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A reminder to the reader this is not a political blog, but commentary on human behavior. 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.

June 6, 2026

Yesteryear
One year ago today: June 6, 2025, women swooned.
Five years ago today: June 6, 2021, Sears wasn’t cheap.
Nine years ago today: June 6, 2017, so I parked.
Random years ago today: June 6, 2011, fans vs A/C.

           Dang, there is no good radio left. Not one easy listening station on the dial. Religion, sports, shigga-boogah, and anti-Trump NPR. Over the past couple months I resorted to recording on-line European stations but lately all my favorites seem to have switched to techno-rock. Ha, you have not suffered until you’ve heard German pop with the electric accordion. I was up late reading the Gold Coast book, as old Hortt took several long vacations in Europe and South America. In this chapter, he’s riding trains through some desolate Andean countryside and staying in hotels with no heat. The trick is to bribe the staff to bring you old wine bottles filled with hot water and wrapped in towels. These actually work till morning.

           Up early, I looked at RibbonFET. We know about MOSFET, the metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor. But that technology is maxed out, and RibbonFET is one of two paths being pushed at the manufacturing level. News just in that a bill has passed that all illegals who are on welfare (the wording says “fraud”) are automatically deported.

           I made an early trip to the doggie pound with fifty pounds of food. I had help lifting it, and across the way is the used paint store. The recycling depot. I got a whole bag of goodies, how is this significant? To avoid the weekend wait, I park near the mulch bin and walk over. The joy is on the way back with a bag, I walked full speed the distance without thinking. Ha, so that is a plus. Endurance will get you a job, but instant energy bursts will save you from the alligators. The span is almost a half a city block, congratulations.
           The trade-off is by the time I got home, I was taking baby-steps up to my door. I was really dragging my ass by noon. But I know who is moving as fast as they can. The time and money wasting NASA people on the useless space station. Part of the structure built in Russia is starting to crack and leak out the air. Gosh, what a surprise. The Russians aboard want to use a hand saw to get at the cracks and fix them but the NASA people are horrified by that plan. My plan is to let the thing disintegrate and get the US space program back on the path to Mars. Happy D-Day. Unless you ask the vets, I mean.

           I made two spice boxes, both with logos. The plan is to test some stains on the wood. This morning fronted me two of the sought-after clear or satin gloss poly finishes. I’m just not the type to spend a lot of money on those, meaning free is the correct price. The lighter stains work well enough with the laser, but the burn time is a real concern. A full-size logo, which is 3”x3” for my equipment, takes nearly 7 minutes for the burn, adding on setup and positioning, more like 10 minutes. So three labels per box keeps things hopping. The correct burn speed is 3500 mm per minute to get it dark enough to match the stain. This took months to discover.
           The variability of the lumber is solved by making each box out of one picket. The timing is exactly one cup of coffee, I have tested this on numerous occasions. Today I set the time lapse on the sky again. That was India on the phone, I’ll pass on an invite to a wrestling match. Like car racing, just not my thing. She was out of the loop for almost two weeks with catching the flu from her kids.
           Nor are my boxes her priority, she just happens to be a seasoned Etsy user. The roadblock for me is the need to tend to the computer at daily regular hours. That’s called a job and I don’t want one. Here are the ten tunes garnered from the twelve sent by Ricko, the guitar player. We played another fifteen tunes from experience. Those are expected to find their own way. One attribute Ricko has is he reacts to telegraphed bass lines, particularly song endings. The Hippie was just beginning to catch on to that when he went feral the final time.

Questioningly
Hey Joe
Chain of Fools
Little Red Rising Hood
Lonesome Fugitive
Today He Stopped Loving Her
Dark End of the Street
Red House
Perfect CW Song
Today I Started Loving Her Again

           Granted, this is not A-side material, but he was very frank that he does not care for the overplayed standards. We can agree on that, but I’m old-fashioned in thinking the material you do play should be recognizable by the majority. Then again, maybe Ricko is deliberately choosing country songs because he knows my influences. I’ll run through the list again later, right now it is too noisy from all the plumbers and electricians laughing as A.I. replaces the people who went to college.

Picture of the day.
Typical west-US historical district.
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           The guitarist also tried to slip some originals into the mix. I leave those until last. Reasons? Easy, there is no local market for originals, the material is generally guitar-centric crap, and I regard originals as permission to over-play the material. Hey, you want original, I’ll show you original. What? You meant only insofar as it showcases your guitar? Darnn, now you tell me. I’ll have most of the covers ready by Monday, the next scheduled rehearsal.

           I’ve learned his dreadfully slow material all simply for the sake of getting back stage. Funeral songs by George Jones don’t get my vote. While there are some hits on his list, none are in even the top 500 classics, a source I regularly check to make sure about a lot of tunes.

           I zipped over to Kooters for a couple and to see if the other guitarist was present. Nope, it was dart night and they are plenty noisy enough. I took this box, which was not ready, but the server loved it anyway. It’s the picket wood with pecan stain and the Kooters logo, which she loved. That is the effect of these boxes, you see it, you pick it up, you need it. If it does not sell at that instant, all you’ve got is another box.
           Are you weary of hearing about boxes yet? Hey, at east I’m not on about billiards or hockey. Good, because the boxes are my representative of adventure these days. Face it, mountain climbing and the trampoline are out. The tale behind this box is that it is a reject. Nothing visible really, but the carefully chosen jig failed due to slightly differing wood dimentions. The pickets can vary in width, making the bottom panels hard to fit. Since the box bottoms have to be flat so they don’t wiggle, it also makes for uneven tops, but that is kind of a feature.
           A glance around said all older couples in some degree of marriage, so I took out a pen an wrote a letter to Hersh, my pal in the frozen north country. A fellow musician, he’s made recordings, he will be amused by the list I sent him. My new guitarists list is right out of 1974, which was the last era we even listened to record albums of this music.

           In other news, starting this September, Google will issue a silent update that blocks every app on your Android phone unless it has a signed contract with Google and government ID. You only think the phone belongs to you. No, you cannot disable or opt out, Google has been ready for you on that count for at least five years. I mean, think of the groundwork they must have done to infect hundreds of millions of cell phone to even accept silent updates.

ADDENDUM
           I wanted a quiet day, but everything is dominated by the cheating going on in California. The radio stations are making excuses but it is evident Trump is purposely letting America see for themselves what Democrat corruption looks like. It’s the perfect tactic since the Senate rejected the America First bill that would require ID and proof of citizenship—and all this well-placed to sink in deeply before the November mid-terms. But, you knew all this years ago if you’ve been following this blog.
           Few recall how many years ago I warned that most Hindu university “degrees” were bogus. This morning brings news that hundreds of thousands of visas and degrees are under investigation. It would not bother most Americans is these people were shipped back wholesale.

           The stock market is not your friend. I took a look at some dividend stocks to test the waters. It is still very much a gamble, and now there are horrific rumors of government caps on capital gains at 140%. My research on this is a follow up of last day when I priced chip-making machines at nearly a half-billion each. My conclusion is the market is positioned very defensively, that is, nobody knows what’s going to happen.

Last Laugh

June 5, 2026

Yesteryear
One year ago today: June 5, 2025, five bedrooms.
Five years ago today: June 5, 2021, butter patterns.
Nine years ago today: June 5, 2017, 18% in one year.
Random years ago today: June 5, 2008, hand truck coincidence.

           Today is shed day this week. Do a little catching up and see if we can rig up a DVD player. Have you heard of multi-patterning? It’s a technique that addresses the problem of transistors getting so small that they interfere with each other and the wavelengths of light needed to burn the chips is reaching a limit. So what they do is split up the burn pattern, etch half, shift chip plate a micron and burn the other half. It’s more expensive, but not the $400 million a whole new etching machine costs these days.

           In fact, here is an explanatory video, plus a bonus video of the plastic pipe cutter somebody should have invented fifty years ago. It’s an open question as to why they did not, nomsayn? I just discovered something—how to deconstruct GIF files. One created, they need work to extract them back to a series of single panels. Well, I just stumbled on a method that might meet my needs—and it is cheap because I already have an app. The trick is to open the GIF as the wrong kind of file. Anyway, enjoy these, I’m heading outside.

           First, check with Howie, who confirms I cannot hear the doorbell from the back office. I can if all the fans and A/C are off, but that leaves half the year drowned out. I got the jig pieces by trial and error on the third box, so Howie gets the fourth. To keep stuff in, the kind of stuff men who get things done always accumulate. Have a look for yourself, this Fake box is extra unique. Can you make out the speckled pattern on the surface? You get that every so often and I just tell people the tree had been struck by lightning. A collector’s item.
           Today begins the Track Meet Murder Trial. But it is more of a shit-show, yet it reveals that in America, even if you are caught red-handed and confess, still get a trial at taxpayer’s expense. While the system won’t hang a black due to violence, he won’t last long in prison. The sad part is how protesters seem to have unlimited funds to show up and make a scene. I would cut them off welfare. The defense is claiming the killer was protecting himself against “White supremacy”. Let’s see how far he gets with that.

           News, then a nap. Some actor I never heard of got shot by his girlfriend’s 44-year-old son. How many times I gotta tell men that dating leftovers is stupid. And if you are a rich retired actor, make that double-stupid. The cheating has already begun in California. Ballot dumping is only part of it the game. It seems after the polls closed, some 23,000 ballots showed up, all for the ugly lady, zero for her opponent. They not only cheat, they are this brazen about it, obviously confident nobody will do anything. I wonder. I can’t shake the feeling Trump is letting them expose themselves, holding back a big surprise for November.
           Ghost guns is a relatively new term in the media, but it’s been around to describe guns assembled out of parts that make the weapon untraceable. You can order the parts or the whole kit on-one, though the barrel and hammer are still hardened metal. The media regard these a defensive or dangerous depending on the holders political affiliations. That means it is okay to own one if you are a Democrat. This is what caught my attention.
           And here’s an updated factoid: 25% of all Mexicans now live in the USA, and 70% of them are on welfare.

Picture of the day.
Soviet GAZ-13 Chaika.
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           The “laser tower” as an easy project. It is an adjustable tray to compensate for how tall narrow objects can be etched. The focus range of the diode is not much more than two inches. Up to now, I would pile up a tower of books to raise the laser high enough, as books are mighty plentiful around these parts. I whoops deleted the original, so here is the European version showing how the tray can be slid into three positions, each 1-1/2” apart. Let me see, do I have time to be a smart-ass? Yes, I do.

           Somebody in the smell seats is sooner or later going to point out, given what I describe about the laser, that the top layer of slots is redundant. It would already be within focus range. Ah, but tall narrow bodies exhibit unstable equilibrium. The laser is a moving tool and it can wobble. Thus, there other trays, not shown, with cutouts that can hold your widget upright and stable. And those can be two highly appealing invisibilities when working around lasers.

           A quick siesta, then I wandered back out to the shed. Is this my lot in life? If so, it sure ain’t bad compared to what’s out there. I overdid things a wee bit but the day was not squandered in front of a TV. That reminds me, I forgot to look for a monitor and I want movies in the shed. June is the sixth month of projected comeback and that shed was one hell of a good investment. If it was not so dusty, I’d put in a coffee maker. My physiology tells me the more hours in the shed, the faster I return. Movies would help.
           What is it I can do in my condition? Have a gander at these pics, they show some short-term activities that involve minimal lifting. Mind you, caution that any one of these can tucker me in moments for hours thereafter. Today, I got a half dozen similar items ranging from easy to complex for me. Examples are painting the caps of my empty pill bottles, of which I have great surpluses contemporaneously. Why would anyone bother doing this?

           At the other end of my effort scale, I got to some finishing work on boxes done for three hours. That normally means some kind of paint or stain, plus the hardware. That’s why this next picture is a reminder to myself to take it easy. It shows two boxes of dissimilar purpose. The reminder is that these boxes did not just get worked on, they got hauled back to the cabin. They did not get on that kitchen floor by themselves.
           Be aware that the extra stain needed to pretty up these boxes also means they retain the oily aroma much longer.

           One unit you may recognize as the laser tower with the tray resting at the central position.. Anything wood painted red or green around here means never cut or throw away. I may paint this all over as it is already proving quite a handy accessory. The other box tells a tale. It is an ordinary box built from scrap over a year ago. What happens is they get used for storage because they pre-date the Z-box design and are thus differing sizes. This box was for storing speaker cables. Then the magic happens.
           I find the box is the right dimensions for something else, it gets emptied, and I apply a coat of stain. This color is again, “Golden Pecan” and you may recognize the hardware as a draw pull and window latch. The result turns out almost too fancy for just storing cable. My place is full of such boxes by now, so many I have trouble finding things. Like today, where is my set of metric Allen wrenches? In a box somewhere.

           By the nature of what is involved, I regard the laser etching of the boxes to be a separate operation. Technically, it is a final step. But even in theory, it has nothing to do with box-building around here. Even the files are kept apart. Mix them up at your own peril.

           Now grab the bass and run through the new guy’s song list. To the seasoned eye, it is evident he’s never listened to the bass parts. This gives up little leeway for innovation. Enhance that for Hendrix, who had guitarist on bass, which means he never plays the same bass riff twice. These can be amalgamated into a sold bass backing sound with super turnarounds, enough to get the people’s attention. Let me work on it, I have a bag full of “Mozart” turnarounds I’ve lacked the chance to get after.
           My torso remains the center of my slow return and today I successfully avoided fatigue despite hours of fairly healthy moving around. More than once, it has the opposite effect on my brain, I get wide awake and stay that way. Using my ancient plan for insomnia, I read something boring. This time, I wanted to finally learn what “stressed skin” was with airplanes. Now I know, there are three general categories. One is where the skin itself is the frame, bearing all the weight and stress, and known as monocoque. At the other extreme, the skin is just the covering, bearing no stress, known as fixed-frame. In between, the skin covers braces and spars to carry part of the structural load, hence, is stressed.

           While studying these types of aircraft, I found a 1930s film of a rare place called the DC-2. I looked again, because I believe as a child I traveled in one. I would have been maybe four years old but I remember two airplanes that were the same right beside each other, but one was smaller. I wanted to ride the big plane but mother said our tickets were for the other one. Well, there was only one plane in existence that looked like a smaller DC-3. And I rode in it

Last Laugh

June 4, 2026

Yesteryear
One year ago today: June 4, 2025, failure to mention.
Five years ago today: June 4, 2021, a painful substitute.
Nine years ago today: June 4, 2017, seven hours today.
Random years ago today: June 4, 2009, 3,800 miles by bicycle, folks.

           See that pic? Some smart aleck posted that on Gab this morning and got 812 hits in 15 minutes. Just like that. How can I do that with my blog? Smart aleck. Good morning, and it was indeed good here after 9-1/2 hours in the sack. Finally, some energy, maybe I’ll rig up an antenna. NPR, the strongest station, has pushed the limits with staff and programs that do not match breakfast time. They have this disgusting show featuring people who have been booted or rejected from long-term friendships. They actually interview the other party. Gag.

           And that queer DJ, he’s afraid 90 seconds will transpire without an innuendo or mentioning his husband. I miss the Tampa talk-show with those two yahoos who get everything wrong. It’s just sunup now and the days are long, so let’s check any news that arrived here. Nothing much, but apparently you can burn down a city in California and still run for election. And if you fly an American flag, everybody knows who you are voting for.

           Samsung is pulling out of New Jersey, the next in a long list of major companies getting the hell out of high-tax states. As for the1,000 who will lose their jobs and careers, well, they can just keep on voting till they get it right. It’s a good day to get out and build some Fake boxes, hey, let’s be glad I did not choose pottery or floral arranging.
           The 1911 automatic Colt pistol used the 45 ACP bullet, so I asked what ACP meant. It isn’t an ammos designation. It means Automatic Cold Pistol. Gee, now I know. And the DC movie showing Superman as a queer has flopped, big time. This is also Killdozer anniversary day, with the MSM still insisting the guy had no legitimate grievances.

           The Mars atmosphere satellite launched twelve years ago outlasted its original mission and was used to relay messages from ground probes has gone wonky. Its orbit took it behind Mars, then late last year it re-emerged spinning rapidly and losing power. Another ice shelf is breaking away from Antarctica, stoking the climate change bunch who apparently think this has never happened before.

           No rehearsal until Monday, the story changes slightly time time, but that means so little in the music trade. I ran through the song list such as he has supplied. It reminds me why I do not like Blues. Only today’s top ten can beat old Blues for droll and depressing. But Monday is fine, I’ve essentially lost half a year. Now, I’ll play anywhere, anytime, but I still want coins in the jar.
The creeps in New York have replace the words “mother” and “father” with the terms “gestating” and “non-gestating”. The local Democrats claim the change is needed to “be consistent” with how they now administer case law.            Makes sense when you look at their recent behavior.

           Here’s an unusual peek at some laboratory gear. These are a step in the process of enriching uranium. The isotopes have slightly different atomic weights which can be painstakingly separate by centrifuges. After than, further processing is done, from what I understand, chemically and magnetically. These tubes are similar to what the Iranians would be using to get the isotope to weapon’s grade, which is reported to be 80% enriched. I know nothing of the exact details.
           I do know about drones and weather, and the Ukrainians have to be commended for their novel use of ideas, even old ideas. One is the weather balloon trick, where the Japanese used prevailing winds to drop bombs on the USA. The Ukrainians use them to float suicide drones deep into Russian territory. Pure genius. From five miles up, the range of the drones is immensely extended and they hit St. Petersburg y’day.
           And that new drill attachment at cuts threads into plastic pipe. Brilliant. Cuts both male and female threads so the pipes lock together without any type of glue. I'll see if I can capture a video for you, I mean, how many blogs feature bacon and uranium for you?

Picture of the day.
Andernach, largest German geyser.
Remember to use BACK ARROW to return to blog.

           Not able to stand inactivity so much, I trotted out to the shed and completed a host of small projects. I put the new tires on the hand truck, the neighbor was so impressed he paid me $40. Appearances count, this is the dolly that somebody had half-repaired, where I used store-bought cotter pins and solid tires. I laid out some materials to build a small wire buffer, something with just the power to polish drawer knobs. Maybe tomorrow, as I looked out the shed window to notice the neighbor barely shuffling along. My brain said three hours was enough today, but I did get four Fake boxes cut. They are under the laser, which is the easiest step done sitting down.

           Closer examination shows the realistic choice is a jig to make butt joints. After just a week, the sample boxes show signs of pulling at the glue joints. The best glue is my Triple Bond, which is then pinned in place with carefully sized brad nails. Too long will poke, too short won’t hold the wood from cupping. And how, I get cupping with the only size brad I could use. Each refinement of the box brings the process a step closer to an assembly line, which my equipment and sheds are not designed for.

           Planning is paramount when this happens, for example, to getto the laser, the wood has to be carried across the yard and into the house. Four boxes at a time is the correct load, but it is too few to make it economical. This picture shows four cut sets of box lumber. The answer is a laser located in the shed but I can’t swing a dead cat in there as it is. Also, the large logo burn takes almost seven minutes which only works for me because I can get computer work done while it’s underway. The best boxes require four logos, one on each face, plus a small “tag” on the bottom plate. Might as well put on the coffee.
           It’s like I cannot read of the next libtard screw-up without thinking of my family. Now, New York is going to clamp down on delivery contractors. That is, the drivers must be hired as regular employees. This typifies how out-of-date these bozos are. Amazon, fr’instance, will just pack up and leave, putting 5,000 people out of work. These politicians and their voters cannot see beyond what they can grab for themselves right now.

           This photo shows the five pieces that make the lidless box, with the logo on every piece except the bottom. The better matching of grain pattern and direction are easy to see. The production versions will have only three “brands” as one of the smaller end pieces is reserved for a knob or finger port.

           Two stories to follow for me. One is the track meet murder trial, where TV audiences will be treated to claims of self-defense via really bad acting. And the Nowak stabbing in England which could be the boiling point. Another hot spot is Ireland, where the New IRA have been conducted car bombings targeting police and prison guards. But confined to those known to be harsh on inmates with IRA connections. This is a change of tactics which requires immensely better information and organization—and they are getting better at it. They need only a reason to go after politicians.
           9:00PM on the button, I’m hit with fatigue, the kind from the ICU, but this round I know the signs are positive. Loss of appetite and thirst for ginger ale, I’m ready. Rather dry-feeling skin. Mild paralysis in fingertips. Slight aroma of caramel that causes things to taste that way. Not sleepy at night but if I sleep, it’s a good one.

           Let me write down some bits about today that prove I’m still my old self. I found some ancient bird food favorites in the freezer, namely old pizza crusts. The cardinals truly like it. The guitar guy left some cables plugged in, expensive XLR models, and a pair of sunglasses. The way I forget things, I texted him so he won’t be looking for them. I read for an hour, did you know cinnamon is an insect repellent? But you have to grind it up and burn it. Some teenager 3D printed a model rocket that varied nozzle thrust, allowing it to hit 20,000 feet at Mach 3.6 but I clicked the wrong key and can’t find the story again.

Last Laugh

June 3, 2026

Yesteryear
One year ago today: June 3, 2025, $56 check-cashing fee.
Five years ago today: June 3, 2021, Ron, the disappearing guitarist.
Nine years ago today: June 3, 2017, twice as thick.
Random years ago today: June 3, 2013, my most-horrible photo.

           Today it’s time to build the Fake box jig, or get some work done in that department. I’m motivated, in fact, the opposite. I awoke late with everything, including my coffee, wafting of caramel. I’ve hunted as best I can for a copyright of that “Fake” logo. Nor is it marked, so it is freeware far as I know. And instead, the whole day disappeared on me. I dropped downtown this morning to mail letters and it was game over. Tiredness hit me, hospital grade. I stopped at the Thrift long enough to buy this novelty, a metal “birdhouse” I wanted for decoration.

           And that was most of my day, so let me go on about it. The item is impressively well made for, I guess it was to me a garden or patio light. I would not have looked had it been plastic.

           That’s when fatigue set in, just as fast as you read this. From reasonably active to home again in five minutes, where I slept until 7:00PM. That’s 15 hours out of the past 24. I’m not as healthy as I’d hoped—but overall I’m fine. Trust me, being tired is a minor factor in the past few months.
           This wee house was meant to be full of flashing little lights, those LEDs you see everywhere nowadays. They must be robot built, as I remember when each “bulb” had a price tag. If I can, I’ll try to test the assembly later, but normally these consumer items are not reparable by us mere mortals.

           I could see into the box, it has a small microcontroller, a one-shot 4-pin transistor. It also had a solar cell over the chimney, which I salvaged, and a rechargeable “half-cell”, I call them. It’s a version of an AAA, but these are factory rejects used mostly for these novelties. That’s why they wear out so quickly. The cell is actually more than half-size and quite rare in America.

           Later, I did disassemble the electronics and tested it as not worth repairing. If there is a video, this is misleading, you cannot fix what is shown here, there are tiny soldering leads broken off inside the small plastic casing. All are now in the garbage as entire new units can be bought for a song.
           A song. No call from the guitar player today, though I have no reason to think he is not putting in effort. He knows well he needs only to “hang” his guitar work on my bass lines and we can be out there. The going rate is $150 for a duo and I sense he could really use the extra cash. As it stands, this new group is identical to my ancient trio, “Three Good Reasons”. That’s the one with Annie, the elephant poop lady, where everything on that stage except the other guy’s guitar and chord belonged to me. That’s where it stands again today.

Picture of the day.
Ft. Knox vault door.
Remember to use BACK ARROW to return to blog.

           While at the Thrift, I bumped into Wilford. It’s still old Florida so a good spot to check right after the first of the month. I got a lot of my tools there when I first moved to town. Wilford thinks I just need some art lessons to get fancy with the laser etcher. He does have art night and I was almost there last Monday. But the later the hour, the less my odds of having the energy. As for the hour, there is the new and repaired Westclox in my kitchen. Kind of lends a bit of class to what on a yacht would be a big kitchen.

           There is some gossip confirmed, but remember Wilford is much more keen on local whims and attitudes than I could ever be. Unless he wins the lotto, he’s here for the duration and has to keep everybody happy. So I was not surprised to learn Cathy is now managing the only craft brewery in town.

           You see, I like Cathy and we get along slightly standoffishly fine, doing great Karaoke duos. She does nothing actually wrong, but she ran the best local pub into the dirt, and she will do it again. Her background is big city clubs and this town cannot be made into a city. We went over the details before and she will do it again at the brewery, grab seven days business all onto her shift.
           Then the club becomes not only dependent on her to an unplanned degree, the club can no longer hire local staff because they don’t make any money. This club will take longer because it has a more upscale clientele, moneywise, but it starts all over again. I stress that I am not taking sides, only that I have seen this many times before. Another factor is she calls the entertainment and her husband runs a Karaoke show. My duo will never work there over a vast difference in good old musical philosophy. Cathy does not care a twit if the club develops a following except that it enhances her shift and income. Makes sense.

           Now, let me play bass for twenty minutes and fool around with “Hey Joe”. Can my pseudo-famous descending 4-octave walk-down bass lines be adapted to walk-ups? Non-pentatonic ascending scales are about the hardest thing to play on bass. Later, I don’t have it yet, but I played the correct notes several times while testing the run. That means I’ll get it. If you are non-musical, what happens is the popular “blues” scale is a pentatonic, which um, er, kind of mixes major and minor notes. What happens is the scales are played differently depending on whether your are ascending or descending.
           I know this sound from hearing the Reb sing and I don’t have it. That is, each time I play any new tune with such a passage, I have to relearn the scale for the correct sound. I got lucky, the ascending scale is a third on the bass slightly before or after the guitarist plays a fourth. So that’s how Hendrix did it. Most bassist would play both notes, that is a standard blues walk. It isn’t. All I need now is some time.
           My temperature temperature remains pretty constant, today’s reading was 96.6°F again. Nothing, that is, I don’t know what is wrong but that appears to be not it. I invested in an instant reader but will discontinue after the planned ten days, or at least cease recording it here. I am experiencing chills or cold spells which are not verified by these readings.

ADDENDUM
           Here is a sad reality for many folks and it is not going away. An item hard hit with Bidenflation is restaurant food. This is part of an ad that’s appeared in local mailboxes this week, running a shock through a lot of people. Meat loaf and burgers priced at what was an expensive fancy meal a couple years ago.
           I ignored the card until I heard people gabbing about it. Now I see it, how these ads are calling the $13.99 the new normal for burgers and breakfasts. Sort of, I did gripe myself, how they overcharged for coffee bringing each meal up to $20. Part of the shock is these are not gourmet meals at a swank restaurant. This is a local choke-n-puke, as we used to call upscale burger joints.
           My gas budget for Tennessee next trip is $380 and we are not 35 miles away from the Thai sushi place that had become a favorite. It was not unusual for to spend $60 taking the Reb out, but that was an altogether different dining experience than grabbing a sandwich downtown at noon. The good news is by late next month (July) I will have begun investing again. It’s a long story.

Last Laugh

June 2, 2026

Yesteryear
One year ago today: June 2, 2025, her bacon hangers.
Five years ago today: June 2, 2021, my emerging workshed.
Nine years ago today: June 2, 2017, that hobby fizzled.
Random years ago today: June 2, 2024, to the bookstore!

           For some reason, I still have that terribly-written book, “Gold Coast Pioneer”, written by Hortt. It’s so bad, I’m reading now and then, noticing the numbers he gives for his income are an obvious lie or he is covering something. Nobody who makes $110,000 in one day in Ft. Lauderdale in 1911 is entirely above board. But he later mentions a tour in 1926 which includes Germany. He is invited to a meeting at a Berlin hotel. He speaks no German but notes that “something plainly important” was going on. Ha, the guy was at a NASDP rally.

           Any budding chemistry majors out there? Here’s one to rally ‘round, this is a YuengLing, as ordinary as it gets. Except, this one was forgotten in the back of my fridge since November. It had been opened, but the cap was back. If you examine, you can see it has separated into layers. Clear liquid on top, brownish on the bottom. Is beer supposed to do that?

           One again, I awoke with a “cool” feeling across my chest, telling me to take it easy. So I went into town and stocked up on coffee. I felt tired, not logical, but you can’t go wrong around here buying coffee. I wished to continue my time lapse of more clouds and wouldn’t you know it, today has been dead calm. Very rare. I’m off to a late start because of Jimi Hendrix. I never cared for the shit-house blues, but “Red House” is on the list. So, I gave it the treatment. I am playing the original bass line, just that there are two places to play that elusive “third” and they each sound slightly different.
           Shopping, the way it is done in America now. You gawk at the prices. A side of been that was $22 is not $81. I keep track of groceries and what cost me $28 last year just cost me $77 this morning. Here’s a pot of chicken boiling, that $3.95 package cost me $9.48 just now. I also stocked up on coffee, but that is an essential so the cost, well, it is what it is.

           Let’s glance at the news. I forgot it is primary day in California. This is for the November elections, and it is the last chance for California to save themselves. The big issue is the wealth tax that has already cost the state billions as the rich leave town. Zuckerberg, Tesla, and the Uber/Paypal bunch have already high-tailed it. If you are not familiar, the tax is a “one-time” 5% levy on global net worth. That’s about as one-time as any other California tax. The place is sooner or later going to implode.
           The cops in London have done it this time, arresting a teen and letting him drown in his own blood while pampering the killer, who was a Sikh. Is this the spark for England? It’s overdue and there are rumors of disorganized rioting. When it gets organized, it’s party time for the immigrants.
           Reading more of the Gold Coast book, it’s got hints of how corrupt the Florida market was until the Federal loan people got into the business. Fort Lauderdale was built on a lot of swindles and hype, but the system itself promoted that boom-bust cycle. For example, before title searches became standard, if you bought property deed and the seller did not divulge the land had a mortgage on it, you could be held liable for that. A curious aspect of the tale is the way Hortt, the author, tries to make out he had it rough. He’s outright lying. I understand even rich people occasionally run out of ready cash. But it’s plain this joker had 3 or 4 times as much money as most people.

Picture of the day.
Brewing Kalihari storm.
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           This box is the most popular so far--for lookers. No sales yet, but get your Fake Box while supplies last. Don’t miss out on the hottest trend of year. These are trickier to make than meets the eye but I’ve got the “Fake” logo setting that makes it show up consistently clear, as shown on these two samples. The logo is copied, though I don’t see that as a problem I’ve taken some notes and may look at building some jigs.

           Not until tomorrow, I am sapped back to nothing by late afternoon. A reminder of how far I have yet to go. I didn’t document it, but I have not had a full day go by without some weakness or more usually, fatigue. These boxes are small enough to keep their shape. It is the larger Spice Box that has long enough cuts to cup when cut. That’s where I think a box joint would be better.

           Both times I’ve build a box jig, the results were semi-okay but not good enough for a box I’d look to sell. I took some time to research better ways and it seems a custom piece that clamps onto a saw sled is best and fastest. I commit to nothing until I’m sure I can put in a three-hour day, which is slowly getting closer. Um, that’s misleading, I don’t get three consecutive hours but you know what I mean.
           Nor did I get any better today, I have to write this out, it’s a personal rule that I keep track. I’m wide awake at midnight for no reason and things smell lightly of caramel. Both my shoulder blades ache. Yes, there was a change in my medication, but a beta blocker. I should be used to such things and my only remedy is to take it super easy. That might be what’s on order because I need a chance to deep learn some new music.

           Rick, the guitar guy called. He wants to forge ahead as fast as possible, indicating he knows this is a rare opportunity. I think two things went extra right. He knows I earn my keep as a bassist and the sound was great. He is more talented than anybody I’ve heard locally. He seemed glad he did not have to carry the music himself ands I know what that burden is like. And now that he’s heard what we can do, he’s stopped talking about a bigger band. I could see if we found an abbreviated drummer, but he knows it is likely to be just a duo.
           He called about the list he’s making up for me. I have only seven of his tunes. But we played quite a variety of music and he is free to pick any of those. He mentioned he was impressed by the sound, that he liked how we could play non-standards, and he can tell the sound is impressive. I agree, because I’ve seen how certain guitarists can play more effectively when they know the “counter-riffs” are going to be there. I am doing some deep thinking about this, I have probably met my match.

           The neighbor and I, out of Festus re-runs, watched some Three Stooges. He recalls them from TV where I have only seen them as movie clips. In the old days, before a movie started, it was customary to play a short comedy.

ADDENDUM
           Trump’s Anti-Weaponization Fund has been defeated, but that was a close one for the Democrats. It’s not a total defeat as it made the Democrats a lot of enemies. TMOR, this was a $10 billion dollar fund aimed at compensating victims of Democrat policy. That is, people and businesses who suffered because the Democrats “weaponized” government against them.
           This may not be a good idea, but here is a link to an Alex Jones article on a fungal milk substitute. I would not touch the stuff, but if you have time, read the arguments for it. Somebody has dedicated a lot of time and money to present this material. Their underlying approach is to finger-point that regular food contains all manner of unknown and untested chemicals and compounds, which is true.
           The reading of my exterior chest temperature today was 96.8°F.

Last Laugh

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June 1, 2026

Yesteryear
One year ago today: June 1, 2025, boxes on sale.
Five years ago today: June 1, 25, 2021, Austria leads.
Nine years ago today: June 1, 25, 2017, remember the jamboree?
Random years ago today: June 1, 2007, never Morse “bad”.

           I’ve streamlined the budget and bank systems, realizing that the claimed “8%” inflation has tripled prices. The guitarist responded to an early morning text saying he cannot be here until after his girlfriend gets home from work with the car. And it has an unreliable dead battery. I listened to his description, if it is not a dead battery, the first thing you check, then it is that solenoid. And where is that on today’s cars? It is a Chrysler. I talked to the guy and he’s got a bad case of guitar-think but is flexible on what to play. How sad so many of them don’t know Waylon’s version of “Long Time Leavin;” is such a droll version of a fun song. Good morning.

           Grits and sausage. Just grits, with butter, salt, and pepper. And coffee, there end of food mention unless Tay-Tay shows up with pizza. A good day, I’ve decided to take a closer look at the spice box joinery. What makes it from a “fake box” into a “spice box” is the addition of a metal knob. Another stabbing in the subway, this time in Atlanta. Beware, the Anglo is slow to anger.

           Over to Winter Haven, I picked up some materials, shopped the Thrift, shipped the LifeVest back to Chicago, and paid $4.17 for a shake. High times. That new intersection northeast of Bartow is going to cause some real pattern changes. That new subdivision immediately south of Kooters is now complete and full. Across the lane is another new gas station with convenience store that were not prime locations a year ago.
           Building something most days is important to me at this phase. Nor did I get any good time lapse clouds for you, that experiment failed because the camera will not focus through glass. In fact, here is a sample of the video so that, unlike other blogs, you can share in the disappointment. Ah, but it is only a fail if you learn nothing. See the clock in the background? It is visible in the original, and we learned we have just under two hours charge time on those old Vivitar batteries.

           From the blog that dares. No blog is a failure if you learn something. Hear that echo? I made that. Now, I’d wondering where I spend $160 this morning and I’m still low on coffee. Here is the drone that broke the endurance record by flying 3-1/2 hours on a single charge. This is quite the feat, as there is a fine trade-off between weight and prop size. I did not know that drones, despite having no aerodynamic structure, require almost twice as much energy to hover than to move. The link is interesting drone tech..
           The guy even peeled the wrapping off the batteries and used slow turning rotors, powered by the new nickel-manganese-cobalt batteries that you never heard of before. They have double the power density but act funny after fewer recharges, ask any salary sacrifice driver who bought a used Tesla. But what would old guys like me know about such things?

Picture of the day.
Chernobyl Ferris wheel.
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           Well, what can I say? Rick showed up and it is an instant band. But, we’ve been here before, lots of times. He’s great on acoustic but he’s an electric man from the word go. We easily played 35 tunes, a real mix of blues and country. He has the right idea of resurrecting older tunes and today I finally played a version of “Hey Joe” that I’m happy with. The music was a major mix of blues, country, and older pop hits. I mean, everybody can play “Bad Moon” and I was watching for the presentation.

           We have it. That audience knows when you are having fun. For a blues man, he sure knows a lot of country as in Merle and Johnny. We put in two hours in my stuffy kitchen which still has no A/C. The situation is we will need to narrow down what we play, not expand the song list. We ran over far more material than we’ll need in two hours. You don’t have to play the whole song to know when the other guy’s got it. I’m hesitant because this is borderline too good to be true, but it seems he may have a background similar to mine, in that you cannot rely on anybody.

           We quickly decided to split the songs, at 16 each, agreeing that his best blues is to be included. Not that many players can get me to like blues so fast. As for the music, it was top quality, he knows when to under- or over-play passages to keep the sound and rhythm consistent. And he is at least aware of the of CAGED system. I was amused a bit by his reaction to “rhythm bass”. While it is nothing new, not many guitarists have heard it applied quite as I do, which is just heavy enough to obviate a drummer and rhythmist. That could go either way, depending on the guitarist. I have twelve tunes ready, he has around eight.
           Nor has he met anyone who fills in the notes he can’t play and I only had to demo once how I play ahead scale tones. I know guitar players who never get it, he glommed onto it just like that. We jammed some old rock, including “Love Me Two Time”, “Venus”, and he particularly liked “Oh Lonesome Me” and “These Boots”, tunes I was about to chuck. He dislikes new country, understandable.

           He likes my oldest tunes, which hints to me he may have shaved more than a few years off his age. Because my oldest material is older than me and I did not discover much of it until this century. It’s nothing in the music trade, but he does look ten years older than me. At this point, the only thing stopping us from stage work is a few weeks to polish up the material. He sings Merle, maybe we should call this band “1965” The plan is to choose 8 tunes each that we can play immediately. I cautioned him that I do not know anyone reliable to form a larger group, that we should play only what will fly for now. He was quickly at ease upon hearing the bass lines, like he was amused I played question-answer fills that supply a framework he could work with.

ADDENDUM
           Here’s something, the corn starch people are putting about that talcum powder is “mined near asbestos”. The connection is that talcum powder is not banned, but hard to find because of women filing lawsuits that it gave them ovarian cancer. The container says “for external use only” and in any case, talcum is magnesium silicate, one of the most common substances on Earth. The real connection is that the mesothelioma well is running dry and a new generation of lawyers are hungry to get talcum banned by linking it to asbestos.
           My own health has entered a new phase. Starting a couple days ago, my whole chest area and matching area on back is flexing by itself. It isn’t painful and the rib cage itself likes to get in on the action. It like a series of stressed areas that give and take as each reaches a stage of healing. Every old injury acts up if this “knitting” feeling gets close. I still have a tightness across the frontal area where the incision was closed and all of the healing is soft tissue. So they really must have done a number on me.
           The whole outside rib tissue is subject to light spasms and sensations of pulling and pushing around by itself, but invisibly in the muscle, not the skin. I find myself sitting still for up to two hours, which was uncommon before. Also a minor feeling of fatigue, like my upper shoulders are tired from heavy lifting. The scar was healing well for a week after the stitches were removed, but how stay visibly the same, no change in two weeks. And where those three bigger stitches came out, I can tell they were much deeper than the rest.
           Pain 1 out of 10 once in a while, always in the front chest area and nothing likes being touched or stretched the slightest, most present when dressing. Normally the pain is less than1, and better described as a constant discomfort. Worst pain is gout attacks, though now rare, can hit 5 ouf of 10 for a few seconds. Most comfortable position is lying down on either side.and staying put for three hours, then might as well get up just to keep moving around. I would place overall recovery still around 30 or 35 percent.
           Last, I’ve noticed the past few days my skin is feeling colder to the touch near the incision site. I don’t have any way to measure this, hold on, remember that laser gizmo to check the burn barrel? Did I not notice it goes down to 60°F? If so, and it works, I will record the surface skin temp of my left chest for 14 days.
           Later, it works. Skin temp: 96.7° and I will take the first five readings to be normal without regard to my actual “thermometer” temp. Again, it is a feeling, not a fact, and just my chest.

Last Laugh

May 31, 2026

Yesteryear
One year ago today: May 31, 2025, fun-with-boxes day?
Five years ago today: May 31, 2021, show me the contract.
Nine years ago today: May 31, 2017, $2,000 in “extras”.
Random years ago today: May 31, 2018, the noisy nail.

           Up late last evening, I ran the numbers I described for my changed situation. While I had the spreadsheets ready, I made up a 50-year plan for a small retirement nest-egg for Agt. M’s eldest. This would be under my protection and shoot for whatever the equivalent of today’s $500 per month might be in on June 1, 2076. See addendum. That will be 60 years since I paid for this place. By the way, since I paid cash, every extra fee tacked on became an arguable point. In the end, this place cost me $20,021 before I moved in. Still, the last bargain in America but a revelation of how corrupt the industry has become. 10% of the house price is “fees” of some sort.

           It is nearly noon and none of my neighbors has started up any noise. See? The one time I was counting on them, but no. These non-Boomers have really gone for a dump. Here is, no joke, a millennial ad posted for a cordless stapler. No link, but the ad was serious and the ad layout was deliberately designed to appear as the spec sheet for a rechargeable tool. This is th eblog that dares to feature a stapler. A millennial cordless stapler, who could possibly screw that up?

           It stayed cool enough to work from noon and here is my output, three spice boxes. There are stained 245 Golden Pecan. I’ve discovered one tin of this free stain can coat six boxes, economical only if it is free. The oil has to be daubed on, you can’t get even with a brush and I do not spray paint. There is a fourth box, to the lower left not stained, it is a reject. The smaller wood is harder to work with. A 7/8” brad will not hold, a 1” brad has to be exactly positioned or it pokes through.

           The thinner wood will also warp and I can’t really switch to staples as the smallest crown is over half wood size. The solution is probably a box joint or a much stronger glue, but not today. My biological clock seemed to know when I hit exactly three hours.

           It’s wise to document what else went wrong, as this design is the most likely to get any attention for now. Exactly two boxes can be made from a single picket. These have to be 11% moisture and hand-picked at the lumber yard. Using the chop saw means the smallest pieces often must be cut first or they won’t span the throat of the saw. The boxes as seen here have odd optics, they are all the same color.

           Here are some wildflowers after a short rain at midday. They bloom rapidly and die, never long enough for me to get attached or memorize names. I think these are a primrose and morning glories, see, I do not even know if they are proper nouns or hyphenated. Yes folks, a stapler. A bloomin' stapler. Get it, flowers, bloom, brain damage. No wait, that was my heart. Least that is what the after-staff told me.

Picture of the day.
Her Majesty.
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           Here’s a closeup of the most-used took in the construction of these boxes. I now have the radio for company, but on Sundays the only reception I get is sports and religion. Today was car racing, a game I totally do not understand. One car gets ahead and stops the others until he runs out of gas. Some sport.

           Anyway, this is the DeWalt brad nailer, which for some reason will only work with brads. Other brands accept both brads and staples. No big deal, I use both in tandem and was just about to run in new overhead air lines when I decide a better plan was to get hospitalized. I can lift my arms over my head once more, but can’t lift even the copper piping. Nor hold the torch long enough to solder. I think I’ll make that task the benchmark of a half-way recovery.

           It seems the authorities ran into some well-armed rioters in New Jersey. Billing themselves as anti-ICE, they were equipped with brand new body armor, gas masks, and pepper spray—but when I returned moments later with coffee to capture pics, every picture was gone. There was a warehouse of gear to arm the protestors. Later arrest reports showed 84% of the agitators were from out of State. They were trained to pick up barricades and shove them at police, who had not been issued riot gear. Nobody expected the left to give up their power without a fight. Is this it?

           Here is a small experiment that has an unorthodox impact on my appreciation of technology. This would seem just an everyday time lapse of clouds out my side door. For me, it is far from ordinary. The concept, time lapse, has been around for a century but not my capability to produce this little video. In fact, even ten or fifteen years ago it would have bogged down my equipment. This gif is from a video that ran the camera battery dead after 71,000 KB. It’s off my tiny Vivitar DVR 906, which did not exist until ten years ago. Nor did I have any memory that could deal with a file that size.
           The camera is the size of a matchbox, if anyone remembers what that is. I left it on low-res to max it out and am happy the battery died before the memory, I mean 71 Gigabytes was more than the accumulated spreadsheets in my lifetime. The file format is AVI, meaning the audio and video are interlaced, which lets you cut and splice the footage in one step. MicroSoft editware is crappy, so played the file back at slow speed using VLC player to capture 1,016 stills. These 1200x1600 pictures were still immense, so I used MicroSoft Picture Manager (one of their few good products) to resize down to “web small” which is 448 x 336.

           That is not the smallest, but is the smallest size you can easily see to edit further. I also cropped out the bottom third, which just showed a pathway. When a gif was generated, the resulting file was still over 50 MB. Thus, one final step, I reduced to the smallest “e-mail” size of 160 x 160, which produced the 12.7 MB file you see here. I sat back for a long look. Here is a novelty video that when I started this blog (around 2006), the richest man on Earth could not have created and displayed anything like this. And other than two or three people who can sort of work their digital cameras, I don’t know of any other person who, for the life of them, could generate what we just looked at.
           Yet at noon, when I picked up the old Vivitar (too small for convenient everyday use) and deftly set it into the correct mode to produce this end result nine hours later, I never doubted or hesitated over a successful outcome because (at my age) I’ve learned every step. Sure, others could likely use a single software pack to rattle this off, but I draw the line at understanding—could they have done so with the varying systems I stepped through? Maybe, but I’d sure like to meet the person who could, nomsayn?
           Again, I did not invent this procedure. But nor did I learn it from anyone else, and that earned me another cup of coffee while I stared at it. Seven major brands of gear or software to produce that pseudo-video in less than 20 minutes to upload something probably less than a thousand people will ever see. But that close to a thousand more than will see anything stuck on those mega-pixel cameras out there. Since the Vivitar proved it can deal with larger projects, I will see how well it performs in hi-res shortly. Those clouds were more picturesque than today’s resolution, so they are a good candidate for a repeat trial.

ADDENDUM
           The 50-year spreadsheet revisits the two standing problems I’ve seen most in people’s long-term failure. One, they don’t know how to keep their plan and money separate from a greedy and desperate world. And two, they do not know along the way how well they are doing. You spend two years saving up $10,000 but have no idea how well that is performing. Prior to my hospital stay, I was about to write a lot of this down. In case you are wondering, if you have $10,000 saved up you should expect to make $43.41 per month. Go for CD interest, because below that amount you are losing, above that amount you are taking an unnecessary risk. I could have been writing the manual, then, ahem, decided to take a year off.
           There is another sad-but-true factor. If you have $10,000 the other issue is your age.

Last Laugh

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