Yesteryear
One year ago today: August 11, 2025, wasp season.
Five years ago today: August 11, 2021, African spices?
Nine years ago today: August 11, 2017, 40 miles by Rebel.
Random years ago today: August 11, 2007, my mid-biking days.
There’s a good one, Bernie Saunders saying put the brakes on A.I. Seems he wants to wait until the technology can be “better controlled”, whatever that means to a socialist. I’m reminded of how not that long ago the original versions of A.I were recalled when, after being presented with undoctored facts, they all became anti-semetic. I also have an information tidbit, one of those trivial items that has often trigger policy changes around here. It started when I wanted diced onion in my breakfast spuds.
> Real onion, not the kind out of the salt shaker, though I do not mind those. Groceries are a budget item in this cabinhold, so while the water was boiling, I entered the receipt. What? I don’t track individual items but darn rights I just paid $1.63 a pound for onions. Friggen onions, onions that practically grow for free in the Idaho ground. Now I truly hate Joe Biden.
This blog is your go-to source for contemporary box lore. Here is today’s entry. This video shows what I consider a “junk” box because there is something wrong with it. But what happens is I learn the problem early in the process and will often experiment with the box, like adding the handle and latch shown here. Yes, this is the box for the glove compartment screwdriver and I’m repeatedly discovering people like this effect. (Liking and buying are different animals.)
This was a video for Mitch to spot the defect. It tells at the end of the video, when the box is placed on a flat surface like a desktop, it wobbles. I know by now how to fix most of this but it is not economical. So me it is junk, but useful junk and when people are around I call the “utility” boxes. If I were to sell them, something like this would have to retail for $20. Unlikely.
This found me downtown, where my first stop was the Thrift. I scored a CD player but don’t count on those things. This location is bad for people dropping off trash unless you catch them—and even then they play dumb. The new gal at the counter gives me the senior’s discount every day, so she’s about to get nice set of spice boxes. I’ve shown her samples and once again I should listen to people who tell me they like that rustic finish.
Next, I pull up to the phone place an see a new Nissan outside. The regular guy was there today, but just for now. He went partners with his mother on a new store up near Combee. Poor guy is like 24 years old and has gout, quite bad in his hands. His sister got the runaround from customer service, turns out she had a Nissan with something wrong. Giving up talking to them she wrote a letter to the head guy. Turns out her car was a lemon. And they have her a brand new 2026 for free. That was it sitting outside.
This morning is more research. Again I circle back to LOFTY (now spelled Lofty) and it is a very good match to my investment experience. Once again, I see they have a ton of very small investors, my calculation is younger investors (Zoomers) dominate the market with a few thousand dollars each. If you want my follow up thoughts, read the addendum.
I stopped for groceries and spent all my money including the $65 I put away each month for the property taxes which are due in 90 days. The hospital stay not only disrupted my already random sleep habits, it has done a number on my diet. I’ve begun to like “hospital rations” like pudding and I’ve got back a taste for ground beef. Relax, I still won’t go near tapioca. I got to the lumber yard for pickets, but y’know, they are still out in the van where they can stay until I have a nap. I didn’t say short nap. Those aren’t happening much any more.
Presuming I will be driving to Miami on Friday, I have a CD player to test tomorrow. If that works, I will rig up a power supply. Batteries are too unreliable, so I usually assemble a power supply out of a 12V converter (to 120VAC) so I can listen to my mystery stories. I’m getting stronger but still appreciate a long stretch of sitting and thinking.
Speaking of electricity, have you heard of the G.L.O.V.E.? It’s a glove that emits a painful electric shock, but not as high voltage as a taser. It is in use prisons to “de-escalate” quarrelsome inmates and is now being issued to ICE agents. With Trump-endorsed candidates sweeping the primaries, I think the illegals have around 90 days left to leave peacefully and voluntarily.
And my prediction of years ago stands. Trump is not fighting the way the Deep States wants and he is going to spring a massive surprise on them just before the mid-terms. He’s already got them on the run, but you ain’t seen othing yet. Trump is just beginning to turn their own dirty tricks back on them. I may not like Trump, but I can’t totally hate anybody who makes libtards eat their own.
Diego Garcia, the US airbase in the middle of the Indian Ocean, is reporting increased drone activity. Drones have changed the face of war. The drones are likely ordinary issue but strapped onto range extenders. I suspect there are submarines involved, as any old model will do and there are reports of drones hovering near the base fuel dumps.
Picture of the day.
Today in Galveston.
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It is a possum. This time I could hear him moving, not very fast. Then later I smelled possum fur. He’s getting inside right where I was fixing that darn floor when I fell ill. Of course, and that is the hardest place to fix which is why I was leaving it for last. From there, he can get onto the kitchen counter and waltz around behind the coffee maker. I’ll set up the game camera but normally a regular Hav-a-heart trap doesn’t catch possum.
Later, 7’34” later to be exact, the camera is set up. If I can find out what path he’s taking, I can set the trap where he thinks he is going. He’s a mammal, so I now know what time he is active and roughly what he’s after. The prep area nearest the stove will unavoidably have tiny food particles. How do I know the exact timing? Because I making fake boxes and that is the time to make a small logo burn. Gosh, you know this place as well as anybody by now.
Tell you what, let me get into position behind the camera and take you a picture of the setup. For all I know, this may be your only chance in this life to read a blog featuring a possum catch on a makeshift kitchen counter. This is from the back of the game camera facing the wire trap in the back center. Other objects on the counter are to steer our fellow well into the trap so his tail does not jam the cage open enough for him to escape. So don’t go saying I didn’t go all out for pictures today. The wooden humidity plank works fine. I’ve just not figured out a way to record it for you.
And it must be daylight in the Seychelles, as my hit counter is registering 4 to 5 hits per minute. Yes, Hippie, that is really cooking along, that is 300 per hour, over 6000 per day. Performance you can only dream of. The unknown is how, at other times, I can drop to 15 per hour. My benchmark is to never have an hour with zero hits and I’ve bested than for a long time.
Today the bad guys showed up in Dodge with a Gatling gun. It was a model 1870, a lot of brass and steel. Kitty shoots Morgan Colt and plays one of her better roles. I played a part myself, it was a super-tired guy sitting on the neighbor’s sofa with a mug of coffee. That might fool the casual onlooker that it was a picture of contentment. Wrong, I was so weary even the neighbor noticed. Hey, for me this has been a hectic week, both physically and mentally.
So, I’ve pegged the evening for doing what old guys do. Play Maroon 5, edit videos, etch laser patterns, cut wood plates, a little word processing, wire a small circuit, trap critters, and drink a lot of coffee. Tomorrow, I make the first trial with fake-boxes dipped in a darker stain. I’ve cut and etched two specially for that purpose. If they work, the sprightly new gal at the Thrift gets them. Hey, India has dropped out of the picture. You get that a lot.
The laser has a tendency to stop by itself. I blame COM port conflict and am working on a way to restart the laser as it has no capability to pick up where it left off. I may have found a partial solution. You can change the zap speed during a pause—sometimes. Go over the already burned logo at 12,000 mm/min, which just skims along. Then slow down to 3500 mm/min, my normal cutting speed. Not a viable solution as you must sit and watch the process and get the timing right.
By 10:00PM, I just sat down and pondered things. And once more I reach the conclusion that there was never any guarantee of a better life no matter what I did. I’m not starving but I’m not rich, which irks me in one narrow way. It’s that even not screwing up as badly as 90% of the world, the best you can hope for is mediocrity.
ADDENDUM
Small groups of investors present the problem of mass. As a demographic, they are more likely to panic and react as a group. However, unlike Caltier, where you must wait for approval, in Lofty you can sell directly to other people. And who is the master at buying only when others are forced to sell? C’mon, you can say it.
I researched the trades and become more interested in what the users have to say, something I would normally shrug off. These people often have short-term needs and use Lofty as a place to park money they know they are going to need if anything goes wrong. That’s not a negative to me, no business involving so many investors can be run too closely. Another attraction is that you invest in the properties as member of an LLC, while with Fundrise and Caltier you are buying into a fund. It’s a differing philosophy. Trivia, the reason some are called “hedge” funds is they are supposed to be positioned to hedge the bets to make money whether the market goes up or down.
The properties are managed but most decisions are a simple vote, which I am still looking at. While I trust majority rules to keep society in line, I don’t trust it at street level. No one investor can gain more that 15% of any property, but that never stops family from ganging up. Once again, a big motivator for me is finding out how it all works. Lofty has a $50 minimum, I can do better than that—but I need to examine how the taxes are dealt with.
Last Laugh
