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Warning. This blog has evolved through many phases and earlier posts did not allow for links that go dead or change. I would never intentionally link to a site 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.

March 21, 2025

Yesteryear
One year ago today: March 21, 2024, only 27,024.
Five years ago today: March 21, 2020, not a medical treatment.
Nine years ago today: March 21, 2016, I hate hotels.
Random years ago today: March 21, 2005, Washington Mutual sucks.

           Heathrow is on fire, reported as an outbreak at the power station. The reality is the government forced the plant to remove its diesel generators and replaced them with batteries charged by wind turbines. That is what is on fire, but it’s a secret so don’t tell anybody. Top rated Republican candidate (12%) for California Governor is Mel Gibson. Who isn’t running. But a tough athlete is a candidate for the Irish President. Good luck, he’s in a country with a population of just over 5 million and 2 million of them are invaders. It’s too late, unless there is war. But I suspect that might be the idea. He decided to run after talking to Trump.

           Here is a thistle with no history. It sprang, grew, blossomed, and went to seed within the last 48 hours. It’s in the front yard and I would not have seen it but for the joist repairs. By 9:00AM it is still below 50°F so I’m crawling back under the covers to read a chapter on LOP, the line of position. I’ve done lots of them, I’d just like more in depth knowledge. As COVID vaccine revenue is declining, there is news of a “cancer vaccine”. Some people never learn. As for myself, I’m planned to re-read the book on Assembler, despite its bad teaching style.

           Slow morning mean slow news. I watched some videos on special effects. I prefer older “mechanical” styles that can be cheaply duplicated, though these days I have such limited opportunities. There is nobody in this entire county with even slight interest in anything but CGI. And you can tell how fake that is if you know what to look for. On the other hand, the older effects in some way have to actually happen on some scale. What got me thinking of this is the fine powdery dust found under the floor, it has not seen daylight in decades.
           And this just in. New York’s highest court has ruled that only US citizens can vote. This cancels out 800,000 illegals in New York City alone. The Democrats may never win another election in that State. In another curious change, the people who set fire to Tesla’s are Democrats who switched from praising the car to torching it are paid agitators—and apparently the law is now able to go after those who paid them. That would be fun to watch, because up to now they’ve been above the law.

           Hmmm, between the flooring, lack of gigs, leftovers, and hobby, I’m way below budget this month. While I’m still spending three times as much on gas and food, thanks to Biden, there is still some cash left for a small day trip. The jaunt over to Palm City cost less than $80 and I’m allowed to dip into unspent entertainment money. Wow, we have $160. What to do?
           What’s this, Trump is talking of funding the American Academy. Free, world-class education for anybody who meets the standards. Gee, I always wanted a Doctorate in something. ZeroHedgereports that Harvard is now offering remedial math courses.

           In good news, Trump has cancelled the visas of 530,000 Cubans, Haitians, and Venezuelans that Biden brought in, claiming the admissions would “lower illegal border crossings”. Instead they took American jobs, crime went up, and oddly this was the first time many civil servants spoke up that they were being required to support programs they knew were harming the US. They have about a month to get out or be thrown out. There is also an issue with the 240,000 Ukrainians here because Biden declared them refugees from a war he started.
           A lot of them settled in Michigan, an area surprisingly similar to the Ukraine. Employers in the area eagerly snapped up this pool of labor willing to work for less than $20 per hour, which for that same reason are “jobs Americans won’t do”. This is not cruelty, every one of these people know that visas were temporary until the war was over.

           MicroSoft is miffed. Despite pressure and constant e-mails, only slightly over a third of users have switched to Win 11. I use Win 11 only on this computer, which is primarily this blog, a couple innocuous spreadsheets, and a few thousand memes. Everything private is on my XP units and that is not likely to change.
           For distraction, I’ve been reading the German side of Operation Bagration (the Soviet attack that most people mispronounce) during 1944. The ratios are fantastic, with battle after battle of 60 or 70 German tanks destroying 400 to 500, where I include self-propelled guns in the count. The other documentaries avoid mentioning these numbers, but you know the old saying, every major battle in history has been won by the good guys.
           Around this same time, a German weapon was appearing in Normandy. The six-barreled Nebelwerfer was designed for chemical warheads which were never used. Instead, the Germans got a taste of high explosive rounds from the Soviet Katyusha and adapted their own launcher. Six weeks after D-Day, these rockets were causing almost three-quarters of the Allied casualties.

Picture of the day.
Winter in Finland.
Remember to use BACK ARROW to return to blog.

           I moved lumber for ten minutes, that’s today’s big effort. I zipped over to the lumber yard in the south end because they have the best in cull carts. With very few exceptions other than the new fence panels and items like the joists, all project lumber comes from this source. Today should have been just another day, I went to pick up more 2x6”s because I know I will have to rip up the floor part I hesitated over y’day. What luck, I got a 5/8” sheet of plywood for nine bucks. I guess the flooring under the new stove and fridge might/will be 1/8th of an inch thinner than spec. Here it is being transported on the mini-SUV. I had the yard slice it in half.

           Full sheets won’t fit in the Hyundai and I cannot reach the roof rack easily. Sorry to report this minor effort caused exhaustion and blog rules say I must document this kind of thing. I moved the planks myself and helped the store guy cut the plywood. All I did then was load up the van and drive the lumber home. There, I put the four new planks under the house and moved the plywood to the back yard.

           This left me fatigued and famished. I had an excellent breakfast earlier, and a full eight hours of sack time. Is something wrong? I finished two helpings of chicken fried jasmine rice, three coffees, a soda, and fell asleep for 6-1/2 hours. Sure, I deserve it but this is not me. Let’s catch up. The new guitar player showed a lack of motivation but you work with what you got. The Prez & I decided for a Sunday practice without him. That’s provided he doesn’t have an open house crop up, he’s had several already. Actually, it would not matter, we can practice anywhere. He has embraced the lessons of arranging music and has shown a remarkable talent at it.
           How are things with Elsinore in the California depression? It’s now a tale of capitalism gone awry. While the audiobook has changed plots to about unionization of disadvantaged workers, I avoid taking sides for a simple reason. In my life I worked my way out of hopeless miserable poverty. And took notes along the way, knowing full well what I was up against. A large part of the problem is that you cannot “get rich” in isolation in this country. The moment you get ahead, even the slightest, you are assailed from all sides by factions that demand an undeserved share.

           The welfare cases, the tax department, City Hall, and the legal system become your enemies. There is nothing you can invest in that is both legally safe where they don’t have their finger in the pie. To stay rich, you must take on a defensive posture that not only protects what you have, but the means of producing it and storing it. The American system means you must seek the support of said enemies while simultaneously slapping down anybody who tries to grab anything—hence the exploitation of the workers. Elsinore represents an extreme case.
           The book is well-researched. I did not know that just before the Okies began arriving in California, the government had deported 90% of the Mexican farm laborers. The growers saw the destitute newcomers as replacements for that workforce. They forgot that the new people were Americans themselves with their own ideas about rightness and fairness. However much I see the conflict, I do not believer that communism is the only answer, in fact, it is a bad answer. History is full of examples where workers united for change without staging a violent revolution or confiscating wealth.
           I understand the workers plight. The landowners think the workers want money for free and the workers think the landowners want labor for free. They can’t compromise because either side’s gain is the other’s loss. It is complicated, worsened by the realization that if the system were fair, there would be more than enough to go around. But it cannot be fair, as soon as you give the worker a dollar, he’ll demand two. On the other hand, if an employer loses, it is very rare for them to survive and start another successful business unless they have profiteering capital to fall back on.
           That reminds me, I’ve never seen the definitive movie of that era, “The Grapes of Wrath”. The director was John Ford, so there will be lots of corny acting. It must be in the public domain by now. Check with me tomorrow. I heard was welcomed in the Soviet Union to demonstrate the excesses of capitalism, then banned when it showed that even poor Americans had automobiles.

ADDENDUM
           Y’day’s GP (geographic position of the Sun) was off the coast of Africa again. Nearest easy to find land spot is a town called San Pedro, in Ivory Coast. Wiki says it is a fishing town, known for its night life, and lists the elevation as three feet. A mention of iron ore nearby and one famous soccer player, French is spoken along with 77 other languages.. Beyond hotel listings the only abundant information on-line is their weather report. The city map shows they have a bus line and there is one house for sale at $38,000. Real estate in the capital city, Abidjan,is similar in price to Tallahassee.
           The claims the place is stable and prosperous are plainly meant in comparison to the surrounding countries. There have been riots and revolutions in the past twenty years. The place was last safe when the French were in charge. I could not locate a list of ten things to do in San Pedro. The military has ten old Russian T-55 tanks and a few helicopters but the word is they are “unserviceable” meaning nobody knows how to keep them running. As is normal, the country is owned and operated by a tiny European-educated elite.

Last Laugh

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March 20, 2025

Yesteryear
One year ago today: March 20, 2024, he don’t like trains.
Five years ago today: March 20, 2020, the fake plague scare.
Nine years ago today: March 20, 2016, and so do you.
Random years ago today: March 20, 2007, trailer court freebies.

           50°F. The new clock makes navigation a lot easier. At this time, the Sun’s GHA is 355°51’ at a declination of S00°09’. That means the Sun should travel north across the Equator later today. The French President has advised people in the event of a nuclear war to “stay indoors”. This morning I watch another video on transistor biasing with an odd appeal. The narrator is a mess, but since that is how most electronics is taught, I’m getting something out of this. I read another chapter on plotting a line of position, which always seems a favorite, second only to taking a sextant reading. Must be a Hollywood thing.

           Here’s couple pictures of the planter or bench. I’ve learned plenty, as this is the first time I’ve built such a thing. Foremost is that the construction glue is nothing like it used to be. Liquid nails, my eye. It does hold, however, so you might say we are stuck with it. The dry glue has a dull light grey color, I was hoping for better but no. You can see the interleaved end pattern quite well. The lumber is not perfect and the surfaces have to be planed, which I spent an hour on later in the day.

           What would I change? I’d make the bench one piece wider. I’d saw off the ends, as this is where I found most of the splintering would occur when I went to fit the joints. I would pay more attention to which sides face up and out, making them flattest during the glue-up stage. I don’t trust the glue and would probably think of some other way to keep the planks solidly fastened together, like maybe a long dowel or a long bolt, which I have experience with building toothpick cases.
           Finishing. Even when planed to fresh new lumber, the piece is not quite showy enough for my liking. The original piece I saw was stained an orange color, kind of like old shellac. It gave it a good contract for most house plants. I will go through my supply of stains to see if I have any of that pecan left, work with me here. I am not a visual person and my favorite color is blue. It used to be pink. Now it is blue, so run along.

           It warmed enough that I got under the house. I ran into an unexpected problem and I also quit early. I don’t usually, I’m good at deciding on a day’s effort and getting that far. This was not a normal problem so I stopped. Think it through. Get back to it next day. Here’s how it evolved.
           I put either one or two strong new braces under each flooring section before applying the jack. This is something I’ve done 24 times already on this cabin; it should have been routine. I pre-position support pylons, level them, then using another beam, carefully lift the old joists up to where there is just an eighth-inch clearance to slip the new joist into place. Release jack and let the floor rest on the new joists.
           After a day or two, return to chock up anything that settles, and you are done. Until I got to the third (of five) joists today. The positioned support beam did not settle, but remained so tight I could not stand the new joist up into place. What is that fantastic aroma? Oh, that. Well, I threw on some garlic curry chicken to boil and now I’m making the rice using the broth.
           What’s more, I found a small package of outdated grits in the back of the freezer, so granny raccoon eats good tonight. That’s the secondary aroma. And everybody who has ever done it knows food tastes so much better when it is made in an old pot on a two-burner hotplate.

Picture of the day.
Western South Dakota, I think.
Remember to use BACK ARROW to return to blog.

           Thinking over that joist conumdrum, I see two solutions. One is to cut away more of the flooring, slip the plank under and use its own leverage to wedge into place. But, I had not planned on disturbing that section of the floor, as I cannot be sure I’d finish it before it gets too hot. The other option is do it the hard way, run yet another beam, this time parallel to the joists and raise the flooring, not the joist itself. This is probably the better solution but it means a lot of extra work. I say, that is directly under the worst part of the mess of wiring and pipes.

           It’s a disappointment JZ will not leave town (Miami), I’d gladly pay for some help. This is the kind of work we can accomplish naturally without having coordinate anything. He’d be disappointed how little of my boxes and other plans I’ve accomplished, but nor does he grasp I spend months, not days or weeks, in Tennessee. He still remembers how broke I was after the heart attack. You remember how he freaked when I let him hold that $10,000 in cash. Yeah, well he forgets that, I think, because in Miami, if you don’t hang around with broke people, you don’t hang around with many people at all.

           Here is the length of 2x4” I was able to smack apart. There is good glue coverage, but it seems to have dried funny. It peeled in two smooth even layers without detaching any splinters of wood. What am I dealing with here? Nor did the end pieces line up well despite how I used a jig and clamped them solidly. It’s all part of the learning curve. I cannot afford real wood glue for a project of this scope. Any reinforcement would have to be internal or take away from the simplicity of the design.

           I’ve mapped out the plumbing changes the say I know JZ would except this will take days and means I have to keep the old system running in the meanwhile. This work reminds me how he sees these things a problems rather than adventures, but that’s an old tale from the trailer court. What’s new is the guitar player, but that poses another issue. I know you can’t be good and not dedicate a bit. The Prez & I will likely rehearse on Sunday, so I invited the new guy.
           The response, while positive, did not convey much enthusiasm. He works for the city and mentioned “Spring Training”, meaning it is something to do with that big sports complex up on Highway 98. The soonest he can “get away” is two weeks from next Saturday. That explains why he is not already in a band. The Prez has to allow for open houses which rules out planning ahead, but it is not us that needs the practice. Didn’t I tell you about that? The facts that slowly emerge from the old club jam tell a different tale.

           From our point of view, we were helping out the club and the guitar player, who only knew around 12 songs. The same 12 as all his buddies and anyone else likely to show up. Between him and Bradford, they quickly used up all the standards. The best jams there were when somebody new got up and we provided the backup. Now you’ve heard me mention how Keith (the host) would often let us play for an hour. We figured because the place was empty until 9:30 or so and he would not have to repeat his material.
           Now the truth emerges, secondhand from Cathy’s sister, who has never heard us play, possibly she does not know I was connected with the show. I should have known, that arsehole Keith was trying to set up a pissing contest. He was inviting only other guitarists that he thought he could outplay. New people (other than me) never want to go first, meaning they’d show up while the Prez & I were already on stage. Keith had prepared them only to solo. Trust me, very few guitarists are going to try to showcase after my presentation—because that’s not what a jam is all about. Ha, did I ever tell you how Bradford was the only one who dared and he’d beg us to help him out, which I pointedly would not do.
           Now the personality clashes and opposing philosophies come out. Where Bradford knew all he had to do was rehearse with us once or twice, which he never managed in the past seven years. My show is acoustic and bass, arranged for duo, and highly rehearsed for presentation to sound like a trio. Keith had not prepared his people for that. I mentioned how most of them just sat there. Now it makes sense, like Keith, they just wanted to show off. Which left them two choices. Play along with us and be a team member instead of the hero. Or get up after us and sound like just another solo guitarist. No wonder most of them just sat there. Florida is chock full of guitar heroes.

ADDENDUM
           After watching several videos on the latest in robotics, I see the focus for many people is on humanoids. What’s more, the biggest market for these machines appears to be doing housework and chores “freeing families up for more enjoyable activities”. There are concerns ranging from loss of jobs to over-dependence, but the ubiquitous concern is worded as “loss of human contact” or “loss of interaction”. If you listen closely, however, the theme is different and quite creepy. It seems a small be very tightly-knit faction are sincerely concerned that they may not be allowed to impose themselves on others, but don’t come right out and say it.
           I see the logic, how parasitic personalities would fight to prevent others from having the option to not associate, but don’t think I could agree making a law that says you must associate with them if that is what they want. (There are already enough problems with that concept in America over sex, race, religion, and orientation.) Imagine a world, where you could substitute a robot every time some jerkwad tried to obstruct you. They are not going to be happy, I can name lots of them. Bankers, protestors, feminists, HOAs, woketards. These sorts would exist only in isolation if others are ever given the choice to ignore them. It’s a situation they seem to fear even if it is hypothetical.

Last Laugh

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March 19, 2025

Yesteryear
One year ago today: March 19, 2024, returning to XP.
Five years ago today: March 19, 2020, American banks suck.
Nine years ago today: March 19, 2016, endless Florida horizon.
Random years ago today: March 19, 2009, the car I never had.

           I’m straining to find something interesting about this morning. It isn’t the 40°F weather, which I only pay attention to over my own health. I don’t even like people who obsess about it for no reason. I awakened to birds surrounding my feeders, dead batteries, and a hankering for a processed food I have not eaten I much in fifty years. Namely, Velveeta cheese, it was the only cheese I grew up with. I learned to like others on my own and it fell out of favor. Until recently, which is not great, for I shun processed food, and it doesn’t get much more processed than Velveeta. Check in later, you can buy Velveeta just about anywhere in America.

           A big helping of grits got me underway on logistics, we’ll go outside when it is above 65°F, which gives me time for some academic pursuits. Let’s look at my new navigation clock. We find its quirks rapidly. One is that it will not display the date and the seconds at the same time. You have to hit a switch, and even then, the seconds cannot be set. The clock will not display 24-hour time. I tried to match the seconds to GMT by removing and re-inserting the batteries, but it changes on its own when you close the battery case. I will ignore seconds for reasons given in today’s addendum.

           Here’s how to apply the glue, fast, minimal fuss, work in the shade. Unfortunately the quality of the product has declined. I don’t trust the labels so I usually clamp together a couple pieces of scrap and test those for strength. After the recommended 24 hour cure time, I was able to easily separate the blocks with a single good whack from a 16oz framing hammer. The glue is spread on both sides and the material is porous, meaning this should be ideal glue-up conditions. Yet it failed at two joints. Most of the work so far was sanding the facing surfaces to make sure the bond was wood-to-wood. I’m thinking about what could be causing this, no theories so far.

           Let’s glance at the news. Two weeks from today is the deadline for Trump’s tariff changes. No more paying foreign competition. They must bring their own tariffs into line or face loss of American trade. I’ve seen many of these countries and their production figures are a lot of baloney. Once America stops propping them up, we’ll see who survives. Same goes for guitar players at the old club, which now has no live music, the last drop before it becomes a gay bar or similar. Old Keith has disappeared. Remember how he’d sit out most of the shows? That’s because him and his guitar playing drinking buddies knew how they’d sound after the Prez and I had played a while. All they had to do was ask, but guitar players don’t like that.
           Authorities in Washington State are recalling pet food over links to bird flu. One again, the flu only affects American birds, never Mexican or Canadian. Was I born poor? I was reminded today of how people who did not remember my dorm room number would find me. Just look out into the student parking lot and find the only unused parking spot. R213. That’s my room. There were other students on campus with no cars, but none in the residence. Most of those were within walking distance of their classes. Anyway. I did not have a good academic record until I made it work on my own, which is why I don’t owe anybody a thing.
           It says here India has raided the offices of George Soros. There is some kerfuffle over the Kennedy assassination files, but we’ve had too many false alarms. A jury in North Dakota has ruled in favor of a pipeline company that sued Greenpeace for defamation.

Picture of the day.
Metro State Prison choir.
Remember to use BACK ARROW to return to blog.

           How’s this for a view of the bench seat. Glued and adequately clamped, the nature of used lumber means we’ll likely have to do some tight fits. I think you can visualize how the boards all fit together. The weakness of the glue tested this morning is concern. I stopped only long enough to go downtown and buy some Velveeta. And to play “Secret Agent Man” since I have not had that on a song list in at least twenty or thirty years. It came out around the same time as the early James Bond films but apparently there was no connection.

           I watched a domumentary on skiing, a sport I never cared for. I have skied down several mountains, but found it boring and not all that challenging. After one bunny lesion, I went to the top and down the expert slope. Put the skis on the rack, and went inside to the lounge to have some fun. Turns out the industry is under scrutiny. Two big companies have bought up 50% of the business and prices are through the roof. Vale charges $329 per person per day just fo access. Everything else is extra and priced like it.

           No flooring work today, it was late afternoon before I realized it. I’ve been using the air conditioner in the afternoons, turning the indoor climate perfect for a siesta. I received a long newsletter from Caltier about most every topic except the one we want—when is the pause being lifted on new investments. Bottom line, we got into crowdfunding while still a new enough thing and learned a ton about how it works and does not work. I remain leery of “ground floor” startups or moving too fast. The reason I’m looking afield if mostly due to Caltier’s lack of communication. I know it is an SEC tie-up, but what is the nature of it and what is being done to get back on track.
           What’s this? Six black men and one White woman at a station in Antarctica, and “violence” has broken out? Who’d a-thunk it? There were two other women but that didn’t change the odds. Only woketard reports with no names and no details other than there had been threats and a sexual assault. Since the “team” is there to study climate change, I say leave them to their own resources. Kind of an acid test of how much they care for their fellow humans.

           The whole day flew past me, that’s rare. I took an hour after dark to go over the cost management factors on Etsy. Who is selling what? The first thing that hits me is the people who are not making money. I pay close attention to pricing which is why I notice when other don’t. Ease of market entry is a pitfall in America. One example I’ve used is landscaping. People get into it for a few thousand bucks and try to undercut the competition. While most go belly-up, there is always a constant supply of new people to take their place.
           One constant are videos claiming to turn $2 of lumber into $50 hotcakes. They then proceed to demonstrate using a vintage 20” Dewalt radial arm saw. (About $12,000.) Cutting pallet lumber with a $300 saw blade isn’t the smartest idea. As mentioned last week, I see a clear division with people who have to make a living at it. Allowing for that, some of the prices are still too damn high—which also attracts foreign competition, especially with smaller articles. But prices too low means working for nothing, which defeats the concept. But like music, even if I never make a profit, it stops me from spending money on other things which is the same as profit.

ADDENDUM
           Navigation is an elaborate set of estimations, and that includes the seconds. The Almanac values are more accurate than needed and you soon learn to round the figures. The explanation is simple—you don’t need extreme measurements in the middle of the ocean, and if you are in sight of any landmark, you would use that. A good navigator would know by how many seconds his chronometer is off. However, that is not the reason I chose to leave the seconds where they fell. It is called the equation of time.
           The Earth is not perfectly circular and its distance from the Sun varies during the year. The Sun does not always cross the Prime Meridian at exactly noon. I’ve seen the time off by nearly seven minutes, and it may be more that I have not seen. The values in the charts show “mean time”, the mathematic term for average. It is my understanding the Sun can move almost 30 miles in those minutes. For an amateur like myself, I would consider 30 miles out on the ocean to be very good results. So, for the purpose of practice, I disregard the seconds. Let’s do an example.

           The time of measurement (not the sextant reading) is 12:58:17 GMT on March 19, 2025. I’m using a 2014 Almanac, again for practice. The Sun is very near the Equator and at time of reading, it was at Greenwich Hour Angle 358°03.6’ at a declination of S00°28.6’ on the last hour. Referring to the table of increments, we add 14° 34.3’ to allow for the 58 minutes and 17 seconds past the hour, to arrive at a GP of 12° 38’ S00.29’. We will now use an app to find where that is. Why not use Google maps? Because Google is one of the worst. It automatically tracks down your IPS and displays the location of that. Maybe to let you know who is boss, I suppose. You cannot enter the data in any known format. You can trial-and-error trying to drag the pointer around, but of what practical use this would be escapes me.
           Don’t be dismayed if this isn’t easy to follow. What hindered me is the terms, which are an admixture of words from navigation, astronomy, and math. The sun is still nearly three hours over the Eastern horizon and Florida is on Daylight Saving Time. (That’s ‘saving’, not ‘savings’.) I have not yet located a map where coordinates can be entered in correct format. The one site that comes close tries to find the nearest street address, which takes a while if your GP is somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean

           You won’t find many exciting places under the Sun’s position. It is in a band around the Equator that is just under 24° north and south of it over the year. That part of the world is mostly water except over Africa and the Amazon. The land parts are not known for the contribution to civilization.
           If you find a map that displays co-ordinates, you can click by trial and error to fine the GP is in the Gulf of Guinea some distance south of Sierra Leone and west of Gabon. How millenials think this way of doing things is useful just proves they don’t have a clue what is going on—but they can sure as hell code that sucker!

Last Laugh

March 18, 2025

Yesteryear
One year ago today: March 18, 2024, a log of mandolin.
Five years ago today: March 18, 2020, no insurance.
Nine years ago today: March 18, 2016, I encounter Blackrock.
Random years ago today: March 18, 2005, turnips are okay.

           I posed the question on-line about how these Obama-appointed judges were able to get advance notice of what Trump is doing while the rest of us have to wait for later news reports. What is with that? It took me two coffee refills to ponder this. It’s a cold morning and we are up early, mind you in the toasty warm back office with the chicken-coop heater. It was down to 69°F inside the house overnight. (49°F outside,) It’s too dark to see the outside birdie thermometer and too chilly in the kitchen to make grits. (The inmates in CECOT are not allowed any meat.)

           Today will be slow over an unexpected foot pain, just above the bridge. I did not strain or drop anything on it. Let me say, one time with gout is enough and if it hurts when you move, don’t push the issue. I did some light shopping, including pick up these tubes of liquid nails. Last time I bought, they were 97ȼ, today $2.88. The tubes are also narrower in diameter. And people wonder why nobody with a brain likes the Demtards.
           This product is hard to beat. Once dry, it easily destroys a wood surface if you try to pry it apart. The bench I’m making is totally held with this glue, there are no nails. The first pieces are clamped in place, you should give this 24 hours. If I did not say, the bench is a heavy piece of furniture, totally solid.

           Cold is not my friend, it can feel like somebody standing on my shoulder blades. Good morning, what adventure will today bring? Hopefully it is something small, local, and free. My days of long-distance adventure are now curtailed and I like it like that. By dawn, it is still cold so we will take this morning to re-evaluate fractional real estate ownership. Caltier is not quite the best choice, but it served its purpose of giving me answers I could not get elsewhere. The failure of Lofty to give any answers at all puts them out of the picture.

           The new companies I’ll look at are Arrived and reAlpha, and another peek at Fundrise. I’m leery of reAlpha because they buy airBNB which I regard as a faulty business model subject to a complete wipeout by minor government regulation. I also disregard Landa as they buy only in Brooklyn apartments, but I will look. These companies have the right idea, to let smaller investors participate in a commerce out of reach to beginners. True, these startups put pressure on an already overpriced market, but they also scare the likes of real estate giants like Zillow who derive their profits from the traditional manipulations of the trade. (For example, how banks will not grant mortgages to properties that drop in value.)
           This investigation is not without the rules I’ve picked up on. One is only to invest when the property is purchased outright, or has massive positive cash flow due to high occupancy and rents. (It was influential in picking Caltier.) Renters, don't look to me for pity, I know exactly what it is like to work over half the month to pay the rent to some landlord whose daddy gave him the house. I did some arithemetic. The ratios are not rocket surgery, with Arrived, the average investor puts up $3,415 and there have been advancements in automatic rent collection. I formerly rejected Fundrise because they did not apportion ownership of individual properties. But they would be fools to buck that trend, so we’ll have a boo.

           Real estate is risky. I shun Blackrock for a number of reasons. One is that they do not buy outright, just make downpayments, trusting rents and new investors will carry the mortgages in bad times, the worst form of debt investing. You are also really investing in the Blackrock fund, not the real estate. For sure, landlords can be an unsavory lot, but all too often the law favors bad tenants. Thus, I want a company that buys outright (saving the rip-off 7% real estate commission), manages the property themselves, and isolates me from any contact with the hoi polloi. It’s my money and I worked hard to lay down these conditions. (Industry insiders refer to these different brands of “ownership” as equity investing where you own the property, and debt investing where the property is used to secure a loan for its own purchase, also known as a mortgage.)
           Later, we have already hit a snag. You cannot open an Arrive account without a phone number that can be used to track you. I shut down the 800 number 18 months ago because we were not using it. There is a workaround anything and it is a fool who gives strangers anything they ask for these days. Also, Arrive pays monthly dividends where I was more curious about how daily payouts worked.

Picture of the day.
Illegal store in Colony Ridge, TX.
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           I crawled back in the sack till noon and it’s a balmy 70°F. Do we do some work or go for a van ride? Looks like the van ride won. More video on CECOT, the big prison in El Salvador. The country is still hunting down the 20,000 estimated remaining gang members who are plainly on the run. We can’t have that in the USA because we have too many lawyers and a police force that is already corrupted by what powers they have. Let’s go for a ride and see if that cheers us up any. We’ll listen to how Loreda is doing and whether Jack unionizes her mother.

           Finding it nearly impossible to find a small clock (not a wrist watch) that displays the day and date, I splurged 10% of my John Deere earnings and bought a desk clock small enough to fit inside my navigation box. It can’t be set for 24-hour mode, but has a prominent AM/PM icon.

           I’ve decided the way to practice Sight Reduction is not to follow the guidebook, but do a series of dead reckoning positions near where I am. Even if you are miles off, the sightings still work, just not as accurately. Using the book examples, you are dealing with two moving targets. My plan is to bring one of them to more or less a standstill until the system makes more sense.
Another nonsensical item is the way so many of the navigation instruction books have a conversational style. Yet the navigation process is a series of distinct steps that is better taught by a list of instructions. But it is quickly noticed few instructors want to make such a list. I have no theory why that is.

           Here is the first set of bench legs, everything has to be clamped solid. For reasons unknown this pallet lumber will slide on its own, probably because the glue is slippery until it grabs. This piece was the right amount of work for me today, most of the work is sanding the pallet lumber smooth where the glued surfaces meet. I’m building what I think I saw, I have no idea how strong this bench will turn out to be. The neighbor was late so we did not set down to Festus until evening, and it turned out to be another soap.
           In this case, a rancher takes a shine to a pregnant school teacher. They never say rape but that what they meant because everybody knows unmarried women never had sex until 1962. Then all hell busted loose. They also lowered the drinking age in Canada, which I think is why there are so many ugly women in the vicinity these days.

           Later, I may take a closer look at Liquid Nails as a box adhesive. It seems a little gooier than I remember, but that makes it easy to work with. If it holds and dries not too bad a color, it is much cheaper than other wood glues. Then my system went into self-protect mode and I fell asleep in my office chair till bedtime.

Last Laugh

March 17, 2025

Yesteryear
One year ago today: March 17, 2024, 20-hour drive.
Five years ago today: March 17, 2020, asleep at the wheel.
Nine years ago today: March 17, 2016, simply not anyone’s job.
Random years ago today: March 17, 2012, a generic day.

           Either the storm slipped past or I slept through it. In today’s addendum, I have pasted the song list of the new guy, let’s call him Steve. It’s a good list, like it was 25 years ago. It kind of reflects amateur status as half of these tunes were chosen without regard for their suitability to small band arrangement or what the other band members have to play. Too much of it is slow, unhappy music. I’ve played 25 of these tunes at some point and everybody deserves a chance. Especially if he can sing all this stuff.

           This is interesting. Sweden and Norway, the two most ardent supporters of cashless society, are advising people to keep cash. The reason? Impending war with Russia. The banking system is so vulnerable they are now requiring businesses to accept cash again. (Around 90% of the Nordic transactions are eKrona.)

           Here’s the birdie disco-ball against a backdrop of my [still] unpainted back wall. That’s all I got for you as my self-regulatory retirement cycle cut in and I fell back asleep until afternoon. I awoke in the middle of a low-pressure drop with no storm. It hit somewhere, the feed says 32 dead but not even the loose windows panes shook here. And that is all I got for you. I still feel the tightness across my shoulder blades, the ones Big Loretta pried loose, but that are also worried by low-pressure and cool weather. Will I even get underway today?
           Silver hovers near $34 when by the historical 16:1 ratio it should be at least $180. Granny raccoon had pancakes and leftover mashed, I think she is going deaf as well. If I’m working quietly, she now forages close without detecting me until the last moment. She eats every acorn seed in the yard every day. I’ll set the deer camera as I know her routine. First I need to finish that floor as after a week, I’m running short of supplies. You can stockpile more in Florida, but that’s trusting they pack it in containers that will last in this heat and humidity. Even that regular size container of table salt give you only half, the rest is a clump long before you use it up.

           St. Patrick’s Day, ha, more so in America. Ireland has really gone for a dump. The world cannot fathom whatever happened to the IRA, who were able to take on the British Army. Nothing but bad news out of that country every day. If they don’t do something, it is the end of thousand-year Ireland in two generations, without a fight. I’m gearing up to reduce those pallets from y’day and stack the lumber. I caution not to get too busy, as that is counterproductive. It causes problems with things go wrong and you have to stop everything to adjust. The skids on the pallets are nicer than the slats, we must find a use for them.
           Should you see the word CECOT more often, this is the jail system in El Salvador (literally “the Savior”) where the US is sending terrorists. It is located in Tecoluca, which we’ve flown over in the 90s. It is not called a jail, but a terrorist confinement center, so there is no misunderstanding. A host of Democrat politicians and Obama-appointed judges are demanding the prisoners be returned to the USA. This does nothing for their already tanking reputations.

           The complex is 45 miles in the middle of nowhere and designed for 40,000 prisoners. They are not allowed any contact with the outside. Each cell holds between 60 and 70 inmates and there are not enough cots for all to sleep at once—a huge dose of their own medicine. There are no training or workshops, the prison gym and game area is for the guards. The prisoners are not allowed outside and spend hours sitting in rows listening to lectures and that they will never be permitted to return to their communities. The local libtards have complained that around 261 prisoners have been killed by other prisoners, but that hardly has any traction.
           Inside there are racks of metal shelves with no mattresses, the lights are on 24/7, and there is an armed guard outside behind a metal screen watching each cell. All cellular signals are jammed a mile from the prison, which is surrounded by two belts of security checkpoints. The size of around seven football stadiums, the wire is 15,000 volts. Once inside a sector, the prisoners never leave. Everything from medical visits to their trials are held inside the complex. Of course, liberals squawk about human rights, but only of the inmates, not their victims.

           The pallets from y’day have today become these 64 shingles. This is the fate of wood too dried and cracked for anything else around here. This is not very many shingles, but the really bad sections had to be chop-sawed out. If I had a laser printer, I’d burn “Home Sweet Home” on these scraps. I have excellent tools to break the pallets apart.
           Back to El Salvador. The local crackdown continues. A force of 2,500 armed police surround a neighbor whole, going door-to-door until every one suspected of crime or supporting criminals is arrested. In El Salvador, you can be arrested on suspicion and this is unlikely to change soon. Everyone entering the prison is subjected to search and a body scan. The outer wall is tank-proof and the guards shoot to kill. Any rebellion, fighting, or insubordination gets 15 days in solitary. Gang leaders are kept together in separate blocks across a walkway from opposing gang leaders. They are on closed circuit TV round the clock. CNN has taken to calling it the biggest prison “in America”.
           The prison recently is being used to house prisoners awaiting trial. This is the media talking point, that some of them have never been “proven” to be terrorists, and as we’ve seen the media will just deny any proof. My point of view is it has always been practice to hold prisoners before trial if there is a flight risk or a chance of more crime. And the Democrats have always championed the opposite, allowing the criminals to operate while their judges delay the trial. In New York City, they release violent criminals back on the streets same day. Trump is putting the shoe on the other foot and of course they don’t like it one bit.

           [Author's note: all of the prisoners shown in the news so far are destined to die in prison. While El Salvador law has a maximum sentence is (or was) 15 years, that is per crime. Some of these prisoners have sentences of over 1,000 years. There have been no natural deaths in the prison yet, but that's likely because the inmates are largely in the 18 to 36 age bracket. The maximum sentence for minors used to be 7 years. When the gangs discovered this, they began recruiting children to do their murdering. Of course, there is an outcry that innocent men have been rounded up, but under their law, suspicion is a crime. Apparently there is also a women's prison but we've heard nothing of that.]

Picture of the day.
Lagoa das Sete Cidades.
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           It was with some interest I viewed the hand-held welding gun. I’m leery of the claims but some of the displayed welding joints are something I could learn. And I have $100 unspent dollars. I did not work on this chore back in 2016.The floor has to be lifted up and put back each work session so it is not worth it for less than several hours. Here is the AirLocker, one of my most productive of tools.

           I took apart the pallets mainly for the 2x3s, which were once milled to very sharp corners. That is the next picture you see below. The pieces are just being cut and fitted. If this object looks familiar, you may have been reading this blog a long time. It is upside down but yet, that is the same design as the seat at the entrance of the Sunflower Café in East Nashville. Hmmm, I thought I had some excellent photos of that bench.

           As a demo of how far standards have fallen, a Canadian woman has been diagnosed with “climate change”. We are having another Florida cool spell, so be careful of a climate outbreak. The far left is desperate for a distraction. I’m not, and where is my $5,000 DOGE rebate? And why are we bombing Yemen while there are still undeported aliens about. If you see that new and nasty meme about Bondi and the Epstein files, I know the smart aleck that composed that. The Texan says he has plenty of experience installing bumper hitches and I will soon need a new stove. I want something fancy, which means ceramic tops.

           Later, I’ve been nudged to clarify the photo. It is a bench or planter made entirely of 2x3s. The photo is upside down for the construction process. This is the 12 pallet skids plus a couple of end pieces I cut to fit. I will glue and clamp the entire object so there are no metal pieces. It stands 16” off the floor and it is a design I copied. I have no plans on how to finish the wood.

           Also, I found my old laminate router and hope to test it with a jig for installing hinges. I had it rigged to make rabbet cuts but found it easier to make those cuts on a carefully adjusted table saw. As I gain experience with the boxes, I’m finding a number of new rules to follow. One is that slapping together a makeshift box is 75% as time consuming as making something fancier. That’s another tidbit they leave out of the instruction manual.
           Remember Jack the drummer? He finally got his license back. I sent him a list of tunes to work on. I have the impression he is not the greatest drummer by his own admission. But simply keeping a steady beat is all I need to work with. We have not heard from Ray-B in two months, I may insist we meet up for coffee to see how he is coming along. And I again have a free place to stay in Miami and it is 33 miles closer than JZ’s place. And JZ has dropped out of the picture for a few months already. It’s that woman, she’s bleeding him dry, I’m sure that’s the situation over there but I’m not going anywhere near it.
           As for those useless DEI hires in the space station, if it was not so expensive I’d say leave them there. And quit calling them astronauts. They are nothing of the kind. A year is space and we have yet to hear of them making a single meaningful discovery. Our tax dollars paying for another woketard stunt. Rescue them and sent them the bill.

ADDENDUM
           Here is the new guy’s song list (verbatim):

Come Monday-Jimmy Buffet
Hotel California - Eagles
Thank You - Chris Cornell
Secret agent man - Johnny rivers
Sweet home Alabama - skynyrd
Sister golden hair surprise -America
Knocking in heavens door - Dylan/Guns
Simple man-Skynyrd
Operator - Jim Croce
Ain’t no sunshine - Bill withers
For what it’s worth - Buffalo Springfield
Wagon Wheel - Darius Rucker
Here without You - 3 Doors Down
Let her cry - hootie
Nothing compares to you - Chris Cornell
Interstate Love song - STP
Runaround Sue -Dion
Take it easy-eagles
Yesterday- Elvis Pressley version
Folsom Prison Blues - Johnny Cash
You don’t know how it feels - Tom Petty
Dancing in the dark - Bruce Springsteen
Tequila sunrise - Eagles
Bad Leroy Brown - jim Croce
Suspicious minds - Elvis
Learning to fly - Tom Petty
Brown Eyed Girl - Van Morrison
I walk the line - Johnny cash
Courtesy of The Reed white and blue - Toby Kieth
Ring of Fire - Johnny Cash
Jack & Diane - Melencamp
Be yourself - Chris Cornell
Take me home country roads - Denver
Hurt - Johnny Cash
Only God knows why - Kid Rock
Breakdown - Tom Pretty
Wicked Game - Chris Isak
Lying eyes - eagles
Toes - Zack brown band

Last Laugh

March 16, 2025

Yesteryear
One year ago today: March 16, 2024, same song list, too.
Five years ago today: March 16, 2020, after the tornado.
Nine years ago today: March 16, 2016, perfect motorcycle weather.
Random years ago today: March 16, 2015, the fear of average.

           A new reason for not releasing the Epstein files is making the rounds. It goes that if they release them, the system could collapse. Everyone from corporate CEOs to the unelected PM of Canada are implicated. The word is the stock market would implode and the existing social order could be permanently upset. The average America is wondering what the holdup is. Good morning, I told my self I would only have three pancakes. But you can’t make just three. Let’s say the raccoon eats well this weekend. Putin has tacitly said he will deal with Trump only. The reality is, like most men, he won’t put up with queers.

           After three nights of correct positioning of the deer camera in the silo, I have no pics of any critters. Yet the evidence has to be swept up every few days. And what is with all the cars roaring around this morning. It’s 8:00AM and nobody wants to hear the song of your people. It’s not my age, I can sleep through anything, but that I’ve seen Florida from the stage looking down. Trust me, that 1950s hot-rod greaser car is not going to get them any. They’ve been sold a bad pickle by their frenz on network streaming.
           Here are two of the new joists in place. This is 40% of that task done and it was tiring work. However the hard part is done, these were the joists that were causing the drawers and windows to stick. Later, one of the drawers came loose. No money stash, just a lot of mouse droppings. Tex dropped off four pallets, but they were spindly. I guess to the untrained eye, most pallets look alike.

           And I’m curious why this blog is suddenly getting twice the hits again. Maybe I’ve become a mini-pseudo-influencer? The way to deal with this is build another box today. I’ll keep you posted. Here’s a recent youTube [link deleted due to advertising] war documentary that typifies the worst of Allied propaganda. The sad part it, this bull-crap is a recent production, showing how long the media can push propaganda. Almost every statement in this video is bogus. They’d have you believe a pontoon bridge was better than the Ludendorff crossing.
           Not wanting to be first to make noise next door, I watching this video. Nobody outmaneuvered the Germans, they swamped them. There is no proof the bunkers or cannons were “nazi” and it was normal at that stage of the war for the Germans to move around by foot.
           To wrap up the morning, it seems the Biden-era mandates are still being pushed. This time they may try to force-vaccinate Amish children. Apparently the bureaucrats have not learned their lesson. Something like this could be the tipping point. You do not fuck with the Amish.

           Another thing I have never understood is these Central American countries. It seems to me every one of them should be obsesses with building a canal. If nothing else, have the peasants donate a couple weeks every years to moving dirt. Even digging a mile or two a year they’d have got somewhere by now. Forget the expensive “studies” by the multi-nationals, just do it yourselves and you’ll all be millionaires. The challenge is the mountain ranges, not the swamps to the east. For that matter, build a tunnel instead of a canal. It’s as if these countries are content with staying third world.
           The day is getting on in silence, I shall begin at noon. Last day I picked up a trinket at the dollar store, a baseball sized org of mirrors, a toy disco ball if you would. I’d noticed the birds were attracted by objects that twinkled in the sun and this is a winner. What’s happened is it appeals to the female birds so I wised up and put a separate feeder for them. It contributed much to morning feeding peace and quiet.
           It’s been a couple hours, so I’ll start the day by building a couple boxes, one for my multimeters, I own around eight cheap ones (they work as well as the best), and one for my large collection of old hard drives which are not inventoried. Who knows what is on them, but we’ll find out—every since day one I kept all created files in a single separate directory. I may lack programs to run them but I’ve never been a fan of obscure software. So something will open most of them. I remember the good old days when you could open almost anything using a spreadsheet, including passworded ASCII files.

           Once I got started, I decided to run some tests. Noting the lumber is not consistent, let’s fund out what else can go wrong. A number of things, mostly to do with wood misbehaving after it is cut or fastened. Worst is wood that cups but is too thin to squeeze into shape. I chose all the most misshapen boards and made a box. What a hassle. The good news is these are naturally the correct size for storing old hard drives. Even the longest staples won’t hold a glued piece if it wants to bend. Screws will, but hardware is expensive. True, I could probably have learned all this from somebody who took shop, but where are they when you need them.
           Here is the box for my collection of hard drives, some of them since the early 90s. Those could be fun to examine. I felt the incoming storm, so I got under the house and did my best to level the joists. Installing them was strenuous, another two-man job.

Picture of the day.
Eggs with wild ramps.
Remember to use BACK ARROW to return to blog.

           Here is a floor-eye view of the challenge. This shows the worst rafter being shoe-horned into place. It’s a documentary photo of Agt. M, the orange line represents live, you can read the bubble. The two red arrow show how much the new beam is bowed upward by the old foundation. The bubble level is resting on the old joist in the foreground, you can see the wood is in bad shape. The new joist, the upper arrow is behind and ward from the wall of the house to the far right off the picture. That wall had to be raised enough to bring these two planks into alighment.

           This was accomplished by working the single 30-ton jack from position to position. So far this task has taken around 75 separate steps. Next photo is a view of the amount of work, hard to see but the hand sledge is laying on one of the fence posts I first put under the floor last seek.

           This morning, that old joist across the top was lying solid on this post. Now I can slide the hammer under, if you can see the gap. That is, I raised the joists nearly two inches. Again, I chose not to trust glue, in case it adhered only to a layer of wood, and I put in carriage bolts to cinch the joists in place. Do not let me fool you into thinking any of this was a lot of fun. It climbed past 80°F but a brisk wind from the approaching storm kept me from melting.
           Rather than repair the sole plates, I’ve decided to put new pylons under the worst spots. Y’know, it has been over a week of steady work and I must have learned to respect my limits. I needed rests but that’s expected This is better than ten years ago and twenty years back even lifting a hammer was out of the question.

           The thunder has remained well over the western horizon, who knows, maybe it will bypass my little cabin. I may get away with only purchasing a couple sheets of plywood. Does not have to be tongue & groove, since I’m fastening it with easily removable deck screws. I cannot rule out ever having to get under there again, unlikely as that is now.
           That movie, “The New World” is on my schedule. I’ve only ever seen the first half-hour, but I’m aware of the historical background and what I’ve seen is fairly accurate. I’m surprised the feminists allowed an actual 14 year old to play the part of Pocahontas, who was 11 or 12 when she met Smith, who was 27.

           News from El Salvador is 250 gang members have arrived there from the USA. Good, that means the deportation people did not obey the crazy Judge. Some flashy videos are making the rounds about the prisoner’s arrival. It seems rehearsed. Even the most corrupt of MSM polls put the Democrat approval ratings at below 30%. That’s probably below the critical mass needed for survival and must represent only the die-hard fanatics who hate Trump beyond any grasp of what’s happening.

ADDENDUM
           Finances. This floor repair has kept me so busy that I’ve not been spending any money. That’s bad, since I worked darn hard for an active retirement. Just not under-the-flooring type of active. I also got a notice from my old union that my pension has been upped a whopping $13.97 per month. Goodie, now I can afford that summer cottage. Actually, the union has been a good gatekeeper of the pension funds. This increase follows others, and the cost of living only applies to Gold Members, such as myself. Anybody who joined the company since 2006 doesn’t get them, a sign of the times.
           Caltier is still moving sluggishly and all their new offerings are restricted to accredited people. No reply from Lofty about instructions to set up their new type of account.

Last Laugh

March 15, 2025

Yesteryear
One year ago today: March 15, 2024, shower time.
Five years ago today: March 15, 2020, Frump City.
Nine years ago today: March 15, 2016, I hate NASA.
Random years ago today: March 15, 1997, remember mobile ATMs?

           You’re up early. By 9:00AM the sun was over the neighbor’s barn and warning my shoulder blades as I help myself to coffee. And wonder why my blog readership y’day was eight times higher than normal. But, we know these events happen randomly and don’t wonder for long. I see the navigational item was popular, this is something you can do yourself. It is a simple calculation of glancing at your clock and recording the time. You use an on-line almanac to find the Sun’s position on the even hour, then add for the minutes and seconds after. The result is that single spot above the Earth’s surface where the Sun was at that moment in time. (You can do this for any time in the past or future.)

           Good morning, and let’s get underway. Feel free to jump in and lend a hand. I want a refill so let’s check the news. Nothing, but I did not get off easy as the silo radio is tuned to NPR. I got the 2x6s unloaded and put into place but not stood up yet under the floor. Because I can’t find my sledge hammer. Never mind, I found it.

           The red 30-ton jack is visible here, with a plank across the top to bolster the crumbling sill plate. The presence of the plumbing pipes betrays this as the source of the dry rot and termite damage. It looks bad now, as I did a hasty repair in the early days. There is a budget now to do a property job. There were some wooden blocks where a previous repair had been made, but they were useless once the plate warped and I’ve already knocked most of them away.
           This is the view from the exterior, the damage is fairly extensive. I could use a jack-all if they still make them. Most of the wood seen here is not doing any good. Note the zig-zag plumbing job I had to do back in 2019. I knew this would come back to haunt me. Chances are, now that I have money and experience, I will replace the whole shebang.
           And all this while NPR was on another one of their asinine propaganda blitzes. That’s where every few minutes of every broadcast they slip in a comment pretending that some controversial issue is an established fact. This morning it was the COVID hoax again.

           They must be the only station left that accepts money for this; others have smartened up. “Climate experts are unsure how badly today’s weather has hampered the Biden administration’s efforts to distribute COVID vaccines.” Worst are the constant “now that the COVID pandemic is under control” twenty times an hour, the way even the announcers are annoyed. The John Deere tractor is gone. Some guy offered Tex (we’re still working on his nickname) $100, I said take it. Now to get rid of the Town & Country, I lost money on that one. But now I got $100.
           By noon I had moved those eight large planks and wore myself out. I sat down and went over some of the sites selling wood boxes. If you watched the Bearded Viking videos, do not be influenced by the prices quoted, I just point them out for effect. I doubt if most of that stuff sells for half the list, but you don’t have to sell many at full price to make your day. Tex does not sell on-line for the same reason as most—they make it too much of a runaround and the sales are never cash.

           Trump is talking about eliminating all tax on incomes of less than $150,000. I wonder how that will affect taxes. It would seem Biden was implementing departments to do nothing but track ever smaller businesses. It looks to me like the business community has now recovered from the 2020 shutdowns of most cash flow operations, that was a disaster but this is the USA. If there is a dollar to be made, something is chasing it since last week.
           Is the stock market crashing? Or adjusting to its true value? And why don’t space landers have some mechanism to stand back up if the lander tips? It would only have to be used once or so. As many as six Presidential decrees appear to have been signed by autopen while Biden was out of town, casting huge aspersions on his administration. But so far, zero arrests. Democrats have flipped from mandating electric vehicles to vandalizing them. Shameless hypocrites.
           I also went over the alternative sight reduction procedure used for navigation. Nope, too finicky, I’ll stick with the air navigation method.

Picture of the day.
Street carpets, Sensuntepeque.
Remember to use BACK ARROW to return to blog.

           That last picture should give you a good idea of the dirty, dusty work this entails. Here ia a picture of the first joist almost in place. It’s the new piece of wood diagonal top left to botton right with the clamp holding it in place. You are looking at nearly three hours of work and this is the easiest joist. I think the best thing I could do to speed up this job is to put my coffee maker in the van and drive it out to Bartow, then donate it to that Thrift that always closes before I get there.

           To follow what is happening here, there will be two joists where there used to be one. The double planks will be fastened together. The older lumber is dark with age, the new piece is almost shiny by comparison. Five of these are slated to shore up the kitchen, the hard part is standing them up in place. They have to be shoved in from the outside, across this open space, and then secured individually, as the warped flooring is not consistent.

           And so you know I’m not all work, here is another box that will shortly be completed. Where did I put that laminate router that would be good for hinges? My work is beginning t match what I view on-line better, these panel boxes are now easy to run off in a few minutes. I make two models of these, one with the panels, you can see the slots here. The other is solid wood on all sides, these are meant for valuable items. My plan for this evening it to stay at home, drink hot chocolate, and find a good old war movie.

           There is a storm on the way so I battened everything down. This time of year it is wind mainly. I had to turn off the radio, it was getting ridiculous, but when doors around here slam by themselves, I know it’s going to get turbulent. And what is with all the sirens? Around twenty minutes steady now up and down Florida Avenue.

           Back inside, the wind is picking up, so I read and studied a bit more about Sight Reduction tables. They represented a giant leap forward in ease. I must admire the task of early navigators who did this by hand, it must have been a days work indeed. Up to now, I’ve used the tables without that much understanding, which is probably the way 95% of navigators use them. The confusing part is a little number called “d”, which I think of as distance. It is the adjustment done for the slight change of position of your coordinates when your readings are not taken on the exact hour.
           Now I understand why it is important to know if your GP (position of the Sun) and your AP (assumed position) are in the same hemisphere, or “contrary” as the Almanac calls it.

ADDENDUM
           I was amused to find a complaint by a major Gab influencer. The background here is that somebody had posted that she’d had a major breast enlargement. Normally, fakery is considered entirely normal by today’s generations but in this instance it was considered wrong due to her constant posts about telling the truth. Here’s her beef, and it is not what you think. There is a billion-dollar industry for women to look younger and you can read into this [that] the motive is to attract better men. Hold that thought and continue.
           This gal posted a picture of herself at 26, and yes, she really does look 16. Her complaint? That she was attracting creepy men who thought she was 16. So there must be some arbitrary age at which women must not look or their plan to get more men collapses. Or, you might say, even women who get what they want will always find something to crab about. What a thought-provoking eye-opener on human nature.
           Mind you, it works both ways. Saying she could have used that situation to find the perfect man is reflected by the how men try to find a young, pretty women. It would appear when men succeed at that, they are happy. Women, not so much. I relegate my status to just observing, but yes, I have issues with age. It is hard-wired by evolution, that most men would rather put up with a little immaturity than with what most women turn into. I spent a lifetime looking for an exception. But that’s another tale from the trailer court.

Last Laugh

(Chocolate mousse with peanuts.)