One year ago today: February 11, 2014, Shirley Temple.
Five years ago today: February 11, 2010, downtown sculpture.
Nine years ago today: February 11, 2006, WIP
Random years ago today: February 11, 2014, WIP
MORNING
Hooray, say the pundits. The recession is over. Oops, I was accidentally reading a newspaper from 2009. My bad. This article says the economy is only losing 243,000 jobs per month, down from 247,000 the previous month. Now, doesn’t that tickle you pink? Heck, now that I started this, how about some more job trivia to cheer you up? Try this one. To balance the layoffs, the country has to add 122,000 jobs per month—that’s just to stay even. See photo—is that one job, or two?
Mind you, the caliber of those degrees is appalling, comparable to about an eighth grade education back in my day. The illiterate defend their right to be so, calling those who can read and write “grammar Nazis”. Ha, just shows you which side of the intellectual barbed wire they are on.
But anyway, that was all back in 2009 and everybody knows that this is 2015 and all those crazy theories don’t apply because we’ve gotten away with holding everything together and if we just do that long enough then everybody will get back on their feet and the country will become the world leader again and we can have cheap gas and live in fancy houses and drop bombs on people by remote control, and take a deep breath, we can get started fixing this penguin crisis.
Author’s note: I will always remember the pedi-cab driver I met in Hawaii in the 70s. The guy looked and acted like a beach bum. Several musicians I knew said he was highly educated, but it’s not like you could tell. So I asked him. Indeed, the guy’s parents had put him through two prestigious schools, where he got a Masters in Philosophy and a host of lesser degrees.
Then, at 38, he decides to throw it all away. In my world at the time, such a waste was inconceivable. I did not perceive him, as he perceived himself, as having achieved a "supreme level of non-materialistic existence". Yeah, after mom & pop shelled out the money. I saw him as an asshole wasted an awful lot of somebody else's money and I asked him if he was going to pay his parents back.
He gave me the why-would-I-do-that look and said, "Of course not."
NOON
"A woman does not break into your house and clean it for fun." --Rick Simon
This is the rear wheel of the monster bike, showing the double-wide tire rim and the Tesla motor. If you just got here, this is the 100 mile range electric bike project of our club’s vice-president. He’s done 99% of the work himself and I must say he does things differently than I would. The bike is taken apart to replace the spokes. If you squint closely, you can see the existing spokes were not holding up to the Florida roads that well.
I personally do not understand the technology of a bicycle that can go 85 mph. But I understand there is not that big of a market for it. The bike will eventually cost so much that the major consumer segment—those who for any reason cannot drive a car—is the very people who either cannot afford it or will prefer a smaller, less expensive bicycle.
I went over to Radio Shack to get the story for myself. I know the manager and I’d go out with her in a second. Drop dead gorgeous, but always on duty. Anyway, it is not close the doors Chapter 13, but a reorganization, Chapter 11. That particular location is closing. Now, I know what you are thinking, well, some of you anyway. Don’t bother going over there for the discounts on tools and pricey parts. All the good stuff is already put away under the counter for me, awaiting a 50% - 80% price drop. And I now own all their remaining card phones between here and Boca Raton.
AFTERNOON
This photo has no relevance except that I’m glad that isn’t me over there. I think this is up near Buffalo. The only thing missing is the penguins. The further from snow I get, the better. That reminds me of some trivia. In Detroit, 40% of the streetlights are not working, mostly due to vandalism. The city is planning on not replacing them, leaving huge segments of the city in the dark. For those who did not know, the purpose of streetlights is to reduce crime. Brightly lit areas are the best crime deterrent known to civilization. So, it looks like they are about to enter the final period of “cultural enrichment”.
I’m not overlooking that most areas of the USA are only a matter of hours away from such problems. When times were good, a lot of cities did the same thing stupid people do—they took on a lifestyle that would demand constant cash flow even if times became bad. Here’s your gross national debt counter, which read $18,135,829,568,549.14 at time of posting.
Keeping a stock of food is not that difficult, again, don’t bother planning on years. A month will allow you outlast the majority. I mean, if order isn’t restored after 30 days, your years of food aren’t going to do you much good even if you could keep it a secret. I’ve learned a bit about stockpiling and I have some advice for beginners.
I live on a 30 day staple cycle. I buy non-perishables 30 days in advance and rotate the stock. So number one rule is don’t save up ingredients, like flour or grain. They require far too much prep time and you will want to minimize the hours you spend preparing food. People will be on the lookout for that. Buy a lot of what you can eat raw, as cooking aromas are a dead giveaway. What you do cook should be what you can discretely boil. Rice is good, it doesn’t emit much cooking smells and can be mixed with most any food that comes in a can.
Water is another matter. But unless it ever stops raining in Florida, I won’t run short. My plan is to boil water I’ve filtered myself. What they don’t tell you is bleach has a shelf life, so don’t count on it as a purifier. Plus, a lot of bleach these days may be scented and thus useless for consumption. Water tablets are better. But I would still boil.
EVENING
Open Culture is not known for its comedy, but some of the short films (they present Oscar winners for free) are a hoot. Saul Bass for instance.
Says Abdul, “Allah be praised, I’ve invented the zero.”
Abdul’s mother, “You invented what?
Abdul, “Nothing, nothing.”
Then I reminded myself, I saw this old-fashioned pedicab at the Flagler museum. Note the passengers sat in front, not behind like the rickshaw type in Hawaii. The placard said Flagler was able to keep motor vehicles off the West Palm roadways for quite a number of years. Must have made it a super place to live.
Agt. M was over since I won’t lend out die cutting tools and matching sets of anything. We wound up manufacturing a prototype spoke for the Tesla wheel. This took until 11:30PM, but that includes the coffee break at Dunkin. This spoke was a significant accomplishment. Agt. M cannot build small things and I have zero engineering studies or experience. I’ve said before, with my limited life expectancy, I give myself six months max to get five years’ experience. No, Ken, that isn’t a typo. In the context of this sentence, “years” is a possessive.
Hmmmm, the debt has gone up by a billion dollars since I last looked this afternoon. A thousand million dollars. (It can also go down drastically, but that doesn't make headlines.)
Last Laugh
Back when this was life according to Disney.
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