Yesteryear
One year ago today: June 21, 2025, priceless.
Five years ago today: June 21, 2021, they think it’s normal . . .
Nine years ago today: June 21, 2017, it’s representative.
Random years ago today: June 21, 2008, a cute little bulldozer . . .
Happy summer solstice, longest day of the year and first day of summer. The sun is highest in the sky around this afternoon, then begins sinking south again. I never based much on pyramids and Stonehenge noticing this event. I mean, it’s not like they had the option of kicking back and listening to their Maroon 5 collections all day. One thing I do like primitive around here is my food, so I commenced to baking some sausage pie and carrots. There, I mentioned food, and the carrots are boiling on the stove even as we speak. What fun times will today bring? If I was smart, I’d take the day off and build, let me think, I know! Some boxes.

Aha, something interesting. Using aerial surveys and A.I., prospectors are taking another look at abandoned gold mines in the Wyoming area. The gear and technique is said to map potential gold seams up to 400 feet deep. The contention is the miners never knew how close they were to striking it rich. In other news, my marketing manager has been permanently barred from the old club for fighting with the staff. I told you India was a tough cookie.
This morning was not meant to be, I got progressively more tired instead of waking up, so I obeyed the signs. Back in the sack to read, this time more history. Now even less, as I woke up past 4:00PM. Am I healing or vegetating? Don’t know, so I peeled and boiled a pot of carrots to give the vegetate-side a head start. What doesn’t get eaten today gets pickled. Your daily highlight from the blog that dares. Unable to get un-sleepy, I’m due for any movie I can find in the next five minutes. Quick, name one more blog where you can read about carrots and celestial navigation on an equal footing? Where the author documents guitar players and any changes in his porridge diet?
How about those interviews with Europeans who first visited America for the week’s big sport event, probably soccer? The ones most viral show up on my list and these are something to behold. What strikes them most? The huge disparity between reality and what their European media has been telling them for decades. They expected to see the Wild West, with shootings and riots on every street. They were stunned walking down streets in safety and at the abundance of things they were brainwashed as scarce. Like the Belgian holding up a 100-lb bag of sugar in disbelief. Or the Frenchman shocked at the size of Texas BBQ helpings.

They are also stunned by nobody carrying guns, which is what they were taught to expect. One guy summed it up, that while we had rockets and oil, American croissants are a crime against humanity. He must immigrate here to save our breakfasts. He toured a bakery and says after that he wants to bring his own with him. The same amateur video says that some people can barely taste Swiss cheese unless they sniff pepper first. Makes sense in a way.
What’s that racket? Mrs. Red, the birdbath timed out and she wants her afternoon shower. I missed another good day but the fact is I’m around to miss them. I’ll make you a deal, if it drops to near 80°F when the Sun moves along, I will at least go out to the shed and flick on the lights. Everything here is electric and it all works. Yes, I’m aware rates are going up again, but that is a budget item so we’ll have it as long as it is available. Not like California. And here’s a Vivitar glitch—white balance. See it dance around changing color intensity by itself. The contraction does that and cannot be adjusted.
I’ve been noodling more with Hendrix’s old “Red House”. What is it with musicians and prostitutes. I became a musician partly so I would never have to resort to that and I never have. The recording is another studio overdub, that is, spots where there are two bass lines, always played by a guitarist with all the accompanying foibles. Normally Blues has distinct turnarounds so they are not adaptable to my someday-to-be-famous four-octave walkdowns but what have we here? If I ignore certain rules, three of every four notes is part of the pentatonic. Hmmmm.
Later, nope, four octaves won’t fit. Hey, but I tried.
Picture of the day.
Inside a data center.
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It was impossible to shake this disagreeable tiredness, so I also restudied some sextant lore, as my plastic piece has been knocked out of whack. Everything that moves on it seems adjustable, I’ve just been husbanding all my energy for the work shed. I’m precariously low on coffee, but the sextant gets a look this afternoon. Later, here is a view of the sextant, still in perfect shape—except for lack of a decent carry case. Here I’m testing to see if it fits nicely inside a standard size. No such luck, it needs a custom fit. But see that box? Don’t you just hate it when you stain and finish a utility box and it turns out much too nice for that task?

Anyway, when I decided to learn some navigation basics with the sextant, I didn’t know it would take ten years just to get this far. The world knew I would not sit all day, that I’d make it far as the shed. It was slow after that but I like my shed.. I finally wound up half destroying the oscillating saw to discover it was the well-buried switch. It can be put back in service, but with a new power switch that kind of makes it a bench tool. I also know exactly how those electric motors how work, it is an 1890 design, just with more rings.
There may be a video nearby of this switch, showing a common problem with today’s non-Sears tools. This switch is a very common type produced by the zillions. It tests okay, shown here on the bench, but fails completely when installed back in the tool. The tool is now hard-wired and operated by plugging it in. Saves forty bucks and dealing with Harbor Freight whose biggest customer complaint is, as I predicted around ten years ago—their asshole return policy which involves scanning your driver’s license. A lose-lose scenario. It’s a lousy video, but you can see the test.
Then we cut some small pieces for Memphis II. He’s go too many chips and missing wing tips to not have his own tiny house. Another trick of the trade with the fence pickets is not to cut them until momentarily before they get used. They will cup and I just had that happen with a beautiful set. They are still usable, as I’ve learned how to position them during assembly to cut them back into shape. But it is extra work and I’m kind of past the point of doing much of that.
Last evening I also stopped at the old club to visit. It’s dead enough in there nowadays to do that, sad to say. That is also the staff that gets to review my latest projects because they have the most experience at it. This attracts interest, due to the fact it is handily the most interesting thing that ever happens there any more. There you have it, many people really like the design. (What’s lacking is cash offers.) And some day soon I just know somebody will tell me once to often it is way better than they can build anything comparable by themselves. If that is so, trust me when I say 90% of it is raw hand-on experience. So get off your haunches.

Knowing I’d stay put inside, I brought in some laser work and discovered another limitation of the tool. It does not like to run even semi-continuously. No more than 8 minutes out of every 10 or it will self-shut down. It has done an admirable job for what is more of a toy (now that I know). The stated print area is wishful thinking, it will not print to the edge of the monitor display. And if anything stalls or interrupts a print job, it cannot be restarted. The function of the “continue” icon remains a mystery. You cannot wait for a cool-down and resume, the print is all or nothing. If it quits on you 80% done, you cannot edit the file to print just the last 20%. No matter how careful you are, it will never line up again.
And a quirk (once again not mentioned in the literature) is the laser beam itself is meant to be focus for a shallow burn into the substrate surface but what about it getting there. A tiny exhaust fan sometimes allows smoke to fill the cavity momentarily. It was with interest I watched this effect which would normally be considered a bother. I’ve noticed something, which I am now testing, it is probably nothing, but the laser beam rides just over two inches from the surface when focused. That is enough for the beam itself to cool. That is, too close is out of focus, but it is also considerably hotter. Did you military types get that, or is this classified information of sorts? Relax, no Iranians in the room. No Taylor either, but that’s another story.
The movie I chose is “Flyboys”, more than two yours long. But so far, extremely well-researched and the equipment is fantastically reproduced. More than impressive. Mars, the M&M people, in keeping with recent backlash against artificial additives, is dropping two colors. Blue and brown. Have you heard of Bentley’s Law? I hope it’s true, requiring drunk drivers who kill a parent to pay child support.
But at the same time, there are too many instances of people snagged when drunk because other people hit them. Most people I know caught driving without insurance were hit by other vehicles.
ADDENDUM
If “hospital” views make you queasy, skip this section. I do not know how self-dissolving sutures work in every case. I don’t publish many “biology” pics. This one had to be shown. I was informed the sutures had been removed after around day 90, there was no mention of any remaining. But there are, they were subcutaneous, and are slowly working their way to the surface. I could tell something was there but suspected nothing as everything was done under the eye of a specialist who took extra care in my case. For that matter, so did the entire hospital staff. I guess they do not often see a patient who writes so much.
Here is the photo, which I would explain a bit. This is not good photography, but better shots did not reveal as much. This is by an old piece of equipment that only displays on screen, the resolution is terrible. But if I had not unmindfully turned the magnification dial to maximum, I would have missed this. This is at full power, which I believe on that old unit is around 920x. The field is so shallow I could not sharpen what you see here. There are artifacts and dust spots on the lens, the cover cap is long since lost, so you take what you can get.
But you can see plenty of detail that counts. I’ve labeled what’s recognizable. The upper left shows the sliced off end and that is the tiny piece that was formerly buried to that level flush with the skin surface. This was mighty fine work, possibly done by some instrument. Yes, the red spots are blood, both dark coagulated and tiny pale tinges as the exit site resembles a small mosquito bite.
This object is unbelievably tiny but I could tell there was something there. I see it was the larger knot and I can perceive five more present, or at least five more. So it takes months for these to work their way loose. All are [by day #144] well out of any deep tissue and in the skin layer. As such, they are harmlessly surfacing, though I would have liked to have been told the gory details Judging by my degree of discomfort, at some point there were around twelve of these.
I expect to replace the camera in the next 30 days, something with video capabilities. Oh, and if you notice all those strategically placed “How much longer” posts on social media, that’s me.
Last Laugh
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