obvious BASIC code and I could not find anything on that in the contents. But a microcontroller with an Amigo compiler is not at all the same thing. And building a computer “kit” is an exercise in futility, since computer parts are so modularized, that is how the real thing is built in the first place.
           As for a simulator, I have the old Qbasic code installed on the back computer (non-Internet file storage computer in the storage room) for all that. I was even delving on “inventing” a computer language of my own. This is where the code set is reduced to only the elements which the computer can understand, and the operator “builds” his own instructions by combining those elements into a new and infinite variety of original commands.
           It would be similar to the original BASIC concept of subroutines. This was a new topic when I first studied it at age 17. In those days, programming was taught in a linear fashion. Subroutines were nothing more than short, minor diversions. But I glommed onto the idea instantly. And I’ve only known of one other person who did the same. Like myself, he was told that the idea of one central list of commands that did nothing but call subroutines, well, that was an idea that would never catch on.

NOON
           Food. We wound up at the Senor Café for brunch. JZ is beginning to like that place. It remains a family business, I pointed out the owner, how he still comes in to serve tables himself when the place gets busy. He still walks outside to serve coffee to his oldest steady customers. Remember, I patronized this café back since 2005 when it was just an empanada take-out window.

           I can tell by looking, that owner never borrowed a dime. He expanded completely out of his own revenues. Alas, I’ve never had the buffet there because it did not exist until after I was placed on my current restrictive diet. JZ and I were there to go over some maps and discuss policy. He still feels a “trailer” on a rental pad is an option, where I feel that would tie up $5,000 that would be desperately needed if we find the right place.
           My logic is that the cheapest pad rental in the state is only $220 less than I pay here. So it is not worth it to move twice. Even then, that location is too close to Tampa, probably the least desirable city to live in or near in Florida, except Miami itself. The entire place is the wrong neighborhood. That joint called “Holiday” keeps appearing on the ads, but I’ve repeatedly told JZ I’m not considering it until I find out why so many people are selling out at the same time.

EVENING
           For some reason, I’ve been in a foul mood later today. Get out of my way or I’ll chew off some heads and arms. I have a mild headache, my shoulders hurt, and I’m only going along with things for the ride. We wound up at Kmart.

           JZ had to get some Xmas shopping done, so I tagged along. See this jigsaw puzzle? To me, this typifies the decadence of the whole Xmas concept. This is a “Star Wars” puzzle where each of the individual pieces contains a mini-scene from the movie. Who would pay $13 for this? A picture depicting a queer robot as just another normal creature, why, that you’d meet on any other planet in the galaxy.
           You might be interested to know that other people had a lot to say and accurately predicted the rise of this type of “queer is normal” portrayal in the American movie system. Along with the constant depiction of adultery and the prostitute with the heart of gold in almost every movie. You don’t get this type of thing as standard fare in other countries. But to market such material aimed at children, I dunno.
           See my point? They make it practically illegal to have sex until anyone is college-age, but it is somehow okay to package covert homosexuality as a gift aimed at children. Indoctrinate them that is it more important to appear “tolerant” even if it means sacrificing basic principles. It takes a special kind of hypocrite to get into that. I know people who steal things for gifts when they can’t afford to pay for them. Nope, you can have Xmas.
           Well, the commercial part. I say keep the food and family part for its own sake. But not as a tradition. You don’t want to show up for a holiday, that’s fine, too. Same goes for Thanksgiving, where the back-stabbing gossip makes sure the turkey isn’t the only thing that’s getting roasted.
           Man, I am in a grumpy mood for reasons unknown.

ADDENDUM
           It never occurred to me that, well, it just never occurred to me. That anyone I knew had never fired a single-shot air rifle before. I was wrong, here is JZ exhibiting total unfamiliarity with my new Crossman .177. This is an air rifle, so it is not even a firearm. And yes, Mr. Trump, I had to show ID to buy the ammo. So you’ll know, this is an ordinary air rifle, it is for target practice only. It has no iron sights and must be aimed through a riflescope.

           The scope is not yet mounted in this photo.
My feed suggested an on-line movie called “Russian Doll”. Another typical meta-movie, in the sense that the plot is based on the obvious frustration of the writer. A Russian bride, Jewish of course, gets into a marriage arrangement with a Catholic, and although I turned the thing off after the first half-hour, I’m sure we can all see where that one is going.
           Oh, and when I went to the Nuts & Volts site to see if anyone else noticed the Amigo episode, my entire ad-blocking and anti-malware system hit the roof. Why are people like that magazine even allowed on the Internet. Same with those jerkoff dingdongs who “monetize” youTube posts of non-original material. Like placing pop-up ads on a recording of a Trump rally. That takes real brains.
           And that’s why I’m calling it a day. Everything is getting on my nerves. I suspect it is the delay in finding a suitable property. The wait causes all kind of other bills and expenses to pile up. It has cost me $2,300 in extras since early September to keep this old shack together and I still have not replaced the water tank.


Last Laugh

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