One year ago today: August 8, 2013.
Five years ago today: August 8, 2009, 3,000 mi. bike tours.
Ten years ago today: August 8, 2004, Me 262.
MORNING
The scooter. No compression has many causes. This one is new to me. See the crankshaft? It has two bearings. One of them is sitting at an angle, it is broken. No crankshaft, no compression. There was also that tar-like varnish buildup inside the motor head, indicating an oil problem. On a scooter that was coddled its whole life. I had to make a decision here. Insurance on a car costs a minimum of $85 per month here. I can afford a car--but not to travel anywhere in it.
I like perogies. Always have. The Russian stores in this area sell every brand but my favorite, which is potato and cheddar cheese. They got cherry, sauerkraut, mushroom, blueberry, cranberry, and even the dreaded “farmer’s cheese”. But the bad news is all of these now cost 50¢ per perogie. A package of a dozen is $6. Thus, a traditional meal for an old perogie-packer like me would cost $18. It’s the sauce that makes it for me.
How to make the sauce. The loose recipe, which you want to vary a bit over time, is chopped onion and bacon (optional) fried in margarine until barely crisp. Don’t skimp on the pepper. At times, a hit of garlic or dill weed, but sour crème only on the side. Just before serving, pour in a quarter can of condensed milk and turn down the heat. Or it will foam up and overflow. When scalded and still hot, ladle over a half dozen perogies and go to town.
NOON
Agt. M came over, whence we drank all my Russian soda pop and a case of Clamato juice, which for reasons unknown I had in the cooler. I don’t like Clamato juice. This was the spicy kind that burns. We went over the facts on record with the bicycles and decided to unmake the small mountain bike and use the parts to refurbish the old Jamus. The small frame is nice and weightless. It is also uncomfortable to ride for more than a mile or two. The gear ratios are not as well-integrated as the Jamus. It’s like an old Ford where there is no gear that’s right for 30 mph.
Back to the bicycles, field trials also show that I rarely used the 21-speed selector. The bottom fourteen gears are just too slow for travel. Maybe a mountain bike or stunt cycle. I need a bicycle that gets me downtown in twelve minutes. He is not giving the appropriate gravity to my records that show the Jamus was totally reliable for six consecutive years. I notice these things. That’s my kind of bicycle.
So the news is in Russia, you must register a phone number with the authorities and phone in for an access code each time you use the Internet. And blogs with “more than 3,000 followers” are required to register with the government and comply with the same rules as media outlets. You know, where they tell you what you can say. This will, of course, merely push the dissidents underground. What a frightening move.
We also had an apt discussion of why our recent meetings have become “negative”. I propose that is because we are much more prone to tell each other when things contradict our own experience. Thus it seems like everyone speaks up when things go wrong. This is also about as deep as I ever went into the subject. Before this, anyone who didn’t accept my experience was obviously unwilling to learn, type of thing.
NIGHT
Next, some reading on servo motors. These seem to be the preferred general purpose robot motor, but it has a more complex operation. I read two long chapters of different books on this motor and it was like another slap in the head. Like I’d learned nothing and was starting over again. Why bother? Because the Nova people have not yet considered what will control the robot hand motions. When I suggested one team be formed to pursue this, the reaction like I was talking about something so far away it made no difference. Servo motors do not require gear mechanisms to reduce their speed.
You watch, I will find something that works, but it will be a matching set with an incredible price tag. But as far as those who say there are a few compatible sizes out there, you’d have to show me. And as far as making the shafts and securing them in a good rigid mounting, good luck. Not a peep on the Internet. I will try my tap and die kit.
Finally, winding down the morning, I read that Jules Verne, the writer, was first famous for some other reason than science fiction. He was the first person to make a living at writing science fiction. That’s an important distinction since it means all writers before him would have been part-timers. And you don’t have to convince me how working for a living stifles creativity. I have no illusions about how 99% of everyone I ever met is about to die in obscurity. Myself? Should I die tomorrow, I can think of 16,000 people who will notice—and I’m not even famous yet.
How’s the silver market? Suspicious, that’s how. One would expect the answer to be the market is going up and down. It isn’t. It has stayed nearly the same mark for nearly 18 months during which the price of food has doubled, seven countries have narrowly avoided bankruptcy, and the remainder of the world is swirling around in recessionary confusion. That’s how Wall Street spells “manipulation”. It is now clear the bump in silver prices of five years ago was the result not of silver transactions, but the trading of insider silver contracts which involved no metal at all. And the watchdogs did nothing.
Question for any legal eagles out there. Look at that gold picture, it is not mine. So, am I evading copyright? Does a link to the picture mean the same as copying the picture? If I download the link, is that the same as downloading the picture? I don’t know, since the law is worded funny. If I take a picture of a picture, does it belong to me, or the subject of the picture. Actually, the spirit of copyright law is to make sure nobody diminishes demand for the original, which I definitely do not do. But the letter of the law focuses on whether or not any duplication took place. What’s next? Wipe out your memory cells? So each time you want to recall the photo, you have to pay admission again? I weep for America.
If you have time, here is a well-made documentary on the Sahara, about 45 minutes. As little as 7,000 years ago, parts of the Sahara were greenbelts. I found this confusing, since that places the time at 5,000 BC and the pyramids are 5,000 years old. That’s what throws me, the pyramids are 3,000 BC and my mind keeps saying 5,000 BC. Confused? Same here. Anyway, the 2,000 year gap explains why there is no ancient Egyptian mention of any inhabitants to the west. By then, it was desert. Anyway, great documentary.
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