The USA will remain the only nation that has successfully landed rovers on another planet. It’s hard to tell if that is the horizon. I tuned in for another thirty minutes, but it is plain the bastards are pointedly ignoring the one remaining question: when is the thing going to start moving and sending color pictures? (I’ll never understand NASA’s twisted motive for doing things like that every time.) Note that NASA pictures, like this one, which was paid for with the taxpayer’s money, carry a copyright warning. It belongs to them, not to those who paid for it. Ah, an obscure comment in USA today has a clue. The robot will do self-testing for “several weeks”. So that’s why NASA clammed up. Be prepared to watch the all-white landing videos on every channel thirty times a day until then. Subtle, Canaveral, subtle.
So, once again it is proven that Americans with billions of dollars can do things as well as they could with just the billions of dollars alone. That no matter what follow-on projects we undertake, prices will always go up. And that our social programs ensure our lead in outer space will eventually be lost to societies who remain “less assimilated” and thus having one less thing to consider when they need something done. If you think you can choose the best man for the job when they are of different colors, I suggest you try it.
While beaming out the congrats, Moscow and Darmstadt have little choice but to team up. The crumbling economies of the establishment have historically been saved only by wars and innovation, both American monopolies for all living memory. Things like the airplane and computer don’t just mean a new factory, rather these things completely change the way the world thinks and works. Monetary salvation awaits anyone who establishes leadership on an entirely new basis. And outer space is about as entirely as you’re gong to get.
Rain or not, I had the Goldwing at the shop by 9:00AM sharp. That’s how a real motorcyclist rolls. I used the trip as a test run with the eBike strapped down, and it works like a charm. Except for the red tubing, it looks like just another rack on the sidecar. Why not paint it black? Because it will be covered by a tarp. The point is, the rig easily packed the bike so my local transpo [in Denver] is taken care of. I rode the eBike back, saving either a $20 cab fare or bothering a friend. Estimated completion time, I say in a NASA-like fashion, is tomorrow afternoon. Shown here is setting the bike up after reattaching the front wheel in the pouring rain.The final trip budget is in. This will be a “minimum wage” trip. But I’ve often said one could live well enough on minimum wage if one didn’t have to work for it. That’s why people on welfare will never get a job. It would result in less disposable income and they’d have to get up in the morning. They are not going to stand for that. I draw a thick line between those who won’t work and those who can’t. And I don’t buy the theory that welfare cases would work if a job was available.
I watched “Love Lies Bleeding”, an interesting low-budget work on the old theme of broke people stumbling across mob money and running for their lives. One hint, when you are on the run, don’t do it in a restored ‘57 Chevrolet. It scratches the paint. I had to watch the stereotyped chase, the lady getting trapped because she won’t run from killers without buttoning her blouse and grabbing her teddy bear. Beyond that, the story is fairly well-written.
Billie-Bill was on the phone. He’s go work lined up in September but, and this is not unusual, he about as organized as your average guitarist which is about 1% as organized I figure is right. I also realize that under such circumstances, none of my songs will ever be learned. Why would a solo guitarist ever learn a tune he isn’t going to use in his own act? So, Billie-Bill is to send me his complete list and I’ll cherry-pick, after once again explaining my affinity to tunes with great bass lines. That means no Eagles or Neil Young, which is fine.
He wants me to do an opening act. Can’t before I leave. But if it is for pay, of course I’m interested the day I return. I’m taking my bass to Colorado because if I need a guitar, there is always something available, not so for my custom Danelectro. Did I mention my newest bass run? I’m working on something for the Nashville song and I’ve got a descending intro that causes most guitarists to ask where I got that. I wrote it. That’s where.
In fact, it is only 4:00PM, so I’m going to play bass and sing for an hour. It’s great therapy and mental exercise. I demand note-for-note perfection during practice even if that never works out on stage. My material lacks a contemporary component, I’m well aware of that. Then, I saw this broadcast, “Canada’s Got Talent”. Do they now? It was a totally glitzy troupe of East Indian dancers doing sex-like karate moves to heavy metal tapes, which would probably get them stoned to death in Karachi. The show was obviously Ottawa-funded. Talent, my eye.
Then Ray-B and I were on the horn for an hour. He did the beach tour and Johnny D is at the Walkabout. Remember that musician that did not impress me at Jake’s? Turns out to be a distant relation of the owner, which explains a lot. Nonetheless, the beach is dying except for the diminishing cohort of regulars spread too thin. It’s past the point of no return, even major music acts are not going to make a difference now. The steady diet of blues and contemporary has eroded the crowds like the waves eroded the sand. But the sand they can truck in from somewhere else.
ADDENDUM
What’s this? Denver has four major electronic component supply dealers. It’s out west, where the prices are marked, the parts are in stock, and the people who work there generally have a brain or two about what they’re doing. I found acceleration sensors listed at $1.34 where the cheapest in south Florida will run you $34.00. One store has 92 models of tilt sensors. I’ll be like a kid in a candy store. Want to get yourself profiled? Buy things like satellite components, robot parts, and guidance systems on-line. I prefer a place I can walk in with a shopping cart.
The Denver Area Robotics Club meets the second Tuesday of each month, meaning I will miss both meetings [that occur] during this trip. Up yours, Nashville. One of the suppliers, Budget Robotics, has a kit that is an exact match to a product on our drawing boards a year ago. We did not have the money to build at that time. Now you can buy the chassis for $18 bucks. Why will we eventually create something? Because items like the chassis, where others begin, was the last thing we seek after acing the electronics, code, sensors, and controllers. We’ve had a non-standard approach from the word go.
A review of the businesses in Denver show a large proportion of eShops, which amount to Internet under-pricing and over-zapping with “shipping charges”. The town is not well rated for friendliness by foreigners, but it’s hard to determine what they expect. I didn’t like Denver the once I was there and noted the lack of single women, but that isn’t unusual for a prairie town.
