I don’t think that cycle muffler bolt is to be found. The Internet is the usual waste of time, you try to find the bolt and every scumbag tries to sell you a fifty-dollar manual. (Hey, jerkoffs, did I ask for a manual? In a sense I’m glad they are all so desperate they’ll do anything to get in your face.) Even the Chinese original blow-up diagrams do not even mention the part. Tomorrow we are exploring the option of making the bolt, the old tap and die solution.
But I additionally know a lot more about bolts. I’ve said before that coarse threads should be exactly twice fine threads, so most of the time the same bolt would fit. It seems the metric system pulled much the same stunt. Except they have three different threads. And prices. Aha, did you see that man in China who sued his wife and won $120,000. Seems she forgot to tell him about all her plastic surgery and the baby came out ugly. If only America was as civilized in this department. False advertising is a crime. Predictably, the best the US media could do is point out that the judge was male and claim the issue was the woman was ugly. Listen gals, he didn’t sue her for being ugly. He sued her for lying. Which is generally illegal in contracts such as marriage, and also immoral unless you are running for President. Or something like that.
In other cover-ups, the Hialeah police are refusing to allow an independent investigation into the death of a young woman. A police detective slammed into her car, claiming he missed a stop sign. Sure. The police airlifted only the detective to the hospital, but waited around for an ambulance for the other victims. Rumor has it the police have seized all surveillance tapes in the neighborhood. Witnesses at the scene say the squad car was doing 100mph with the lights off.
And how about that creep who ran into the bus stop, killing one lady, maiming another and putting two other people in the hospital. It has only been covered in the Herald back pages. The TV stations are likewise zip-lipped on this horrific crime, focusing on the driver’s “apology”. What do I mean crime, don’t I mean accident? Nope. That driver had no license and ten felony convictions in the past 30 months, including attempted murder and drug dealing. Who in their right mind values an apology from somebody like that?
Looking to take a real school electronics course with a real laboratory, I see there isn’t much of a choice. The few schools that teach the subject have tacked it onto a course about electricity (house wiring) and they are entirely not the same things. The behavior of electronics is far more complicated and theoretical than running a 3-way down the basement stairs. Most trade schools won’t even talk to you until they have your entire credit history, and even then they won’t talk about the courses until they “analyze your future” and strong-arm you toward some degree program. Are you listening ITT and Lincoln?
Movie time. Instead of a siesta. I watched youTube fulls again, I’m saving up my real money for something special. This afternoon’s selection was the 1996 “Mission To Mars”, and it was not bad. It is action packed but still seems to plod along. Like it was geared to a low IQ audience. Great special effects and the Mars scenery was incredibly farsighted for the time. This is a prime example of the types of movie I’ve never seen that are providing me great entertainment without any sense of having missed a thing.
Google is still trying to get me to give them my email password, the old scam you “may not own your email account”. My account is fine just like it was before Google took over. I check my stats near month-end and this time I tried to make sense out of the Google overview page. It does show which posts were looked at the most, but nothing serious I could use, even the keyword list doesn't match the things I write about.
Later. Surprise, I went out on a Friday (late afternoon) without being paid. For a few hours anyway and it was not much fun. I had a cup of tea and a slice of pie, cost me nine bucks. I stopped at the Karaoke club and the same people are there as any other night of the week. There are lots of reasons why I’m not a Friday person. But this is also my fiscal year end and time to take stock, and I often take long drives to think. Or at least used to when I could drive [a car].
Even back when I had my fancy job, I never liked going out that day. Too many people with their little rituals. So I bought a take-out half-pint of Cuban coffee and drove over to share at the mechanic shop. They don’t speak English, but it was more fun than the other places. Seriously, just sitting there in plastic chairs in the shade and watching the traffic on Dixie. They are married guys who keep the shop late even when it isn't busy. Fancy that.
I can’t explain my stay-at-home Friday policy, but I know it has to do with playing in a band for so many years. I know that I’ve saved a small fortune because I’m used to making money on that day instead of spending it. Habits die hard because I haven’t been in a steady Friday band for twenty-one years. I never once in my life went out and blown my whole paycheck like some guys, probably because I didn't have to. I know there’s other things to do besides “go out”. But Friday always finds me home with a good book. I took three years off work in the late 90s, and it really was better back then. I dated more because there were more women to date.
To be accurate, that is in unfair comparison. If you don’t yet know, I was stopped cold by a heart attack in late 2003 and I’ve been stuck right here since. My plan was to move to Seattle in 2005, but obviously that didn’t happen. So I’m comparing my life back west, where I lived near the mountains, drove a Cadillac, knew shop owners from Seattle to Salem, and had three girlfriends. Plus Liz had not yet moved, Marion was five miles away, and Amelia was always around for a visit. Why would I go out on Fridays? And why did I leave that all behind? (That's a rhetorical question because I thought Florida would be a temporary thing.)
[Author's note: before anybody jumps on me about the band thing, I specifically mean playing in a band with other members and having a steady gig every Friday. That kind of band. The years I played every Friday over here on Dixie were solos. Not the same thing as a band, not at all. Solo acts are a lot like work. This has the effect of discouraging learning new music, so the act stays the same for months and years on end. I prefer playing in a duo over any other type of group and versatility is a big part of why.]
