January 2, 2016

Yesteryear
One year ago today: January 2, 2015,
Five years ago today: January 2, 2011, chopping firewood.
Nine years ago today: January 2, 2007, telegraphic transfer (T/T).
Random years ago today: January 2, 1977, be not a borrower . . .

MORNING
           Safe deposit boxes. You watch movies, you know what they are. But what are the facts? I found some this morning. Turns out it is yet another of the items you cannot get a straight answer out of nobody no how. When that happens, watch for the rip-off. Here’s what I found. Not all banks have safe deposit boxes (sometimes called safety deposit) because not all branches have a vault. Also, many cash-strapped states have laws that the bank must turn over the contents of “unclaimed” boxes. The state then conveniently reserves the right to continually redefine “unclaimed”.

           Since I last had a box, many changes have occurred, none for the better. Prices have increased tenfold and privacy has become a major concern. I’ll explain. Banks don’t care what you put in the box, but this is not due to concern for you, it is because of liability claims. However, the personal information about who even has a box is not held in any such high esteem by the bankers. They will gladly hand out that information behind your back to anyone who flashes a badge.

           You see, before computers, banks didn’t “share” information about depositors who had a box--it wasn't anybody else's business. When you rent a box, you are supposedly renting privacy as well. There was no law or nothing stopping the bank, but it was like suspended driver’s licenses—there was no federal law compelling them to tell anybody else, so they didn’t. That was back when America was a free country, to paraphrase Willie Nelson. The authorities had to check every branch in every state to find if you had a box. Now, they click “enter”.
           Snooping had become easy and automatic, the bureaucrat's dream come true. Some could say there never was any privacy and therefore computers merely sped up the process. True, but before, the amount of effort meant they only investigated actual suspects and had a warrant. There was far too much work involved to go on fishing expeditions. Like the way they they do now. Those who had "nothing to hide" are discovering that when the time comes when they eventually do and wish they could, they have relinquished their right to do so. Without a fight.
           Hell, without a whimper, that crowd. They only speak up when calling other people names.

           Forget the movies, safe deposit boxes are not designed to keep jewels and money. They are small and meant for valuable documents that are not needed in a hurry. Hence, don’t put your will in the box. No, you can’t grant power of attorney to go into the box if you die, because only living people can grant that power. You really need a joint co-renter or a designated executor.
           But now you have another problem of which the system is totally aware—law enforcement, especially "creative" law enforcement, absolutely loves “partners” of any sort. If the police had their choice, they'd require you to have a partner. Partners can be leaned on to save their own skin. And if your partner is arrested, there go your rights to any privacy. No, you cannot lock a box within the box, they can smash the smaller box open without a warrant if you try that, although how they know it got in there is a good question. Or, I suspect that part could be an urban legend.
           What about cash? The smallest boxes, around 3x5, are too small for much. Ah, the smart reader says, that is only two dimensions. Boxes have three. The standard length is 12” and that’s one of those things you are “supposed to know”, although that is most often said by people who have no clue how you are “supposed to know”. The banks discourage cash in the boxes, but offer only the lame excuse that such cash is not covered by deposit insurance. But the real motive is that most likely cash in the box is there because it is illegal or something like that.
           Precious metals? They betray the contents by their weight and because they usually rattle around. Remember, the bank has a master key which the law requires you be present if they use it. But since when does America put crooked bankers in jail? Since never, that’s when, ya rookie.

           Hence, some say to make copies of all your valuable documents and keep the copies, some say keep the originals and put the copies in the box. The IRS can freeze your box over any dispute, real or imagined, and Homeland Security can simply help themselves with or without your knowledge. Hence, cash may once more be a good thing to keep in such storage. If they steal it, the amount is your word against theirs, and the bank is required to pay up.
           Remember the old saw that if your store is robbed by two people, claim the amount stolen is much higher that actual.
           Then, the two crooks will stew in the same [jail] cell, each figuring the other guy pocketed the difference and you can claim the full amount as a business loss. It’s not a leap to imagine the same tactic would work equally well on other types of unpopular men. The prices of the boxes I looked at were for small (3x5”), medium (4x10”), and large (15x22”) were, respectively, $55, $85, and $105 annually. Payable on the anniversary date by automatic withdrawal. And don't lose the key, morans (the correct Internet spelling of "morons") because it costs a fortune to replace it.

NOON
           Messing around with my model air-powered engine, I brought up the big old site, MiniSteam, where the toy steam engines cost as much as the real ones used to. Beginners beware, the cheaper steam engines show there cannot power anything but themselves. And usually on do that when in new and perfect condition. At the other end of the price range, here is “Rider-Monski” fro $10,600. I’m thinking what you are. Them gold things, are they beer taps? At that price, they ought to be.

           Be aware that all steam engines are dangerous and that no steam engine invented has ever been safe to run unattended. I learned that my little replica is called “double acting” because the piston gets pushed both ways. At least in theory. This may be too complicated and not what I wanted. I’m thinking on if I should change that, but then again, I'm pretty far into the build.

           Here’s another theory, and today’s trivia. It takes 1,000 rounds on a new gun to learn, relearn, or unlearn a bad habit. Let me think. Yes, that would be about right. A hundred rounds a day for ten days, and even more if you ask me when it comes to common sense like not putting your finger on the trigger until after you draw the gun out of the holster. I know people who think they are good enough to get around that.
           You want more trivia? Sure. To make a poor-man’s cell-phone blocker, wrap your cell phone in a few layers of tinfoil. You won’t be getting any incoming calls, but it sufficiently breaks up automatic tracking devices to make these traces useless in court.
           How to tell if your foil cell is working? Dial your number from another phone. If it goes straight to voicemail, it is working. Provided you’ve paid your bill recently.
           Newest on-line caution from my desk is the site WonderHowTo. I don’t know what, but there is something funny going on there. You cannot log completely into the site if you are using the full version of Kaspersky, or if you have VPN activated, or if you use an Ad Blocker. It could be anything or a combination of my setup, but that site sets off all my alarms. You been warned.

           I lifted that idea (and others) from the recent Popular Mechanics hack edition. Why? Look at the price and you tell me. $17.00 for a magazine. Hey, at a certain level, when it comes to stealing, it is you or them, pal. While making the rounds, I decided to figure out the melody to the Andy Griffith show theme as a break song on the bass. But most recordings of the theme were made by hipster retards. So I thought to get the notes from Songsterr. Whoops, more hipster retards.
           Worst yet, these ones think they can play guitar. They write out the super easy first six notes. But the tricky parts, well, that’s hipsterism at its finest, they are nowhere to be found. Say, did I mention Trent and I were approached by some guy who used to manage or conduct the big bands of a bygone era? He told us of the clubs that closed and way it used to be. We listened, but I'm not keen on the "drop-in musician" concept.

           Most interesting was the new guy's take on how music has "changed". A lot of music types will tell you that early rock and roll evolved out of big bands, but I say that is bunk. It was a more fundamental change in band architecture that led to the switchover. From the large and haphazard "sound alike" big bands, to the compact, manageable small band that played its own music. And I swear, that big band music was all written by eight or ten crazies up in Manhattan, and, like, they all knew each other. Similar to Darwin’s theory, the two types of music may have a common ancestor, but they became separate species long ago.
           Terrence was his name, he told of how traveling musicians would show up, be handed sheet music, and fill in for the night, or the week, or the cruise. To me, that explains why so much jazz music sounds “sloppy” and disjointed. Everybody in the band met that afternoon and is faking it, waiting for their little out-of-context solo slot.
           Myself, I can play that way, but I don’t like it. It’s jamming and it sounds like it. I prefer the other extreme, where each tune is rehearsed note-for-note to perfection so that it can be presented by two or three musicians. If you ask me, a lot of the big bands were there covering up each other’s bloopers.
           Here’s a video of Darth doing the swamp thing. He’s pretty good.

NIGHT
           I devoted the evening to figuring out the air-steam engine. You get to do things like that once you learn to plan ahead far enough. Yes, Ken, even time off is better when it is planned. The thing tonight was that confusion I had with whether or not I needed two or three valves. As par, all the geniuses, onlookers, kid brothers, and resident experts went extinct right at the part where you really needed help.

           It looks like the “exhaust” valve can be left to the portion of the cylinder where the piston travels past. I don’t care how inefficient it is, since my power supply is essentially infinite. I’m fascinated by this hands-on, since otherwise "mechanicking" is so easy I could handily pass the exam without learning a thing. It's one thing to say you learned to repair a motor and quite another to build even a simple one from scratch. I now have no doubt who would make the better repairman.
           Now, will the world please leave me alone tomorrow while I design and build a rocker arm system to move the valve sleeve. If I can get some decent photos of the piston in the cylinder, that will reveal the difficulties and the challenges. If you see a picture here, I got the photo, if not, well, look for some "filler picture" or try again later.

ADDENDUM
           The book I’ve been referring to, “Great Powers” is ISBN 0-294-45674-1. While it is historical, it pegs the decline of the US to a tee, the US will fall like every other great power once they allow the opposition a free hand to take over. The world has been stripping the US of technology and cash since the second world war, when something like 80% of the money in the world was in America. It was in the 1980s that America fell from the world’s greatest creditor to the world’s greatest debtor. Just ten years.
           The nation is gone, folks. Maybe Trump can breathe some life back into the corpse, but don’t bet on it. And you other countries who like to wag your fingers at the American way better start stiffening up. If America goes, well, you seem to have the attitude that it’s our problem because the hole is in our end of the boat. Especially you Canadians with your cut-and-paste smug little plutonomy up there*. They need a Trump worse than anybody, but their welfare dependency system will never produce one. If he arose, they’d put him in an eastern jail and give his house to some Syrians.

           *[Author’s note: that’s plutonomy, not plutocracy. The difference is plutocracy is rule by the rich. Plutonomy is where they don’t rule directly, but prefer to control a government that caters to their wishes. That way, they can pretend it is a democracy. It is the state, not the marketplace, that controls the distribution of wealth in our global economy. Some say this unequal distribution of wealth is nothing new, but what is new is that the wealth is now more concentrated that ever before in history.]


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