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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.

May 3, 2026

Yesteryear
One year ago today: May 3, 2025, jammin’.
Five years ago today: May 3, 2021, always read the fine print.
Nine years ago today: May 3, 2017, remember that jointer?
Random years ago today: May 3, 2001, a calendar note.

           The morning isn’t looking good, but the birds are well-fed. As for me, this burrito is just another test of the new camera, I had a grilled cheese. And I mean strong cheddar, not that anemic swiss plaster, although to do like it. What slowed me was fatigue again, you don’t want me playing bass or working a chop saw. Nor am I getting under the van, so that is still out of commission. Y’day was tropical storm all afternoon, which leaves the ground soggy. So here I am. Let’s take a closer look at the latest box, the small one.

           Shown here is it’s appearance after some enhancement, but it remains a fail. There is an amusing but pitiful back-story on this. See that design, it is known as a mendala. Laser engraving as we know it is a totally “computerized” cottage industry. That is, it exists only on-line and could not thrive done any other way I know of. That means it also exhibits all the nasty negatives. Total abuse of the word “free”.
           There are tens of thousands of mendalas for “free” but I’ve never found one. If you have a time slot to waste except for the knowledge, try it for yourself. Don’t come back and say you found some—unless you actually downloaded it in a vector format. Even then, there is something wrong. The free designs can run you as much as $14.95 each. The mendala shown here is a copy, with a trick. With a bit of know-how, you can copy anything on-line but as a graphic. You want the vector or svc version.

           They lie, there are no good files for free, yet it’s the most prevalent title word for most listings. As shown here, this is around the maximum size the pattern can be etched on my equipment. So why not etch them all? The answer is time. Without the vector file, each opy of this design requires almost 15 minutes. And no, you cannot go grab a coffee—the laser cannot be left unattended.
           The brass fitting is also expensive, the one shown here is called a sash hook. And those retailed for $2.57 when I got them on sale, today they are sold in packs of two for $14.98. So just the one brass lift shown here now costsover three times the materials of the rest of the box. The only chance for this design is if I find a real mendala vector file, which takes the etching time down to a minute, and I find another trove of 10 cent drawer pulls.

           Glancing at the news, in 60 days California police can ticket driverless cars. It’s not about safety like they told you, but about revenue. The place [California] is so corrupt nothing is unthinkable now. The airwaves are clogging again with anti-Trump talking points, plainly a panic starting already for the mid-terms. Why panic? Because the ads always take on a personal tone when the Democrats perceive real challengers. Few political issues are mentioned, just the usual evil-Hitler-pedo bleating, and of course, all his supporters are a cult. This, folks, is why I build boxes and prefer to cook my own oatmeal even though I don’t have to.

Picture of the day.
Cardboard drone.
Remember to use BACK ARROW to return to blog.

           It’s a down day, again much needed, but I’d rather need fewer. Reading was my top activity but not like I’m reading Harlequin romances. This is the remote starter from y’day, but it works with AC by design. Turns out it is a Wal*mart product. I know there is a way to make it DC, but more than once I’ve forgotten to turn off the compressor until I hear it late at night. And it does get cold around here, just not cold enough to discourage the mosquitoes.

           My plan is to find an alternative for the Hundy, Replacement ignitions and remote starters run into the hundreds of dollars. For that, I’ll pay to have somebody do what I can’t—drill a hole though the firewall. None of my drills have the power or the bits. The KIA still sits, as I am not putting it up on stands until I locate that SP4M transmission oil. That’s three trips wasted already to places who said they had it in stock. Mr. Trump, please make it easier to sue people who conspire to lie. I’ll tell you how that works.
           Yes, in American you can file a civil suit for damages. But the process is too costly and if you miss a single filing date, you lose. Also, the courts do not enforce payment. They can award thousands in damages, but it is up to you to collect it. So people who don’t know any of this often learn how much they can lie to you because they are not worth suing. I would change that. If you tell me you have the product and don’t, you pay for my time, the gas, the depreciation, the phone call, and double for all the lost opportunity. That is, you pay because I could have been doing something else and did not, based on the content of your statements.
           There is a counterpart to this on-line. If you peek at Redditt or Gab, you will notice swaths of observably uneducated people posting all day that Trump is a war criminal, devil-worshipper, and pedo. Now, if you could sue them (or give it the death penalty if they can’t prove it), you’d see them disappear.

           I got the bass working and played several accompaniments to “Little Red Riding Hood”. It is almost impossible to make that tune any better. Not that I really tried, but there is a progression I’ve heard that fits that 1950s chord pattern. It will hit me, it’s somewhere between “Lady Madonna” and what is that Kinks tune I’m almost thinking of.

ADDENDUM
           My recovery took a down turn, but no worry as my general condition is better. My capacity, that includes core strength, is still well below anything I’m comfortable with. Less than 40%. I have three symptoms of note today and have my duty to record them. First is the tightness across the chest. This is not heart muscle, but the healing process of closing the chest incision. They have to pull from the sides and the sides don’t like it Ranging from a constant dull tugging sensation to really sharp pangs along the sides, today is was the pangs.
           Second concern it the nerve damage, described by JZ. I can control foot pain by the expedient of not bearing any weight where it hurts. But inside muscles, like along the outside thigh, chose to flash hot sharp pains for no apparent reason. Last, the harvest wound. Finally it is very slowly starting to heal over. But it has faked me out before, tomorrow it could be raw again. This is not painful, but looks bad and is a reminder I don’t heal fast any more. I am not adequately documenting the whole picture, which I should be.

Last Laugh

May 2, 2026

Yesteryear
One year ago today: May 2, 2025, OR or NOR, a study.
Five years ago today: May 2, 2021, Steamboat Willie’s.
Nine years ago today: May 2, 2017, one sunflower.
Random years ago today: May 2, 1981, Willie & $15 a pack.

           You won’t see it in the media, but “Florida Woman” has been arrested again. This time for leading a conga line through Wal*mart produce chanting “Free the Cantalopes”. My favorite was her kayak in the fountain barking pirate orders at the staff. I’ll plan to be at Karaoke tonight but the really good women are often busy carving watermelon helmets when they could be memorizing my schedule. That’s why I don’t cry when they say the good men are gone. This morning, she could have had biscuits, gravy, eggs, and coffee. Later, I never made it to Karoke, and you came all the way over here just to see pics of old tires. Ha-ha. Off to a good start.

           Not that starting up is a breeze lately, instead of jumping to action, I read some chapters on meridian passage. This is the slight variations during the year that the Sun does not pass directly overhead precisely at noon. I will eventually fix that sextant and take some star readings, meaning probably Venus, and I notice the bottom of the Aires column specifies meridian time. More in the addendum. And that is why it is now noon and I’m just starting to mosey.

           I rummaged the shed for a remote control unit I set aside. Dang, it is AC only, but I’ll do some thinking. While I had that box off the shelf, what do I find but the long missing charger from my old 3G or 4G phone—the one where I lost all the numbers because they were only on the card. Firs thing I did was scroll to find Karen’s number, the lady from the old club. Wow, she’s living in Winter Haven, not Lakeland like they tried to tell me. She’s bartending on weekends at a golf course, but has a cleaning business weekdays. We chatted, there is nobody to hang around with in these parts, so we are planning to meet up afternoon next week.
           The spindle on the hand truck axle is some kind of crazy size. I put one on the vise and tried to match up the hubs, no dice. The other option is to replace the tires, as the tubes inside are looking brand new. The tires were originally tubeless, I’ll have to go downtown. Good, I can finally stop for that beer. I need the break as I’m planning some subtle changes to the on-line blog format that make live easier. Now that I need it, I mean, cool it with the jokes, folks.

           No pics [of the signs] yet, but apparently signs are appearing in London that some areas are off limits to those without digital ID. There is unverified news that Jack Smith, the lawyer who tried to railroad Trump, may be disbarred. I’ll believe the Democrats punished one of their own when I see it.
           You only need sell 10,000 copies to be on the best seller’s list, and Gavin Newsom just did it—you need only overlook that one unknown person bought 6,900 copies. BMW reports the pilot project o build cars using robots in South Carolina has been “very successful”. A.I. may be taking entry-level jobs, but at the expense of the company’s future workforce.
           Ever wonder what happened to Commodore computers? Bankrupt since the 90s, they are still around as pioneers with the FPGA (field programmable gate array) so they are not quite dead yet. The gate arrays may unlock new game capabilities. Alas, I just don’t have the inclination to follow the trend. And here is something you’ve never seen before. It is a 3D printer that produces metal parts up to 4-inches cubed. Meet the Scrap 1, your’s for $9.900.
           Ordinarily metal printers run around $200,000 but prices of $140,000 got my attention last year. The process sprays a thin layer of metal down which is then “welded” by laser. Yes, it can make jewelry like you would not believe. I consider these high-voltage tools dangerous and do not like the way most of the models lock the user into using only in-house software. That means you cannot design anything yourself, they do it for you. This is changing.

Picture of the day.
From England’s dog collar museum.
Remember to use BACK ARROW to return to blog.

           To the untrained eye, this may appear as another box video. It’s a small box prototype that I rate as a fail, and will document the failure. There is a limit to how small the box can be made with this thinner lumber. You may notice a brad nail or two, and the shorter piece warp rapidly after cutting. Smaller is harder to cut, making the edges trickier to align. The box cannot be made to Golden Ratio without extra cuts, which defeats this experiment. It’s still a box and will get used, but without the working model you can never tell.

           It’s also a test of the video capture, I’m going to buy this cheap camera. Note the flickering color and I can see how it does not like to focus on a rotating object. But, with patience, some of these defects (yes, Japan, they are defects) can be worked around.

           A short list, five songs, from the guitarist. I need remind all that this is NOT my band, I no longer have the stamina. We play what he wants by default. And that is what he sent me, a sure sign he has never played in Polk County and he’s looking for a big band. The Type A guitar player, looking for a backup band so he can shred away. I’ll play for the sake of playing, but take a look at part of his list.

A) “Time Has Come Today”, a 1966 single by the Chambers Bros that requires a full orchestral presentation. I would not have played that tune in 1966, but yes, I can play the bass line.
B) “Chain of Fools”, an Aretha Franklin blues hit that is all in one key, C minor, that is, a one-bar progression, designed to put both your band and audience to sleep.
C) “Little Red Riding Hood”, by Sam the Sham, probably the absolute worst tune they ever recorded, dreadfully slow.

           But again, not my band, I will play anything for the sake of playing. I’m not complaining, I’m used to this whole scenario and the game is to let him think he’s in charge, known in my teens as “doing a John Campbell”. That is, let the yahoo who plays the best think he is charge of the band. Yeah, but young John never got us a single gig. Hey, let’s not quibble, what we are dealing with today is just another guitarist who has never considered what the other musician’s have to play. We've seen this so often it hurts.
           Never conclude my observations are confrontational, I’m the easiest guy in the world to play in a band with. It’s often me mentioning the pitfalls that I see in advance that show attitude—but everything is predicated by how I will put up with anything just to play. It can take four or five guys to make a band, it only takes one to break it up.

ADDENDUM
           Some navigation lore. Now that I can read most sight reduction tables, I took a look at some stats on Venus. It’s the object I’m most apt to notice when I’m rarely looking up at the sky the right time of day. It’s a challenge because compared to other readings, Venus has some of the same complications as the Moon. That is, it moves and that has to be compensated for. It not only moves in orbit, the motion can appear forward and backward compared to the Sun.

           And, unlike the Sun, it varies in speed and moves apparently diagonally. There are charts and tables to work this out and I’m reading them out of interest. The planet is also close enough that the light rays have a measurable parallax, and all of this must be accounted for. Meanwhile, the Styrofoam padding inside my sextant case finally eroded away in the Florida humidity. My sextant banged around inside and now it needs adjusting and I do not feel like doing that.

           Around 20:11:40 I did the sight reduction presuming I was in Memphis on this day of 2014, using the star Kochab. We hit land, but barely. It’s on that weird long curved island off the notrth coast of Siberia, at -301.2208W by 74.8001N. We are on a glacier. The nearest town on the map is Naryan Mar, population 20,000. It began as a lumber mill in 1903. Today the biggest employer is an oil company. This photo shows the effect of Soviet era collective housing. Wiki says that driving there from Moscow “is possible”.

Last Laugh

May 1, 2026

Yesteryear
One year ago today: May 1, 2025, gumptionless?
Five years ago today: May 1, 2021, a museum-free day.
Nine years ago today: May 1, 2017, cut twice.
Random years ago today: May 1, 1970, the first of many.

           Up but not about, today I’m out to locate 5 liters of KIA ATF fluid with a price tag of $80. The price increases this war are different, judging by on-line context. They are not blaming the economy but a certain group. This never ends well. I cannot motivate, so my plan is to build some small boxes if I get back from Winter Haven before noon. Check in on me.

           I didn’t make it out the door. The guitar player called. This is interesting, we are on the same musical wavelength and he has his lady, friend of my neighbor’s cleaning lady, telling him to follow up on this venture. He as to renovate a sun room to make space, but we can rehearse over there. He’s sendin me a list of what he can sing, a good starting point. I’m already tuckered out—isn’t retirement all about taking it easy?
           How about the photo of a clock? That is 4:30AM and shows the best general quality of picture I can take for now. Nor was it easy to get even this much, but this is all the camera I can possibly afford. There are just too many eggs in the Tennessee basket and I don’t want to afford anything more. This capture is also a Vivitar but other low-end brands have disappeared in these parts. So much for computers improving the American experience.

           Wal*mart lied again. Told me they had the SPM fluid in stock and on the shelves. They had the SPH brand which the manual names as not to use. This lady shopper started talking to me, her grandson is ten and what kind of camera should he have. I steered her away from the printing models that are displayed “in your face” these days. She’s mentioned mainly because for a few moments, we talked politics. Wal*mart had left one TV on a channel that was comparing Trump’s son to Biden’s. That’s a joke, the laptop thing, I’ll summarize the tale in the addendum.
           All I got done was mailing some letters and shopping—with a curve. The sheer length of this affair found me buying food that signify my subconscious is preparing to stay at home. It’s subtle but inevitable, right? Everybody slows down, except Arnold. And Taylor. At least I’m not stuck watching free TV, which reminds me, I have an extra DVD setup and I’d like to rig something in the shed.

Picture of the day.
Oakland Cemetery, Atlanta.
Remember to use BACK ARROW to return to blog.

           Nope, today is a write off. Just paying the bills took four hours and half of that I was sleepwalking. I left Winter Haven with six small bags of groceries and got home with five and a half. Small bags so I can carry them and I set one on the stoop to use my key, then left it there as I went to get the last bags from the van. Then I hear this thump. I round the house corner to see the old raccoon making off with a my loaf of bread. Yep, the whole loaf in the bag, and me with my new camera still inside on the charger.

           And I’m too weary to care. 4:30PM, I just opened an ice-cold can of soda, and for the first time this season, hit the A/C switch which in turn lets me hit the sack. To check the fluid, I had to walk a while through Wal*mart and JZ diagnosed t right. Limb-something neuralgia, I will not be the life of this party. But I did check out the cookware ails as I’m tossing out my old frying pans. Admit it, where are you ever going to find a blog that dares like this one. I thought of a cold beer, but you know, even the old club now has no entertainment at all. If only somebody had warned them.

           Then, the raccoon has the audacity to wash up after in my fancy birdbath. And I’m too whooped to give a damn. I’m reduced to blogging about frying pans and transmission pans while the rest of the world is having a wild party every day. Wait, slap myself, I was ready for this. I just find it easy to forget that I devoted considerable resources to having things to do later in life. Now I remember, on the way home I took Hwy 60 and stopped at the lumber place for fence pickets. See, the excitement level is picking up already. I sorted out five choice pieces and five extras, which I will expand upon.
           Our box-making has entered a small form-factor phase. I found making dividers not as wise as making smaller boxes to fit inside the Z-box design. But, I don’t have a nice pattern worked out yet. At the lumberyard, a lift of the pickets has an unusually weathered side, some having a reddish tinge. The crew let me sift through and pick the ten best. The pickets are out in the Hundy until I get mobile. Could be any moment now, just not likely.

ADDENDUM
           Old Hunter left his laptop at the repair shop and it contained a bunch of porno. But that is not the reason for the scandal. The FBI/CIA had the laptop long before the media picked up the story in early 2019. Somebody sent a copy to a New York reporter, and this is where things get messy. Most Americans are inured to porn, but the files also contained details of Joe’s dirty overseas dealings. And all this had been in the FBIs hands for quite some time.
           The reporter published information on Facebook, probably expecting a Pulitzer. Instead, in less than two weeks, her stories were scrubbed. She would have known only the FBI could pull a stunt like that. But before anybody could begin to howl, along came the diversion of the decade: the COVID hoax. By the time the kickback stories were published or posted, Biden was elected and covering for everybody involved behind the blown up fake epidemic.
           The MSM buried the laptop and today it is old news. Post election surveys reveal that a full 70% of voters say if they had known about the contents, it would have affected their decision. And the Feds wonder why nobody trusts them.

Last Laugh

April 30, 2026

Yesteryear
One year ago today: April 30, 2025, gates and boxes.
Five years ago today: April 30, 2021, holiday in Palatka.
Nine years ago today: April 30, 2017, 4 retirement dates.
Random years ago today: April 30, 2001, born followers.

           Last evening I should have gone out. The last week has laid me low, physically and mentally. How do “they” know when to strike? It’s been months since I could shrug it all off and I’m already missing a quarter of this year. Listen to me crybaby about it, I should know there is nothing unique over my situation. I would like a milkshake, one eggo, and a day of reading.

           This was not an optimal time for me to get hit from so many angles. Read the addendum and I’ll comment on it. How about a day of nothing, kind of for thinking and wondering why the soles of my feet are so sore. I don’t want hectic time, I want y’day to be my last money “miracle” for a long, long time. But damn, they sure speed things up. Today, I would like an ordinary day like the kind other people have. No drama, no highlights, may I have that?

           So far, no luck on quietude. Spring time is also vermin time and my Hav-a-Hart trap is two for two days. My latest blog video will not upload. Ha, blog readership is recovering more quickly than I am. Why the pic of a laptop? Because it is a HP and because they want $15,000 for it. Meet the HP "Fury". Has there been a computer revolution that I have not heard about? I mean, a Hewlett that costs as much as the house I live in? I truly do need a break from it all.
           For me, that means reading and I chose to find out what super-heterodyne means. It’s on many stereos and radios and nobody knows how much they need it. Turns out, it is part of the radio reception circuitry. Radio waves get weaker with distance. The receiver strips away the carrier wave and amplifies the sound signal. That signal has a frequency that all the rest of the radio must work with and it gets distorted. Super-heterodyne generates a strong new frequency inside the radio and maps the incoming audio onto that. Then the rest of the radio has an easier task, and now we know.
           And I do believe this is the first time I’ve ever become fatigued from just reading. David Allen Coe died today. For some reason I though he was already gone. He was 86. Epstein left $40 million to some Norwegian diplomat’s kids; one of them just committed suicide. That horrid lady who accused Trump of the naughties has had her $84 million upheld despite the fact she admitted lying.

           Watching a video of a small conveyor belt got me curious—it was variable speed. I saw enough to know they were using an Arduino. I’ve always watched for applications that use this controller rather than a custom factory board. You know, if I had the gumption, I know I could build that drive unit myself. Not the control and code, I have done that ten years ago, but the interface is a challenge. I know it has already been done and there is a breakout board for everything these days. But to build one, hmmm.

Picture of the day.
Canada’s Bill Mckibben.
Remember to use BACK ARROW to return to blog.

           My day off became a drive to north Lakeland, where I bought the only camera that was even remotely like what I wanted. A Vivitar, which I already hate. But it does take good video. Just be careful, it has that Vivitar defect of showing the scene on the backscreen as crystal clear while the camera is actually way of focus. It also shows a menu option for macros, but lacks the button that turns the feature on. This photo is the first taken with this unit.

           There is a second photo of a coffee, which is why this camera may be one of the few products I intend to return. This is about as sharp as the thing will focus. The whole focus feature is crappy. It is supposed to auto-focus and some rectangles appear on screen as you depress the shutter and wiggle the focus. You might as well take the photo since there is no button or setting to change a thing. The camera also emits two different tones which are not mentioned in the printout. The manual for this model (VEX V28) cannot be found on the Vivitar manual website.

           JZ returned my calls to confirm the next batch of symptoms I’ve got is normal. It is remarkable how much medical information he has retained since he dropped out of university more than forty years ago. Then again, I can still program, right? He described exactly the pain I’ve got in my footsies, I’ve already forgotten the terms he said, but that is it. He related it to the neuralgia in my upper leg muscles, he has the same thing and it has been 18 long months since his treatment. This does not inspire me.
           There is no direct cure for this neural condition, he says only a control, thought the condition is often known to fade away. He also cautions about eating red meat. Well, I don’t much eat that and I don’t around the Reb. Compared to regular diets, I don’t think red meat could be a problem for me at least twenty years now. Of most concern are the bouts of fatigue even if I’m fine and significantly better than since last month. For no reason, I can get knocked on my ass, drained like a dishrag for an hour sometimes. Now another tale.

           I pay JZ $20 per month for my backup phone. It is on his account and that’s the one I pay a month ahead. But he sometimes forgets. That’s not the funny part. Over the years, I’ve told and laughed about a cultural difference in our upbringings. I learned not to let family do me any favors because saying thanks could become a long-term ritual. JZ’s take is that unless he asked for something, there is no favor. JZ buys his own if we go out carousing, but if we stop for one or two, I’ve picked up the tab for years to the tune of thousands of dollars. But that does not count, because he did not ask, see how that works?
           There is another item, when I first moved here I needed his help to fix this place up, but he would always balk at the expense of gas to get here. Over time, I sent him hundreds of dollars for that gas, but he’s not been here since 2017. Now, the $20 payment is due on the first and I forgot to send it. Because if my van had not broken down last Wednesday, I would have handed it to him in person. You see where this is going. He reminded me today the bill was due tomorrow and that he would “lend” me the money until I sent it. You got it, he never asked for the hundreds in gas money so no way to take it out of there until I arrive. And he’s the richest guy I’ve ever met in Florida that was honest.
           Aha, there’s the coffee cup. Can you see how this picture is not sharp? All of it is out of focus by the same amount. That is a camera fault.

           On my left arm, where I showed you sort of all the jabs and needle sites, well I now have 13 new and permanent moles. They are tiny but you can see the pattern. Only one on my right exactly where the medline was connected. I also planned wrong in December—over gas prices, which are now $5.21 in some spots. When I mentioned the cost of driving to his place, he thinks I’m dumb to pay that much. He forgets if I had not opted for a Miami hospital, I would just be getting tests now, if I lived that long. He knows the survival rate is 50%. Of course, I’ll pay the $150 in gas because I’m alive to do it.
           California prices show $7.79 per gallon. Recession time, you see almost 100% of Americans who can afford it drive to work. There is no option of walking, the whole system is based on the motor vehicle. And every dollar spent on gas is a dollar not spent on other goods. I need to allocate $216 to drive to Miami for my checkup, probably next week. And I arrive back here with gas for maybe another 40 miles. I’ve made this trip around 50 times.
           Changes in my routine after that major stay in Miami are slowly wearing off. It’s my blog duty to record those that persist. Soup. I still eat a lot of soup. Two cans today, it was from before they detected any ulcers. Sleep was disrupted and I’ve noticed a trend. I get great sleep, but those afternoon naps are delaying my beauty rest. It took me weeks to spot the pattern, if I take a nap, I fall asleep at night later. Usually 10:00PM and that slowly advanced to 11:00PM, then midnight and today, 1:00AM. At first so what, but now I see the correlation. So, is it soup or sleep? I’ll take both.

           I suck at those logic puzzles that use those true/false charts. I love a good word game and here is one that’s been a great distraction, called ‘Circuits”. It’s word association you can figure out from today’s sample below. See Puzzmo. The words are related by the arrows, the challenge is to find the word in the white boxes that links each set in the blue boxes.
           This is not for everyone but anybody smart enough to make sense of this blog will be up to this. Two downsides: a membership is required for more than one game per day (and for most games) and often the words have an English twist that’s nearly impossible or Americans. Example, I’ve read but never said “football pitch”.

ADDENDUM
           While few meetings rattle me, I am still subject to intensity, and may I restate that I believe the telephone caused my first heart problems over twenty years ago. The conference call y’day was low key but added up for a total of nearly seven hours. I remain bewildered why an ordinary event like ours went to the top.. It is, I think, the future, not the decisions, that are keeping me restless. Without giving away the game, this redemption was due to a contract deadline. Now I will be on edge for the next 60 days at least part of the time.
           Who doesn’t like a good snooze, but lately I’m needing down time while wide awake. This morning, for instance, I sat still, and I’m not a sit-still person. I am fully capable of falling asleep on the phone. The van is unrepaired in the driveway, I have not put my hospital clothes away yet, and I have not gone out for that beer I promised myself a week ago last Monday. Or was it two weeks now? That’s life when things come at you at once. My solution is stay put as much as I can, so I can calibrate my recovery time against some peace and quiet.
           You know what would be amusing? The Caltier guy was quite attentive to the moments when the Reb & I mentioned impressions of the company. We’ve seen this everywhere, the top guy’s feedback is filtered by his underlings. What if, once the dust settles, I tell him he can answer many of his questions by doing a search on this blog. Just a thought.

Last Laugh

April 29, 2026

Yesteryear
One year ago today: April 29, 2025, early symptoms?
Five years ago today: April 29, 2021, no more digi-dog,
Nine years ago today: April 29, 2017, it’s windy here.
Random years ago today: April 29, 2007, visiting the Hard Rock.

           Cancel this morning as well, but the stores don’t open for another two hours, I’ll editorialize. Yep, it was around now in 1981 I made my first financial investment, a CD (savings bond). Note, I said financial, I already owned an apartment and two houses in partnership with RofR, both of us had been dirt poor living in my rented attic a few years before. Never talk to me about hard times and no way out. More in the addendum, I’ve got a morning of chasing around ahead.

           This blog, however, has guidelines, which include mentioning food and tracking my general aging process. Today, it was pancakes. Since you can’t make half a recipe, we had three extra for the raccoon lady. The activity level of the past five days hit me this morning, saying take it easy or else. So we have some light topics. Food mentions are based on long-term advice and my own experience of readership levels. If you want semi-success, blogwise, publish recipes. It works. But this is a journal, established to make up for my own faulty memory. Mind you, after decades of writing, I’ll match my memory to any 99% of who’s out there.
           I’ll share some rare blog stats. I lost 500+ views per day during that time I was in the hospital. I’d planned ahead a bit, but not for months, so it’s logical many concluded I was dead. My stats do not show if any views are repeats but I know from long experience which blog inclusions or changes affect the counter. Food handily tops the list, followed by the picture of the day—but that is very sketchy. That feature is full of links that eventually go dead. Third place could be the Last Laff or Yesteryear. Drop those and lose 177 views per day. The good news is since I got back, readership has slowly climbed back to slightly over 5/7ths of the three-month running average prior to my disappearance. Not bad for a special-interest theme.

           The Reb, who has no control over my life and cannot tell me what to do, has advised the morning off. So I did. So there. Y’day was whirlwind, I cannot supply details, but gawd people, I only spent $18,000 on the house I live in. Which is where I’m staying put, my plan is to review game cam footage, which you are used to by now—I’ll publish anything interesting, promise. Here is Mrs. Red at dawn, I’ve looked long stretches how that squirrel is getting to the feeder. This are not nature pics, this is part of my study to catch the little bastard.
           The game cam reveals its shortcomings. If you position it too close, it can show either the squirrel or the approach, but not both. If you move it back, wind movements in the tree leaves sets it off and you get hours of nothing (which I’m busy with just now, but what a tedious waste). I’m thinking of a plan to focus the camera on the afternoon shadow. That might reveal something. The real solution is to build a stand for the stand and put the camera fifteen feet in the air staring at the ground, which we hope does not move.

           [Author's note: take today's post as uninspired. What follows is not a still, but a still embedded in a video. It show a squirrel hanging off the part of the contraption that is supposed to make it squirrel proof.]

           Ha, here is a still from a video sent to the manufacturer, from a video about their product. Yes, it is heavily “redacted” as I am not seeking compensation. This shows the fancy birdfeeder that is supposed to draw the feed ports closed when the weight of a squirrel acts on the surrounding wire cage. Yet, if you look closely at the smaller inset photo, you can see the squirrel ignoring the rule of gravity and happily munching away on my $9 a bag gourmet bird seed.

           It is now 9:00AM and I am going to brave driving through downtown Lakeland going shopping for a camera that BestBuy has told me they keep in regular stock at the store. We shall see.
           Next item caps the morning, nothing gets done much of today. I get a call from the husband of the lady who works the same office as the lady housecleaner next door. The guitar player and that is a tale from the trailer court. He has been looking and asking for a year for anybody with band experience. That, gang, is why they call it the moccasin telegraph—because that is how slow it moves. He phoned as I was about to leave and we were on the line until noon.
           Caution, nothing in music is as it seems, but here goes. He is totally into blues, country, and bluegrass. He has been on the music sites for the whole time, which gives you a good idea of what a disappointment those are. Good, he knows there is a reason some people have been running the same ad for five years. The guy is 71, so he’s been through the meatgrinder. And he knows how to sing. He’s played acoustic in many bands and my have played a year with the early Ramones. That says I don’t have to worry about stage presence.
           Like myself, he finds studio work dull. He sings and harmonizes, has all his own gear and transpo, so he’s been in this business. He has no e-mail but he will soon. I’ve sent him a list of what I’ve played in the past 24 hours, leaving out the latest material out of respect. He may be a Legion member, so I’ll dust off the Prez’s song list. How many tunes have I played in the last day. Mumble, mumble, hang on, 21 that I know of. No doubt, he has played every last one of them.

Picture of the day.
“Trenchless” augur.
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           Now 2:30PM and I’ve not gotten an inch closer to my chores. This next section is because I promised to keep you abreast of how things went with Caltier. I meant the investment, but you recall I meant also learning more about the procedures—because I could not get any plain talk or text out of anybody, I chose Calter. So you can decide over what follows as somewhere between bragging rights and confusion. So here, chew on this.

           The CEO of this multi-million-buck organization, Parker Smith, wants to talk with the Reb personally by telephone later today. I prefer tomorrow simply because this is a first. We need time to organize these things. Here is what I think and hope is going on, please read it all first.

           In the past, I’ve mentioned (and joked) about Caltier has often mistaken us for accredited investors. You can look up for yourself what that is, but the Reb and I are not rich enough for that label. I regularly chuckled that the accreditation process was mostly conduct that I had already learned long before I retired, which will be 30 years ago next month. I naturally treated the            Caltier account with what professionalism I had, even timing the random “Found Money” transfers to emulate how seasoned investors manage along. This had nothing to do with Caltier, just that it reflects well on credit reports and it never hurts to behave.
           What the helck? Another message, they want to talk now, the CEO guy. This does not make sense, our account is too tiny to move the Caltier needle. What does the co-founder have to discuss with us? I thought it might be over how there was no contact for a year, then the same day we liquidate 80% of our investment—but as I just said, our share is peanuts. So, I’m stumped, let’s test if I can guess it.

           Okay, we’ve been mistaken for accredited before. The corporate side, which we know is not on top of the department that does their coding, has a set of parameters that sets off alarms if accredited people pull out—and that is what they could logically see as what is happening here.. Shift a decimal point and it is an easy misinterpretation. We’ll know in less than 30 minutes, so make your side bets now.

           You won the $20. The call was to the point. Caltier is on pause due to a change in their accounting system (you’ll remember me downloading their daily transactions) and the SEC did not like that they changed accounting firms. But, we now have the information needed to plan ahead. The problem stemmed from the fact that the pause on the fund also paused redemptions.
           However, I brought up the clause that influenced my choice of Caltier, that is, they had a segregated fund for redemptions. However, it was capped at $5,000 per month—subsequent to my decision. I countered by explaining if they had communicated over the past year, I would have planned serial withdrawals within that parameter.
           Last, I was happy with the call, though it was really us who finally pushed through the contact [after a year]t. Parker is a born salesman who got into a good deal. But his support staff let him down on this one. It makes more sense now, information has a way of doing that, at least around here. So we put it to him to make an exception and expedite this one Trust me, he is not going to forget the team Reb & I. Nor his “customer success” lady, who would have been the one to finally get my to-the-point e-mails and who else could prance into the boss’s office and get him to respond same day?            Now, if you don’t mind, I am mentally exhausted.

ADDENDUM
           Still wide awake, I located a documentary of why there are no longer any Heathkits. A sad tale of a market that disappeared. New components that were tiny coupled by cheap imports meant the company was doomed. Along with it, a huge loss in tech savvy which led to people today who have no idea how their gear works. And you would need a million-dollar factory to repair it. Some, such as myself would say the product is not the peril, but how the user has no clue how it works. This lack of savvy is now three generations deep.
           Equally fun were the reader comments, for I had once wanted to learn this skill. But can you just see me saying to my parents I want a gizmo that comes in 300 pieces that does nothing useful around here. I’ll need a clean, quiet spot away from the others for several weeks. Oh, and I’ll need $39.95. Now imagine some loud, severe slapping noises.

Last Laugh

April 28, 2026

Yesteryear
One year ago today: April 28, 2025, $67,000,000 splash.
Five years ago today: April 28, 2021, notoriously inaccurate.
Nine years ago today: April 28, 2017, store-bought potato salad.
Random years ago today: April 28, 1981, amazingly prescient.

           Welcome, this is the blog that featured 10-inch tires last day. And we could be heading for just such another exciting tour. I awoke with (get this) tender soles. Yep, on my footsies, and this happened once in the hospital, so I’m out of commission. Then again, I don’t need to stand up to fix what’s wrong with the van. Just don’t be planning any victory parades. We do not know why that hose came loose. We don’t even know if the hose is the problem—but if it is, whew! 5:30AM. My driveway is sand. Am I really going to go grovel in that sand before the day gets too hot?

           By 8:00AM I’m still hobbling, so I’ll share a million-dollar idea one of you may pursue. You will never go broke finding cheaper things to sell in America—the whole problem is selling them. The ideas are easy, here goes. Invent a scoop-like device that makes little round shapes. Existing melon scoops won’t work. What you want is little round meat balls made from wieners, you know, hot dogs. They are not just for breakfast any more.
           The Panasonic is finally broken, I have no local photos for you today. Here is a member of the press stealing wine during the recent shooting in DC.

           Nope, today is not going to work for the van. Since the likelihood is the repair will not cost a bundle, how about we drive up to BestBuy and look at a new camera? I have awful luck with those things. Trust me, the $35 camera that creates blog photos is worth infinitely more than the $399 unit sitting on your mantle, folks. This blog, sad to say, was not much on photos long ago, so you may get the impression daily life was always this dull for me.
           Not so, I once had quite the life, held back only by constraints well beyond my control. Okay, how’s this for human interest. I have this empty mayo dispenser. If you see a picture, then I made it uptown. This is supposed to rest upside down to provide mayo on demand. No more waiting while you invert the big bottle. The thing never worked, as mayo does not have the gravity to flow downward by itself. Ah, but does carpenter’s glue? Now there is a project I could manage with sore feet. Who’s with me on this? Good, hop in, let’s go to BestBuy.

           Argh, moments later a slack spell hit me so I did not drive. Instead, I went over the books as the trips to Miami are eating up any surplus gained here. That was my choice. Remember that day JZ and I went to Corbett’s for a few. That was four beers each and I paid the $70 tab. Never again, not there. Zero women, an older married couples bar. Mind you, my overall entertainment budget was unspent the entire time I was off duty. Nor am I the only one angry about food prices. Why is food costing me $10 per day? I eat good, but not that good.

Picture of the day.
Communist apartments today.
Remember to use BACK ARROW to return to blog.

           Put everything on hold. We finally got a contact back from Caltier. Nine months, but admittedly the last three have been sub-optimal for me. The easiest explanation is that I was millennialized. They insisted on an e-mail address to open the account, which they then proceeded to use as the account name, without even being asked. Alas, it had the misfortune to be a gmail, that’s another story.

           What happened is Google began demanding codes by telephone when I tried to log into that e-mail for messages. Google are assholes, you cannot decline this “service”. So last year the contact e-mail was changed, but not the account name. It is now clear Caltier is staffed by millennials who get thrown by simple things like this. I could not log on to my own account and their contact phone number has been a constant busy the whole stretch.
           This is a photo of some of the wiring Google claims is their quantum computer. Actually, it is nothing of the kind, but it will simulate the quantum behavior, which is well-known enough. The sole purpose of this development is to enable Google to crack your passwords by brute force. There is no law against this.

           Well, this next round in the Nashville investment game wipes out everything. This is, by the way, one of the reasons I know when people are lying about investments. If things go smoothly, you are not doing it right. Caltier makes it very difficult to find their redemption instructions, which makes sense in a way. Talking with the Reb, I’m pulling out all but $5,000 and it is a nightmare. Like how it asks for 10-digit numbers you never heard of, or to click buttons that do not exist. You know, I had a life before I got to Nashville. Isn't there a song or two about that?

           Caltier brings everything, including Miami, the van, and any pain, to a standstill. Forget the camera, I was on-line until I got most of it sorted out and on the phone in between. There is a disjoint between the morons who designed the Caltier web page and the morons pretending they can maintain it. “Sure, boss, I can change the button for you.” Without a clue what the button does or what it is linked to. That’s somebody else’s job, you old people don’t get it.
           The rush was documents needed by month’s end. There is no indication how much lead time they need, so I put the Reb on hold and waded through the Caltier mess. I got it done and the documents submitted. She wants definites but Caltier has still not answered the requests I put in before noon Tennessee time. Don’t even talk to me about exhaustion. I have invested in a musical career that I know very little about, but it is probably my last kick at the can.

           To forget the day, I went back to sight reduction. It’s making so much sense that I believe I can do it without sextant readings, or do the reading afterwards, sort of. Every book on the topic treats this as a sacred ritual, but I see it is just needed for accuracy that isn’t that necessary to work the tables. You choose the AP (assumed point) early in the process, so check it after unless your ship is moving like 80 miles an hour.
           As for delivering the pressure washer, maybe not until July. Agt. M is flying to Romanian with the family next Monday. One more thing, we have a potential guitar player, I know, I know. The cleaning lady next door works with a lady whose husband “needs a hobby” and apparently played in bands for years. Tomorrow we find out what kind of band. If you go on-line, you’ll find 50 bands and 50 guitarists claiming to be looking—and every one has a serious flaw that’s been holding them back so long nobody remembers. Yep, many of these people have been advertising on the same boards for years, so you just know there are compatibility issues.            Last, a Gunsmoke show, this time a soldier who led a massacre falls for a white gal whose Cheyenne husband he may have killed. Indeed, the writers have run out of material.

ADDENDUM
           What’s in the news? Again it is mostly politics and I can’t change that. Anyway. Republicans are the perfect example of cowardice presented as morality. Every time the Democrats fail at assassination, they’ll say it was staged. 55% of Americans say they are financially worse off.

Last Laugh

April 27, 2026

Yesteryear
One year ago today: April 27, 2025, CDC Wanted List.
Five years ago today: April 27, 2021, my crabby mood day.
Nine years ago today: April 27, 2017, it is 2017
Random years ago today: April 27, 2024, photos from Mars.

           Cream of wheat, coffee, and the most boring news day in ages. Melania is 56, the shooting is already old news (three strikes for the opposing team) but sets a record. Again, the MSM has cranked up the anti-war noise, and again at street level there is no sign of a war except gas prices. I went over to the churchyard and found the 24mm cap on the transmission pan. Nope, this will take too long, so I called the tow truck.

           While downtown I picked up a pair 10” tires for the neighbor’s hand truck. Yep, $20 for tires on a tool that originally sold for $29. Today it is $69 and depending on what the tow costs, we may go downtown. The Texan was working in his driveway, so I stopped to chat. He gave me the lowdown on how the City is dead set on keeping all towing services under license. He has a tow dollies but will not tow any but his own vehicles. Bought it for $200, which is this morning’s tale from the trailer court.

           When I moved here, there were lots of good radio stations. That was before Biden started giving away free money to non-English buyers. We had Armed Forces radio, always good for old Lone Ranger stories. Interest history and mystery stations but now it is all shigga-booga except for talk radio. There is a phone in sales hour and that is where the neighbor got his dolly. But it is 10:00AM to 11:00AM, so without special occasion, a time slot I rarely hear it.

           He is also too crusty, some would say hard to get along with, to collaborate with. He’d remind you of Elliott. No matter how well you do or how good of a job, he always did it better or cheaper than you, or knows somebody who did both and recently, too. I’m still planning to get the KIA raised up a bit to find where such an unusual leak is originating. Closer examination shows the fluid itself is in good condition, no tarnish or dark color.
           Let me slip in here that overnight was the first long interval where my leg wound behaved well. By no means back to spec, this is still a good event after a quarter of a year. I had the Reds over for breakfast y’day and had a nice long visit. Today they were happy with leftovers as I got busy with chores.

           A bus bombing in Columbia. Strange how that country builds their cities so far away from their “resource-rich” provinces. It means so many road through the jungles and stuff like that. What’s this, Taylor is single again. I told you, she’s saving the best for last. The van, as I get more work done on it, it just cannot be the transmission by itself. Nonetheless, I’m out of theories and I left a message for the tow guy to come by between jobs. He’s the guy who bought his own truck and let me say, he is a natural for self-employment. You can sense that in the right character. Let me add up, he bought the truck in 2019, so that’s a business cycle and he will put his kids through college.

Picture of the day.
Old flak towers.
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           The KIA is in the driveway here and that was a wise move. Here, one can get under the front end proper and assess the situation. You’ll want the tale from the trailer court that led to this. He was busy all day, so we got in the wrecker and talking along the way, he says my description is not that of a broken transmission. We are not mechanics but he says best let him have a look. I’m all for that. He pops the hood and says the leak is on the wrong side of the motor. There are no clunking noises, he checks a few things and declares I am in luck.

           The worse it could be is the transmission cooler is leaking, and that is an easy fix. Wait, he says, until we get it home. It’s getting dark, but we roll it onto a stand where he gets under there with a flashlight. He follows along the pathways and says I should take a look at this. Sure enough, a hose is completely off the coupling. He could see it from his angle and shone the flashlight through the tangle—I’ll see if I can get you a photo of this. He says that one tiny hose could be the source of the whole problem. If so, I’m up a thousand bucks easy.

           It probably needs a hose clamp and I have all those parts in the shed. It got too dark or I would have moved on it. If I made the day sound easy, that’s happy talk. I’m bone weary and feel a hundred pounds heavier and beaten up with a telephone pole. Not sleepy, I studied an intense chapter on sight reduction (navigation) tables until it clicked. It is another instance of the old ASA theorem. The layout of the tables did not help. Once I visualized the two latitudes as flat on a map table, the tedious tables became no easier to read but a lot faster. Just keep me north of the Equator. Should be easy, Tay-Tay has had enough of these dark and handsome types, so she can sail the yacht closer to me in Florida. All for a guy like me she can keep long-term. And who can blame her?
           This is not intended to make sight reduction seem difficult. Conceptually it is easy and I could use them [by rote] before. I’m referring to understanding the tables, which for some reason gave me spells. It had to do with the Earth turning and my brain unable to forget that made no difference. I’ll say it again to convince myself, the tables are simply a big set of calculated information about what the Sun’s height and direction would measure like from every integer latitude in the sea lanes. There is some arithmetic involved but it’s nothing compared to calculating it yourself.
           For those interested, it works simple in theory. Using a sextant and clock, you take some readings. Then you look up information using the Nautical Almanac. Finally, you use the sight reduction tables to find exact data and compare them with your readings. If you are good, you’ll find the results are quite close, usually within a few miles, which you mark as a line on a chart. You need a second reading, again following some rules. Where the two lines cross is your position. Only took me ten years.

           Next, there was a type of voltage regulator called a buck converter I could not understand years ago. Because I had not yet met PWM, pulse width modulation. It would be an expensive waste to use a microcontroller for that, so I know there is more. That is why I made up a double order of pork pineapple fried rice and just sat down. I see I’ve used the term converter and it is really a kind of regulator. It is also a big deal to the people who use them. I’ll look a bit but no taking on something new at this time.

ADDENDUM
           Many movies go on about the Japanese Purple Code, so I took time to read its workings. Surprisingly to me, it used English, not Japanese characters. I found out this was split into two groups of six letters and twenty letters. The groups were strangled differently. Once they figured this out, the Americans focused on the six letters and cracked those first. Tedious work. It is often asked, if the code was broken, why didn’t America know about Pearl Harbor. Because Purple was a diplomatic code, not a military code. The Japanese navy used a different system.
           Another chapter on FPGA, the field programmable gate arrays. These are beyond me, my study is the gates, and old subject. But I know where many of you have heard of these arrays. Radar jamming. It was once done by sending fake or delayed return signals back at the enemy dish, or even launching a homing missile. FPGA works by stealth. It instantly analyzes the radar signal and sends an inverted copy back, canceling the beam out.

Last Laugh

April 26, 2026

Yesteryear
One year ago today: April 26, 2025, such people.
Five years ago today: April 26, 2021, my bass solo list.
Nine years ago today: April 26, 2017, 185x more.
Random years ago today: April 26, 2023, fun music challenge.

           So, the 2027 cars will go ahead with biometric monitoring. Watch for a surge in used car prices. This move is calculated, as most Americans don’t want such surveillance—but can the auto-makers survive long enough to force the issue? That takes government bailouts and a critical mass of suckers to buy in, kind of like how MicroSoft works. We have visitors in the yard.

           Here is a scene from this afternoon. It looked like the entire KIA transmission drain bolt is missing. This is a special plastic and steel unit meant to trap metal filings. Nobody carries this part. My plan is not changed, plug the drain long enough to get the van back here. I have put 18 miles on the Hundy totaling ten trips including to Autozone and Wal*Mart. While this saves me a bundle, it is not efficient. This is now day four.
           Another PPP is the jack stands. I can’t find them now that I need them. There is not enough room to get under the KIA, though I may be able to locate the upper fill bolt—all of these require wrench sizes I don’t have. The jack stands may be underneath the pressure sprayer in the KIA trunk, and I cannot lift the unit out of the way by myself. Later, it turns out that is not the drain hole. It is just a hole where the on-line expert uber-mechanic said it would be. He lied. Here is a diagram from the official KIA manual to prove the directions are wrong.

           My muscles are sore, cheer up, it is from work, not from my condition. It means a morning at my desk, which unfortunately has to face away from the big window. That is why there are many bells to alert me. The mystery pale yellow birds are back, as are the latest generation of cardinals. The tiny birds, sparrows or wrens, are nice but grab and run. The squirrel has defeated my latest measure, time to review the game cam.
           Now the ancient raccoon, smaller so probably a female. So old I can see the pain as she moves. Is it the same one, or is my yard the legendary raccoon’s graveyard? She is so old she has to scavenge in the daylight, so I let her wander around between the sheds. Sometimes I’ll put out any stale crusts or bakery crumbs, yet do not want to encourage any wild things. Except Taylor, who we have not heard from lately. Hey, she’s pushing 40. Time to slow down, curl up, get some rest.

           How long was I in that hospital? I’ve been consuming much more soup, a product I usually used sparingly. Is it appetite or the pills? Or something even simpler, that I can sit here typing with soup along with coffee and be content for hours? There, I have a reason. My total planning universe centers on right here, so let’s count the change bucket. I’ve been away so it will again be $37.50, which was learned from my years of owning vending machines so long ago. Yep, $39.80 and I’m contemplating a different use for that money. I beat 51 champions on my word puzzle, undated the books, and read a chapter on how to flush empty oil tankers. Not my finest morning.
           There is some defect in the game cam that causes a delay of several seconds before recording. That is precisely the footage I want, instead I get lots of view of squirrels already on the feeder. I’m working on it.
           I do not know how many vehicles you’ve owned in your life. Myself, I lost count and so the KIA is either a 2010 or a 2012. Why not just look on the door? Because guess which number has been scraped off by the door flange?

Picture of the day.
In Jacksoonville, FL
Remember to use BACK ARROW to return to blog.

           How to waste an afternoon? It’s a snap in Florida, most residents do it without an ounce of training or encouragement. I got out to the KIA with what I needed to assess the unfolding repair. We are still looking to move it, not find out what went wrong. Maybe I did. I tried to manually cut the offending bolt, but it was hardened steel. So I strung out the Yeti only to find the width of the cutting head would not fit up to the bolt. This, I cut off the plastic shroud half way and threw it on the ground. This allowed me space to examine the transmission pan and that’s how I found the next problem.

           Shown here is the Yeti, cutting device, hand saw, and the piece cut off. Don’t let me convey the impression this is lite work that went slowly. It is merely saving a lot of money. I’ve been driving the Hundy and still have to hunt for parts. Still, a quarter tank of gas is a small price considering the alternatives. But, we are getting close to that tow.

           Here’s a epic fail, in this case it a “beauty filter”. Have you seen the latest in beauty filters? Those A.I apps than enhance your looks, I tried the earlier brands but could not see any difference. Today I ran my old hospital picture through the first offering on my results and this is what they think I should look like. Since the default results in female faces, which makes sense in a way, I looked to see if women had issues with the software. Ha, you bet.
           There is a clip of some Chinese super-hot whose filter failed. She lost a half-million viewers in something like ten seconds. If I have time, I’ll make a blog-friendly version of it below, as mostly usual, no sound so it is safe for work.

           Then, I knuckled down and viewed a number of KIA videos. The ones that show the inlet port below the battery bracket are bogus and the AOLs who made those videos ought to know better. I removed my battery to find the bracket was spot welded at the factory But other videos showed an “injection: port accessible with the batter still in place. It is identifiable by a plastic screw. So, tomorrow I will try one more. I plain feel like sitting down and thinking. Examining the leak in bright sunlight shows it is very slow, as in a bad gasket.
           The Reb checked on me, what can I report? The past week has been remarkable compared to previous entire months. All the baddies remain, tingling numbness in fingers, leg won’t heal, tightness in chest—but the important one is overall strength level. That’s what not only determines general recovery, it makes other associated ills much more tolerable.
           In daily news, an Egyptian mummy was found to have segments of the Illiad in the sarcophagus. So much for the theory they were African.

ADDENDUM
           Used cars. Consider some of the “features” that will begin to appear in 2027 vehicles, The steering wheel records your fingerprints and the cameras record your face because it can lip-read. All conversations are recorded and the radio, while listening for “wrong-speak”, will play ads based on what you are talking about. Your heartrate and pupil size are recorded by “smart-eye” and you can bet this data does not disappear if not used. Ford is the ringleader but they are all in on it, claiming the data is to prevent an estimated 6,000 to 9,000 highway deaths annually.

           The whole system typifies what is wrong with their thinking. They presume that fault in these deaths is spread evenly over all drivers. In fact, a cursory study would reveal what insurance companies already know—the majority of accidents are caused by a small group who are already well-known. This is the dividing line between use and abuse. The authorities could easily draw up plans to target the baddies, and sure, there would be some screaming.
           But stopping harm is not their focus. They want the right to keep tabs on everybody, cradle to grave. Since that includes the innocent and average, it means you are dealing with an ulterior motive. This agenda has been obvious for decades, they want society marching in columns under their direct and instant control. The existence of dictatorships proves this.

           Here is our Chinese model who got revealed. Oh, we know the less-than-sevens will howl how shallow men are over beauty, but men are even shallower when it comes to women who fake too much. That broad was way over the line.

Last Laugh